Deborah Raffin Explained

Deborah Raffin
Birth Name:Deborah Iona Raffin
Birth Date:March 13, 1953
Birth Place:Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Death Place:Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Years Active:1973–2012
Children:1
Mother:Trudy Marshall

Deborah Iona Raffin (March 13, 1953[1] – November 21, 2012) was an American actress, model and audiobook publisher.

Early life

Raffin was born in Los Angeles to actress Trudy Marshall and Phillip Jordan Raffin, a restaurateur and business executive.[2] [3] Her father was Jewish, and her mother was Christian.[4] [5]

Career

Like her mother, Raffin appeared as a model on numerous magazine covers including 'Teen, Seventeen and Good Housekeeping in the 1970s and 1980s and acted in several 1970s Hollywood films.[6] She co-starred with Joseph Bottoms in the Gregory Peck-produced film The Dove (1974). Her 1976 television movie, Nightmare in Badham County, became a theatrical hit in mainland China, making Raffin a star there and leading to her later becoming the first Western actress ever to undertake a movie promotion tour in that country.[7] She was nominated for both a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and a Razzie Award for Worst Actress for her performance in Touched by Love in 1981. That same year, she starred in the TV series adaptation of the hit 1978 film Foul Play, in which she and Barry Bostwick took over the roles played by Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase.

In 1988, she starred in James Clavell's Noble House with Pierce Brosnan. In 1991, she appeared as Julie Vale, a telepath, in the cult film alongside actor David Hewlett. She later appeared as Julie Camden Hastings on the television show 7th Heaven from 1996 to 2005, and as Dr. Hightower in the ABC Family series The Secret Life of the American Teenager from 2008 to 2010.

Personal life

Raffin married film producer Michael Viner in 1974. The couple later became audiobook publishers. They had one child, daughter Taylor, and divorced in 2005.[8]

Death

On November 21, 2012, Raffin died from leukemia at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, one year after being diagnosed with cancer. She was 59 years old.[9] [10]

Select filmography

Notes and References

  1. Raffin plays woman on run . Detroit Free Press . 1983-01-26 . 35 . 14 March 2023.
  2. Web site: Mark of the Gorilla . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150924021818/http://www.geostan.ca/mgorilla.html . September 24, 2015 . September 30, 2014 . Geostan.ca.
  3. News: Michael Viner and Deborah Raffin; Selling Books to a Generation That Won't Sit Still . . 28 February 1993 . September 30, 2014. Weinraub . Bernard .
  4. Web site: Memories of Christmas Past ... Actress Deborah Raffin can't shake Christmas. It's as much a part of her life in July as it is in December . September 30, 2014 . Nl.newsbank.com.
  5. Web site: NewsLibrary Search Results . September 30, 2014 . Nl.newsbank.com.
  6. Sue Reilly, "As for Marriage, Deborah Raffin & Michael Viner Say Once Is Quite Enough" People, October 1, 1979.
  7. https://web.archive.org/web/20101015042250/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925843,00.html "People: Nov. 8, 1982"
  8. Elaine Woo, "Michael Viner dies at 65; tabloid book publisher", Los Angeles Times, August 13, 2009.
  9. News: Woo . Elaine . November 21, 2012 . Deborah Raffin dies at 59; actress was also a force in audio books . .
  10. News: November 23, 2012 . Deborah Raffin, an Actress and Audiobook Publisher, Dies at 59 . .