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

Early life

Raffin was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, to actress

Trudy Marshall Gertrude Madeline "Trudy" Marshall (February 14, 1920 – May 23, 2004) was an American actress and model. Early life Marshall was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Madeline (née Brennan) and Frederick Marshall. She studied drama ...

and Phillip Jordan Raffin, a restaurateur and business executive. Her father was Jewish, and her mother was from a Christian background; Raffin identified with Judaism.

Career

Like her mother, Raffin appeared as a model on numerous magazine covers including '' 'Teen'', ''

Seventeen Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese m ...

'' and ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good House ...

'' in the 1970s and 1980s and acted in several 1970s Hollywood films. She co-starred with

Joseph Bottoms Joseph Bottoms is an American actor who won the 1975 Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year for his role in '' The Dove''. He is also well known for his roles in the television mini-series ''Holocaust'' and Disney's '' The Black Hole''. Ca ...

in the

Gregory Peck Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood ...

-produced film '' The Dove'' (1974). Her 1976 television movie, ''

Nightmare in Badham County ''Nightmare in Badham County'' is a 1976 American women-in-prison television film directed by John Llewellyn Moxey and starring Chuck Connors, Deborah Raffin, and Lynne Moody. Its plot follows two female college students from California who, whil ...

'', became a theatrical hit in

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater 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. She was nominated for both a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and a

Razzie Award for Worst Actress The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...

for her performance in ''

Touched by Love ''Touched by Love'' (also called ''To Elvis, with Love'') is a 1980 American drama film directed by Gus Trikonis and starring Diane Lane and Deborah Raffin. The screenplay concerns a therapist who tries a novel approach with a girl afflicted wit ...

'' 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 Barry Knapp Bostwick (born February 24, 1945) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Brad Majors in the musical comedy horror film ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' (1975) and Mayor Randall Winston in the sitcom ''Spin City'' (199 ...

took over the roles played by

Goldie Hawn Goldie Jeanne Hawn (born November 21, 1945) is an American actress, dancer, producer, and singer. She rose to fame on the NBC sketch comedy program ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (1968–1970), before going on to receive the Academy Award and Go ...

and

Chevy Chase Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He became a key cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'', where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment became a staple of the ...

. In 1988, she starred in

James Clavell James Clavell (born Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell; 10 October 1921 – 7 September 1994) was an Australian-born British (later naturalized American) writer, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and prisoner of war. Clavell is best ...

's '' Noble House'' with

Pierce Brosnan Pierce Brendan Brosnan (; born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He is best known as the fifth actor to play secret agent James Bond in the Bond film series, starring in four films from 1995 to 2002 (''GoldenEye'', ''Tomorrow ...

. In 1991, she appeared as Julie Vale, a

telepath Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic W ...

, in the cult film '' Scanners II: The New Order'' alongside actor

David Hewlett David Ian Hewlett (born 18 April 1968) is a British-born Canadian actor, writer, and director known for his role as Dr. Rodney McKay in the '' Stargate'' science-fiction franchise. He first gained fame for his roles as Grant Jansky in the Cana ...

. She later appeared as Julie Camden Hastings on the television show '' 7th Heaven'' and as Dr. Hightower in the

ABC Family The American cable television, cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and s ...

teenager series ''

The Secret Life of the American Teenager ''The Secret Life of the American Teenager'' (often shortened to ''Secret Life'') is an American teen drama television series created by Brenda Hampton. It aired on ABC Family from July 1, 2008 to June 3, 2013. The series received mixed to some ...

''.

Personal life

Raffin married film producer

Michael Viner Michael Ames Viner ( ; February 27, 1944 – August 8, 2009) was an American film producer and record producer, who later shifted into book publishing and became an innovator in the audiobook field. A widely sampled percussion break in the recordi ...

in 1974. The couple later became

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

publishers. They had one child, daughter Taylor, and divorced in 2005.Elaine Woo
"Michael Viner dies at 65; tabloid book publisher"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', August 13, 2009.

Death

Raffin was diagnosed with

blood cancer Tumors of the hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues (American English) or tumours of the haematopoietic and lymphoid tissues (British English) are tumors that affect the blood, bone marrow, lymph, and lymphatic system. Because these tissues are all ...

in 2011. On November 21, 2012, she died from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

at the

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center (also commonly referred to as ''UCLA Medical Center'', "RRMC" or "Ronald Reagan") is a hospital located on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles, in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, United ...

. She was 59 years old. She was buried at the

Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery The Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary is a Jewish cemetery located at 6001 West Centinela Avenue, in Culver City, California. Many Jews from the entertainment industry are buried here. The cemetery is known for Al Jolson's elaborate tomb (design ...

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most d ...

Select filmography

* '' 40 Carats'' (1973) as Trina Stanley * '' The Dove'' (1974) as Patti Ratteree * ''

Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough ''Once Is Not Enough'' is the third novel by Jacqueline Susann, published in 1973 following her huge bestsellers '' Valley of the Dolls'' (1966) and '' The Love Machine'' (1969). With ''Once Is Not Enough,'' Susann became the first writer in publ ...

'' (1975) as January Wayne * ''

God Told Me To ''God Told Me To'' (released in some theatrical markets as ''Demon'') is a 1976 science fiction horror film written, directed, and produced by Larry Cohen. Like many of Cohen's films, it is shot on location in New York City and incorporates aspe ...

'' (1976) as Casey Forster * ''

'' (1976, TV movie) * '' The Sentinel'' (1977) as Jennifer * '' The Ransom'' (aka ''Assault on Paradise'') (1977) as Cindy Simmons * '' Mind Over Murder'' (1979, TV movie) as Suzy * '' The Last Convertible'' (1979, TV miniseries, 2 episodes) * ''

'' (1980) as Lena Canada * '' Killing at Hell’s Gate'' (1981, TV movie) as Anna Medley * '' For Lovers Only'' (1982) as Lilah Ward * '' Dance of the Dwarfs'' (1983) as Dr. Evelyn Howard * '' Grizzly II: Revenge'' (1983) as Samantha Owens * ''

Sparkling Cyanide ''Sparkling Cyanide'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in February 1945 under the title of ''Remembered Death'' and in UK by the Collins Crime Club in the De ...

'' (1983, TV movie) as Iris Murdoch * ''

Lace II ''Lace'' is an American television two-part miniseries, based on the 1982 bonkbuster novel of the same name by author Shirley Conran. The series aired on ABC on February 26–27, 1984. The plot concerns the search by sex symbol Lili (Phoebe Cat ...

'' (1984, TV miniseries, 3 episodes) as Judy Hale * '' Last Video and Testament'' episode from ''

Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense ''Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense'' is a short-lived (one season) anthology television series produced in Britain in 1984/85 by Hammer Film Productions. Though similar in format to the 1980 series '' Hammer House of Horror'', the ''Mystery ...

'' (1984, series) as Selena Frankham * ''

Death Wish 3 ''Death Wish 3'' is a 1985 American action thriller film directed and edited by Michael Winner. It is the third film and the last to be directed by Winner in the ''Death Wish'' film series. It stars Charles Bronson as the vigilante killer Paul Ke ...

'' (1985) as Kathryn Davis * '' Claudia'' (1985) as Claudia * '' Noble House'' (1988, TV miniseries, 2 episodes) as Casey Tcholok * ''

B.L. Stryker ''B.L. Stryker'' is an American detective drama that aired on ABC from February 13, 1989, to May 5, 1990, as part of the '' ABC Mystery Movie'' umbrella group, along with '' Columbo'', and ''Kojak''. Tom Selleck was one of the series' executive p ...

'' (1989, episode "Carolann") as Carolann * ''

Night of the Fox ''Night of the Fox'' is a 1990 made-for-TV film by Charles Jarrott, based on the 1986 novel Night of the Fox (novel), of the same name written by Jack Higgins. It was broadcast in France on TF1. Plot Professor Alan Stacy visits Jersey to compl ...

'' (1990) as Sarah Drayton * ''

Morning Glory Morning glory (also written as morning-glory) is the common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae, whose current taxonomy and systematics are in flux. Morning glory species belong to many genera, some of ...

'' (1993) as Elly Dinsmore (also co-writer of screenplay)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Raffin, Deborah 1953 births 2012 deaths 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women Actresses from Los Angeles American film actresses American television actresses American television directors American women film directors Burials at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery Deaths from cancer in California Deaths from leukemia Film directors from California Jewish American actresses American women television directors