Deborah Raffin

American actress (1953–2012)

Michael Viner

(m. 1974; div. 2005)

Children1Parent

Trudy Marshall (mother)

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 Scanners II: The New Order 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.^[3] 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

1973 40 Carats as Trina Stanley
1974 The Dove as Patti Ratteree
1975 Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough as January Wayne
1976 God Told Me To as Casey Forster
1976 Nightmare in Badham County (TV Movie)
1977 The Sentinel as Jennifer
1977 The Ransom (aka Assault on Paradise) as Cindy Simmons
1979 Mind Over Murder (TV Movie) as Suzy
1979 The Last Convertible (TV Miniseries, 2 Episodes)
1980 Touched by Love as Lena Canada
1980 Haywire (TV Miniseries) as Brooke Hayward
1981 Killing at Hell’s Gate (TV Movie) as Anna Medley
1982 For Lovers Only as Lilah Ward
1983 Dance of the Dwarfs as Dr. Evelyn Howard
1983 Running Out (TV movie) as Elizabeth St. Claire
1983 Grizzly II: Revenge as Samantha Owens
1983 Sparkling Cyanide (TV movie) as Iris Murdoch
1984 Lace II (TV Miniseries, 3 Episodes) as Judy Hale
1984 Last Video and Testament episode from Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense (TV Series) as Selena Frankham
1985 Death Wish 3 as Kathryn Davis
1985 Claudia as Claudia
1988 Noble House (TV Miniseries, 2 Episodes) as Casey Tcholok
1989 B.L. Stryker (episode "Carolann") as Carolann
1990 Night of the Fox as Sarah Drayton
1993 Morning Glory as Elly Dinsmore (also co-writer of screenplay)

References

^ "Raffin plays woman on run". Detroit Free Press: 35. 1983-01-26. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
^ "Mark of the Gorilla". Geostan.ca. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
^ ^a ^b Weinraub, Bernard (28 February 1993). "Michael Viner and Deborah Raffin; Selling Books to a Generation That Won't Sit Still". The New York Times. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
^ "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". Nl.newsbank.com. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
^ "NewsLibrary Search Results". Nl.newsbank.com. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
^ Sue Reilly, "As for Marriage, Deborah Raffin & Michael Viner Say Once Is Quite Enough" Archived 2015-09-25 at the Wayback Machine People, October 1, 1979.
^ "People: Nov. 8, 1982", Time, November 8, 1982.
^ Elaine Woo, "Michael Viner dies at 65; tabloid book publisher", Los Angeles Times, August 13, 2009.
^ Woo, Elaine (November 21, 2012). "Deborah Raffin dies at 59; actress was also a force in audio books". Los Angeles Times.
^ "Deborah Raffin, an Actress and Audiobook Publisher, Dies at 59". New York Times. November 23, 2012.