Darlanne Fluegel, Actress in 'To Live and Die in L.A.' and 'Running Scared,' Dies at 64
She was not on the list.
The former Ford agency model also had pivotal roles in 'Once
Upon a Time in America,' 'Tough Guys' and TV's 'Crime Story.'
Darlanne Fluegel, who starred in such 1980s films as Once
Upon a Time in America, Tough Guys, To Live and Die in L.A. and Running Scared,
has died. She was 64.
Fluegel died Dec. 15 at her home in Orlando after a long
battle with Alzheimer's disease, her daughter, Jenna Carey, told The Hollywood
Reporter.
The alluring Fluegel portrayed Robert De Niro's girlfriend
in Sergio Leone's epic Once Upon a Time in America (1984) and was Kirk Douglas'
flame in Tough Guys (1986). In William Friedkin's crackling crime noir To Live
and Die in L.A. (1985), she played a police informant and junkie who's close to
William Petersen, and she was Billy Crystal's ex-wife in the comedy Running
Scared (1986).
"I had seen To Live and Die in L.A., and like anyone
who had seen that movie, I had a mad crush on Darlanne," Running Scared
director Peter Hyams said at a 25th anniversary screening of his film.
On the Chicago-set Crime Story, the gritty NBC drama from Michael
Mann that aired from 1986-88, Fluegel portrayed Julie, the wife of Dennis
Farina's cop. And on the final 1990-91 season of Fred Dryer's Hunter, also on
NBC, Fluegel co-starred as Officer Joanne Molenski before her character was
killed off.
In 2010, the Los Angeles Police Department included Fluegel
and her Hunter predecessor, Stepfanie Kramer, in an event celebrating female
officers.
One of six children, Fluegel was born in Wilkes-Barre,
Pennsylvania, and raised in Binghamton, New York. She moved to New York City
when she was 18 and was hired as a model by the legendary Eileen Ford.
She studied acting with Stella Adler and then moved into the
movies with her debut role — as a model — in the Irvin Kershner thriller Eyes
of Laura Mars (1978), starring Faye Dunaway.
"Let's just say that it wasn't much of a stretch to
portray a New York model being chased by a weirdo," she told People
magazine in 1986.
Fluegel also was seen on the 1985 pilot episode of MacGyver,
in the music video for Dwight Yoakam's "Little Sister" and in Roger
Corman's Battle Beyond the Stars (1980); Lock Up (1989), with Sylvester
Stallone; Pet Sematary II (1992); and Breaking Point (1994).
She later ran her own acting school, taught the craft as a
professor at the University of Central Florida and produced Land of the Rising
Fastball, a 2010 documentary about Japanese baseball that her daughter said is
used by the anthropology department at Yale.
Diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's when she was just 56,
Fluegel also is survived by her son, Coulter. A celebration of her life is
being planned for this spring.
Filmography
Films
Year Title Role Notes
1978 Eyes of Laura
Mars Lulu
1980 Battle Beyond
the Stars Nanelia
1981 The Animals'
Warm Slumber
1983 The Last
Fight Sally
1984 Once Upon a
Time in America Eve
1985 To Live And
Die In L.A. Ruth Lanier
1986 Running
Scared Anna Costanzo
1986 Tough Guys Skye
1988 Bulletproof Capt. Devon Shepard
1988 Deadly
Stranger Peggy Martin
1988 Freeway Sarah 'Sunny' Harper
1989 Lock Up Melissa
1990 Fatal Sky Phyllis 'Bird' McNamara
1992 Pet Sematary
Two Renee Hallow
1993 Slaughter of
the Innocents Susan Broderick
1994 Scanner Cop Dr. Joan Alden
1994 Breaking
Point Dana Preston / Molly Carpenter
1994 Relative Fear
Linda Pratman
1996 Darkman III:
Die Darkman Die Dr. Bridget Thorne
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1984 Concrete Beat
Stephanie Television film
1985 MacGyver Barbara Spencer Episode: Pilot
1986 The Twilight
Zone Mom Episode: "Gramma/Personal Demons/Cold
Reading"
1986 Alfred
Hitchcock Presents Zoe Episode: "Enough Rope for Two"
1986–1987 Crime
Story Julie Torello Main role (season 1), 11 episodes
1990 Wiseguy Lacey Recurring role, 5 episodes
1990–1991 Hunter
Off. Joanne Molenski Main role (season 7), 15 episodes
1994 Come Die with
Me Pat Chambers Television film
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