SALON

Actress Deborah Raffin dies at age 59

Topics: From the Wires,

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Deborah Raffin, an actress who ran a successful audiobook company with her ex-husband, has died. She was 59.

Raffin’s brother, William, tells the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/R0q9NM ) his sister died Wednesday of leukemia at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She was diagnosed with the blood cancer about a year ago.

Raffin, the daughter of 20th Century Fox contract player Trudy Marhsall, had roles in movies such as “Forty Carats” and “Once Is Not Enough.” She also starred in television miniseries, most notably playing actress Brooke Hayward in “Haywire.”

She and her then-husband, music producer Michael Viner, launched Dove Books-on-Tape, which blossomed into a multimillion-dollar business.

Raffin is survived by her two siblings, William and Judy Holston; and a daughter, Taylor Rose Viner.

Services are set for Sunday.

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