Darlanne Fluegel Biography
Darlanne Fluegel was an American actress and model. She had the female lead roles in a number of films throughout the 1980s as Eileen Ford and Zoli Agencies in New York.
Darlanne Fluegel Age
She was born on 25 November 1953 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States. She was diagnosed at age 56 with early onset Alzheimer’s disease, Fluegel died at her Orlando, Florida, home on December 15, 2017, at the age of 64.
Darlanne Fluegel Height
The late American actress stood at a height of 1.72 m.
Darlanne Fluegel Family
Her father was a chiropractor and her mother was a Department of Social Security employee. She, her two older sisters, and her three younger brothers grew up Binghamton, New York. Her father passed away when she was 16 years old and she subsequently started to work as a model to support herself.
Darlanne Fluegel Husband
She married Michael Ira Small in 1993 and divorced in 2004. They had two children together.
Darlanne Fluegel Children
She has two children; daughter Jenicka Carey, who has followed in her mother’s footsteps to become an actress, and a son, Coulter Nathan Small.
Darlanne Fluegel Career
After her father’s death,she had no desire to be a burden on her mother and decided to pursue a career in modelling.
Prominent fashion personality Eileen Ford took her under her wing and quickly found success in the industry. Active from 1974 to 1981, she was signed with the Ford Agency before joining Zoli. She felt like she had become a washed-out model by the time she turned 25.
She had appeared as an actress in the mystery thriller ‘ Eyes of Laura Mars’ in 1978, portraying a model stalked by one of her fans. As she had experiences with “creeps” in her real life, her performance in the film did not require much effort on her part, according to Fluegel. Nevertheless, she wanted to do more acting and she took lessons from Stella Adler.
Her portrayal of the female lead in the cult sci-fi film ‘ Battle Beyond the Stars ‘ (1980) gained her significant fame. Subsequently, she impressed the critics by portraying Robert De Niro’s girlfriend Eve in Sergio Leone’s epic crime drama’ Once Upon a Time in America’ (1984). She also worked in the sports drama’ The Last Fight’ with writer / director Fred Williamson.
She first appeared on the small screen in 1984 in the TV movie ‘ Concrete Beat.’ She was cast in the 1985 action thriller’ To Live and Die in L.A.’ opposite to William Petersen. Her character, Ruth Lanier, is a U.S. Secret Service junkie and informant. She made back-to-back guest appearances in two legendary television shows in 1986:’ The Twilight Zone’ and’ Alfred Hitchcock Presents.’
She played the former wife of Billy Crystal in the action comedy’ Running Scared’ in 1986. The film’s director, Peter Hyams, later said he had a huge crush on Fluegel since he saw her in’ To Live and Die in L.A.’ She also appeared in’ Tough Guys’ that year, an action comedy in which she portrayed Kirk Douglas’s romantic interest.
In the gritty NBC drama series ‘ Crime Story’ (1986-87) by Michael Mann, Fluegel was cast as Julie Torello, Lt. Mike Torello’s wife (Dennis Farina). In the 1989 prison drama’ Lock Up,’ Fluegel shared screen space with Sylvester Stallone. In several episodes of CBS ‘ crime-drama series ‘ Wiseguy,’ she portrayed the recurring character Lacey.
She appeared as Off in the final season (1990-91) of the NBC crime-drama series ‘ Hunter.’ Joanne Molenski, a role that earned her critical acclaim. In 2010, Fluegel was invited to a Los Angeles Police Department event celebrating women officers in force along with her’ Hunter’ predecessor Stepfanie Kramer.
Fluegel’s film credits include ‘ Fatal Sky ‘ (1990), ‘ Pet Sematary II ‘ (1992), ‘ Slaughter of the Innocents ‘ (1993), and ‘ Darkman III: Die Darkman Die ‘ (1996). Her last screen appearance was in the short film ‘ No Worries ‘ from 2008.