Lost star Mira Furlan has died aged 65.
The news was confirmed on the actress’s official Twitter page, revealing that Furlan died on Wednesday, January 20.
The post included a quote from Furlan, reading: ‘I look at the stars. It’s a clear night and the Milky Way seems so near.
That’s where I’ll be going soon. “We’re all star stuff”. I suddenly remember Delenn’s line from Joe’s script. Not a bad prospect. I am not afraid.
‘In the meantime, let me close my eyes and sense the beauty around me. And take that breath under the dark sky full of stars. Breathe in. Breathe out. That’s all.’
J Michael Straczynski, who wrote the sci-fi series Babylon 5, on which Furlan played Minbari ambassador Delenn, also posted a tribute to the actress.
He tweeted: ‘It is a night of great sadness, for our friend and comrade had gone down the road where we cannot reach her.
But as with all things, we will catch up with her in time, and I believe she will have many stories to tell us, and many new roles to share with the universe.’
It is a night of great sadness, for our friend and comrade had gone down the road where we cannot reach her.
But as with all things, we will catch up with her in time, and I believe she will have many stories to tell us, and many new roles to share with the universe. pic.twitter.com/HyQlqyC19v
— J. Michael Straczynski (@straczynski) January 22, 2021
In a statement, Straczynski indicated that Furlan had suffered from ill health for a while when she died.
He wrote: ‘We’ve known for some time that Mira’s health was failing… I’m not sure that this is the right time or place to discuss the sheer randomness of what happened… and have all been dreading this day. We kept hoping that she would improve.’
He continued: ‘Mira was a good and kind woman, a stunningly talented performer, and a friend to everyone in the cast and crew of Babylon 5, and we are all devastated by the news.
The cast members with whom she was especially close since the show’s end will need room to process this moment, so please be gentle if they are unresponsive for a time. We have been down this road too often, and it only gets harder.
‘If you are a fan of Mira’s work, fire up those special moments when she shook the heavens, and relive the art she brought to her work.
For any actor, that is the best tribute possible: for the work to endure. As much as this is a time to grieve, it is also a time to celebrate her life and her courage.’
Furlan was born in Yugoslavia in 1955 and got into acting at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb.
One of her first roles was as Ankica Vidmar in When Father Was Away On Business, which won the Palme d’Or at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for best foreign language film.
In the early 90s she fled turmoil in Yugoslavia and emigrated to the US, where she joined the cast of Babylon 5 in 1993.
Furlan played Delenn in all five series of the sci-fi hit, as well as a number of television movies.
In 2004, she joined the cast of Lost as Danielle Rousseau, also known as ‘the French woman’, the scientist who shipwrecks on the island sixteen years prior to the crash of Oceanic Flight 815.
She had a recurring role as Rousseau for the first four seasons of Lost, and made guest appearances in the sixth season.