Mira Furlan, best known for her roles as Delenn in “Babylon 5” and Danielle Rousseau in “Lost”, died on Wednesday. She was 65 years old.
Her Twitter account announced the news on Thursday, and “Babylon 5” creator J. Michael Straczynski posted a tribute to the actress that night.
– Mira Furlan (@FurlanMira) January 22, 2021
Although the cause of death has yet to be revealed, Straczynski said the cast and crew of “Babylon 5” “had known for some time that Mira’s health was getting worse.” “We were hoping it would improve,” he wrote. “In a group email sent to the cast some time ago, I heard that it may be getting better.”
However, Straczynski said she later received a call from “Babylon 5” co-star Peter Jurasik that Furlan’s husband, director Goran Gajić, was “bringing her home”.
“Mira was a good and kind woman, an incredibly talented performer and a friend of everyone in the cast and crew of ‘Babylon 5’, and we are all devastated by the news,” he wrote. “The cast members she was especially close to since the end of the show will need space to process this moment, so please be kind if they are left unanswered for a while. We have already traveled this path very often, and it only gets more difficult ”.
It is a night of great sadness, as our friend and comrade had come down the road where we cannot reach it. But, as with all things, we will achieve it over time, and I believe it 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
Furlan was born in the former Yugoslavia, where she played various roles on the stage and was part of the National Theater of Croatia, and emigrated to the United States in 1991. She entered the space opera “Babylon 5” as Delenn, Minbari’s ambassador to the titleholder space station in 1993 and would star in the series for its five seasons. In 2004, she made her ABC megahit debut “Lost” as Danielle Rousseau, a scientist who was shipwrecked on the show’s mysterious island 16 years before the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. It was repeated throughout the series in the following seasons.
Furlan continued to act last year and has accumulated dozens of credits in films and TV throughout his life. His film credits include Emir Kusturica’s Oscar-nominated “When Father Was Away on Business”, “Beauty of Vice”, “Three For Happiness” and “In the Jaws of Life”.
She leaves Gajić and her son, Marko Lav Gajić.