Memories of Childhood...Deborah Raffin, Model and Actress, Dies at 59

An important part of my childhood died on November 21st. Deborah Raffin may not be a household name in 2012, but when I was a kid, she was a model, actress and someone I looked up to. She was only 12 years older than me. I never even knew that. It's kind of upsetting that it took me six days to hear of her death.

When I was ten, she starred in the film version of Jacqueline Suzanne's "Once is Not Enough." I was so intrigued by the idea of the movie that I got the book. The movie was rated R, and I was only ten, so it took a while for me to catch the movie on television. But it was Raffin as the star that got me interested. She was the face on my Teen and Seventeen magazines!

Thanks to Raffin, I also fell in love with reading, because the discovery that the movie was based on a book lead me to search out Suzanne's other books. Granted, not exactly literature, but after reading ghost stories and teen novels, starting somewhere was the point. In the history of great, juicy romantic and sexy story writing, Jackie Suzanne wasn't a bad start.

Deborah Raffin also went on to star in "Touched by Love" starring Diane Lane about a girl (Lane) with Cerebral Palsy who had a crush on Elvis Presley. Encouraging her to write to her favorite singer was emotional tug of the movie, and Raffin played her caregiver. I can still remember my sister and I sobbing, uncontrollably, at the end of that movie.

I never even knew she was the beginning of Dove Audiobooks, but it makes sense that she'd keep on doing interesting and exciting things as time went on. She had that spark that made girls want to be her, of course she was making changes.

As a model and actress, Raffin filled my world throughout the 80s, and I've never forgotten her. Death from leukemia at 59? She takes with her some of my childhood dreams.

Deborah Raffin, Actress and Audiobook Entrepreneur, Dies at 59 - The Hollywood Reporter:

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