Actress Mira Furlan, who was best known for her roles in Babylon 5 and Lost, has sadly passed away at the age of 65.
Furlan garnered legions of fans in her role as the fiery Minbari Ambassador Delenn on the sci-fi show Babylon 5.
The news was announced last night on the actor’s Twitter feed and was later confirmed by the creator of Babylon 5, J. Michael Straczynski, who posted a lengthy and moving tribute to Furlan.
The cause of death is currently unknown, but in his tribute, Straczynski wrote that he had “known for some time now that Mira’s health was fading.”
Straczynski tweeted yesterday: “It is a night of great sadness, for our friend and comrade had gone down the road where we cannot reach her.”
He added: “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.”
Mira Furlan’s cause of death isn’t publicly known
In his tribute, Straczynski implied that Mira had spent some time in the hospital and that they had been hopeful of a recovery. But he also suggested that the cast and crew had expected and had been “dreading this day.”
He called Mira “a good and kind woman, a stunningly talented performer, and a friend to everyone” at Babylon 5. He said the cast and crew were “devastated by the news.”
A tweet was also posted to Mira Furlan’s account, which featured a quote from the actress that included: “Let me close my eyes and sense the beauty around me. And take that breath under the dark sky. Breathe in. Breathe out. That is all.”
Fans sent their online tributes to Mira Furlan
One Twitter user who described themselves as a “very sad fan” wrote: “I adored her as Delenn. She felt authentic and was awesomely passionate, fierce, and always very beautiful.”
Food influencer Rocco Botte tweeted that the actress was one of their “favorite characters in all of TV” and added, “Total badass. RIP Mira Furlan.”
Another fan wrote that they were “absolutely gutted to wake up to the news about Mira Furlan’s passing.” They added that they’d once met the actress at a convention and said, “she was such a lovely lady.”
Another fan commented that they don’t usually get upset when hearing of celebrity deaths; however, they admitted to crying on hearing about Furlan’s passing.
In his statement, Straczynski spoke of how Furlan had been born in the former Yugoslavia and how she had traveled around that country during its violent breakup in the 1990s.
He said she had regularly received death threats, but luckily she managed to escape to the United States, where she ended up working at Babylon 5.
Straczynski also said he tried to bring Furlan’s feisty temperament and commentary about the situation in wartorn Yugoslavia to the Delenn character.
Mira Furlan was also known for her role as Danielle Rousseau in Lost, and recently she starred as Vonn Odara in Space Command.
In other tragic news this week, celebrity pastor, Ed Young, announced the death of his eldest daughter, LeeBeth Young. The cause of death is still unknown.
Also, this week, Memphis based rapper BABY CEO, aka Big CEO, passed away. His cause of death is also unknown, but his family has said it was not the result of violence.