Croatian actor Mira Furlan, famous for playing Minbari Ambassador Delenn on the sci-fi drama series ‘Babylon 5’, passed away on Friday. The news was first announced on Furlan’s Twitter account and was then confirmed by her close friend and director of ‘Babylon 5’, J Michael Straczynski.
Straczynski paid tribute to his former colleague, describing her as a ‘good and kind woman, a stunningly talented performer’.
“It is a night of great sadness, for our friend and comrade had gone down the road where we cannot reach her. 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,” he wrote.
No cause of death was revealed by Straczynski wrote, “We’ve known for some time now that Mira’s health was failing… and have been all dreading this day.”
Furlan featured in all five installments of ‘Babylon 5’, from 1994-1998, after which she gave birth to her only son Marko Lav and released an album titled ‘Songs From Movies That Have Never Been Made’. From 2004-2010, she played a scientist stranded on a remote island in the hit mystery drama series Lost.
She was well-known in Croatian theatre, many awards against her name. Furlan starred in numerous plays, TV series and films, including Emir Kusturica’s ‘Palm d’Or-winning’ and Oscar-nominated 1985 film ‘When Father Was Away On Business’.
It was only after Furlan and her husband emigrated to the US in 1991, that she landed the role of Ambassador Delenn in Babylon 5, which ran for five seasons. According to Straczynski, Furlan had been receiving death threats over her continuing travel across the disintegrating country with a theater troupe and so she had to move out of Croatia.
The latter part of her career saw the Lost actor dabble between Hollywood and Croatia.
