Furlan passed on Wednesday from complications with West Nile infection.
Mira Furlan, the entertainer behind Danielle Rousseau on Lost and Delenn on Babylon 5, kicked the bucket Wednesday in Los Angeles because of difficulties with West Nile infection. She was 65.
The Twitter represent Furlan reported the news on Thursday, and her administrator, Chris Roe, affirmed the reason for death in a proclamation to EW.
“It is with great sadness that I confirm the passing of Mira Furlan,” Roe said. “She was a woman full of kindness, strength, and compassion. Mira passed away on Wednesday, Jan. 20, following complications from West Nile virus. She died peacefully at her home in Los Angeles, surrounded by her family. We will all continue to celebrate her life and legacy, and know she’ll always be here with us.”
J. Michael Straczynski, the maker of Babylon 5, written an in memoriam recognition for Furlan that he shared over web-based media. He reviewed the opportunity she came to try out for the science fiction arrangement, which ran for five seasons beginning in 1994.
“When Mira Furlan came to audition for Babylon 5, her home country of Yugoslavia was in turmoil and shattering into two separate countries,” Straczynski wrote. “During our first meeting, we spoke about her work and her life, and I learned that she had been part of a touring theater group that continued to cross borders of the disintegrating country despite receiving death threats from both sides in the civil war. I expressed my admiration for her courage, but she shrugged and waved it off. ‘What’s the worst that could have happened? Yes, they could have killed me. So what? Art should have no borders.’ Very few people knew that side of Mira: the fiery, fearless side that fought ceaselessly for her art.”
Furlan was known for her film, TV, and stage work in Yugoslavia before she emigrated to the United States in 1981. She featured in 1985’s When Father Was Away on Business, which got Golden Globe and Oscar selections for best worldwide film. She would land her part as Babylon 5’s Minbari envoy only a couple years after the fact in 1993.
Straczynski said how he “tried to write speeches for her” on the show as Delenn “that would allow her to comment on what was happening to her homeland without calling it out by name.”
“I guess I must have done it correctly,” he said, “because one day during the Minbari Civil War arc, she appeared in my office door, a cup of tea in one hand, in full makeup but wearing a pull-over robe from wardrobe, and said, ‘So, how long did you live in Yugoslavia?’ “
In 2004, Furlan appeared what might turn into another famous part among American crowds, Danielle, on the 10th scene of Lost’s first season. Arrangement maker Damon Lindelof partook in a proclamation on Instagram, “Danielle Rousseau moves into the light. Rest In Peace, Mira… we are deeply grateful for all you did to protect the island.”
Furlan was most recently seen on screen in the 2020 web series Space Command.
She is made due by husband Goran Gajić and their son Marko.