Deborah Raffin Dies: Actress Turned Popular Audiobook Publisher Passes Away after Yearlong Battle with Leukemia at 59

Deborah Raffin, a popular film and television actress who later went on to pioneer in the audiobook publishing industry, died after a tough battle with leukemia on Wednesday, Nov. 21, her brother William confirms. Raffin was diagnosed with the blood cancer just a year ago at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She passed away at the age of 59.

Raffin starred in a number of films throughout the 1970s-1980s, including "The Dove" (1974), "Touched by Love" (1980), and "Death Wish 3" (1985). She also made several TV appearances on hit shows including the long-running family sitcom "7th Heaven" (as Aunt Julie Camden).

Raffin later went on to produce audiobooks at a time when they were still rather undiscovered. The "Noble House" actress and her former husband Michael Viner founded "Dove Books-on-Tape" at their home which recorded such classics as "The Naked Face" by Sidney Sheldon and "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking. Raffin married the film and record producer in 1974 and the couple divorced in 2005 - Viner died of cancer in 2009.

Raffin once told the Riverside Press-Enterprise in 1996 - "I've enjoy acting, but I've never been driven to just act. I've always had a desire to produce, to be in control of my own destiny, to be able to find material and develop it."

Raffin recruited many popular celebrity voices to read for her audiobook collection, including Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, and even Mother Teresa (Raffin actually traveled to Calcutta to get the Nobel Prize Winner's story on tape).

Raffin is survived by her sister Judy Holston, her brother William, and her daughter Tayor Rose Viner. Memorial services for the actress turned audiobook entrepreneur will take place in Culver City (West Los Angeles) on Sunday, Nov. 25.