Darlanne Fluegel (November 25, 1953 – December 15, 2017) was an American actress, fashion model, film producer and professor.

[1] Fluegel played the female lead role in a number of films and television shows throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

[6] She was represented for 15 years by Ford Models and then with the Zoli Agency in New York while studying acting at Stella Adler.

"[6] Fluegel made her screen debut in a supporting role as a model in the 1978 Irvin Kershner film Eyes of Laura Mars.

Fluegel was featured as Robert De Niro's girlfriend Eve in Sergio Leone's 1984 film Once Upon a Time in America.

In 1985, she appeared in To Live and Die in L.A. as Ruth Lanier, an undercover informant, heroin addict, and a woman whose relationship with Secret Service Agent Richard Chance, portrayed by William Petersen, is primarily physical and transactional.

[7] In 1986, she portrayed Billy Crystal's ex-wife Anna in the buddy-cop action comedy Running Scared.

[8] Fluegel had a primary role during the first season of Michael Mann's NBC film noir drama series Crime Story playing Julie Torello, Detective Michael Torello's (portrayed by actor Dennis Farina) wife in 11 episodes from 1986 to 1987.

Their marriage crumbled over the show's first season, as Torello let the violence of his job bleed into his family life..."[9] Fluegel described her character as "a woman trying to come to terms with the 60s.

[1] Fluegel taught acting and drama as a professor at University of Central Florida's School of Film and Digital Media program from 2002 to 2007.

[11] At the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles in 2011, Fluegel encouraged the audience to be receptive to their life experiences.

"[12] Fluegel co-produced the 2010 documentary film The Land of the Rising Fastball, an examination of Japan's interest in baseball and the sociological role it has held throughout that nation's growth, from its introduction in 1872, through World War II to today.

"There was a lot of pressure from agents, publicists and even Gene Shalit on The Today Show asked why I (kept) it, but I want my family to be proud of me.