Dinner with Deborah Raffin

Here's a snapshot of the past. This brief newspaper piece discusses a dinner at the home of Deborah Raffin and her husband Michael Viner in 1977. Some interesting items are mentioned such as 'Circus of the Stars' (which Viner was producing and Raffin participated in) and various upcoming projects. One project, also mentioned in other articles from 1977, was an adaptation of Diana Ramsay's 1975 book "The Dark Descends" which apparently never happened.

Deborah Raffin: 1980 newspaper profile

Here is a 1980 newspaper profile about Deborah Raffin titled "Deborah Raffin returns to films after a long five-year absence." The article features some fantastic quotes from Deborah Raffin concerning her new film Touched by Love as well as her beginnings and ambitions as an actress.

"I took up acting because I was shy and though it would help me come out of my shell," she said. "And it did. I found I could do and say things I was far too embarrassed to say as Deborah. But I could do it as another character and say, hey, it wasn't me.

"It was an emotional release. From that it developed into something I wanted to pursue. I enjoyed creating characters and pieces of others lives. It allowed me to be totally vulnerable. Totally open. That's why I like it so much."

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Deborah Raffin: 1986 charity work

Here is some information about some of the activities Deborah Raffin was engaging in for charity in 1986.

Deborah Raffin was also scheduled to play in a 1986 tennis tournament:

Apparently, she liked tennis and in December of 1976 she announced a resolution for the new year:

Press for Sparkling Cyanide

Here is a selection of articles related to Deborah Raffin's 1983 TV mystery movie Sparkling Cyanide. One of the articles refers to Deborah Raffin as "one of the great beauties of our time," and I would tend to agree!

Click here to see some photos from the movie.

Deborah Raffin to star in Dry Hustle

Here's an interesting bit of press concerning Deborah Raffin and a project that (I guess) never happened. Apparently, her long-time husband Michael Viner was producing a film to be titled 'Dry Hustle.' Various names, including Barbara Streisand, Glenda Jackson and Bette Midler had previously been attached to star in the film but had all dropped out for various reasons. Still wanting to move ahead on the problem-plagued production, Deborah Raffin was announced as star but, as far as I can tell, the movie never ended up being made.

Deborah Raffin: The latest American heroine

Here's a nice profile of Deborah Raffin from 1983. In the first part of the article, her two new projects that year, the TV movie Running Out and the feature film Dance of the Dwarfs, are discussed. The second section of the article focuses on her personal life.

Deborah Raffin: Actress enjoying Chinese adulation

Here's a nice vintage newspaper clipping from 1983 about Deborah Raffin. The entire article concerns the actress and her special relationship with China.

 

 

Deborah Raffin is a Jane Fonda fan

In this short newspaper clipping from October 1983, Deborah Raffin discusses diet and exercise. She reveals that she does the Jane Fonda Workout every morning and then talks a bit about what she typically eats. How interesting!

Deborah Raffin talks Death Wish 3

In 1985, Deborah Raffin played Charles Bronson's love interest in Death Wish 3. Deborah Raffin had worked with the director of the film, Michael Winner, before in the 1977 horror classic The Sentinel. In Death Wish 3, Deborah Raffin plays a public defender. However, the primary purpose of her character in the movie is to die and further spur on the vigilante vengeance of star Charles Bronson. The following newspaper clipping from 1985 features quotes from Deborah Raffin about the film and character.

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Deborah Raffin gets some press for Ski Lift to Death

In 1978, Deborah Raffin starred in Ski Lift to Death. The TV movie also featured such names as Charles Frank, Howard Duff, Clu Gulager (who would co-star with Deborah Raffin the following year in another TV movie, Willa), Veronica Hamel and Don Johnson.

This project was Deborah Raffin's second starring role in a TV movie (the first was Nightmare in Badham County in 1976). Ski Lift to Death (later released under the title Snowblind) may not be her best remembered made-for-TV work but it fits right in with the campy material she was involving herself in the late 1970s.

Regardless of the stature of this film today, it was a movie of the week on CBS back in 1978 and it got a decent amount of publicity. Here are two examples of newspaper promos, both featuring a photograph of Deborah Raffin and co-star Charles Frank:

Deborah Raffin herself also got some press coverage for her role in Ski Lift to Death. This first article discusses how, since she was portraying a ski champion, Deborah Raffin had to take ski lessons in order to make it seem plausible.

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This article goes much more detail about Deborah Raffin's experiences making the movie:

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The article "Canada's cold turned actress into frigid fatty" (which is a slightly odd title) was also published elsewhere under this title:

Deborah Raffin: almost a Revlon girl

In the summer of 1976, it was reported that Deborah Raffin was likely to replace Lauren Hutton as the face of Revlon cosmetics.

In the following article, published in November 1976, Deborah Raffin says that she would rather act than model. Though, at this point, she was still in talks to work for Revlon.

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Though rumors swirled over the fall of 1976, Deborah Raffin did not not end up taking the job. By December of that year, it was being reported that she had turned them down.

Deborah Raffin admits she's a 'gypsy at heart'

Here's a great newspaper article about Deborah Raffin from the summer of 1984. The primary purpose of the piece is to discuss how much she travels, jetting around to different countries for location shoots. Her two homes, in Beverly Hills and Vermont, are also discussed. Other issues, such as how many suitcases she brings along when traveling (!) and her relationship with then-husband Michael Viner are also touched on.

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No nudity for Deborah Raffin

A while ago, a newspaper article was featured here which discussed the fact that Deborah Raffin does not appear nude. Apparently, this was supposed to be a big deal and various people down the line thought that it was a newsworthy story. This article, from 1982, actually just uses the no nudity thing as a hook for the title, discusses it briefly and then moves on to become a standard profile. Some interesting topics are touched on, however, like Deborah Raffin's comments on her movie Dance of the Dwarfs and also that she did the stage play 'Bus Stop' at a dinner theater owned by Burt Reynolds in Jupiter, Florida.

Click the pieces to enlarge them. The second image is a continuation of the first row of text in the top image.

Deborah Raffin gets press for Running Out

Deborah Raffin maintained a steady presence on American television in the early 1980s. One TV movie made during this time, Running Out, though not well-remembered today received quite a bit of press attention around the time of it's original broadcast. Take a look at this series of newspaper clippings about the 1983 project, which co-starred Tony Bill and Ari Meyers.

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Deborah Raffin does not appear nude

Deborah Raffin (to my knowledge) never appeared nude in any project throughout her lengthy career. As these newspaper articles from the mid-1970s make perfectly clear, Deborah Raffin doesn't get naked on film. She even had it written into her contract! She also, apparently, had a clause specifying that body doubles could not be used to make appear that she did take her clothes off.

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Deborah Raffin performs at the Showboat in 1975

In August 1975, Deborah Raffin was performing the stage play 'Come Blow Your Horn' by Neil Simon at the Showboat Dinner Theatre in St. Petersburg, Florida. Her husband and manager at that time, Michael Viner, apparently wanted to generate some publicity for the shows, leading to the two incidents described in the articles below:

(click either article to view full size)