American actress and model Toukie Smith, also known as the former partner of Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro, has died in a New York hospital at the age of 74. Her children announced the news to journalists, Entertainment Weekly reports, according to infohub.kz.
The twins Erin and Julian confirmed the sad news to The Hollywood Reporter on Monday, November 9. According to them, Smith died on November 4 after a long and courageous battle with multiple sclerosis; the family declined to disclose details of the course of the illness.
She became widely known on television for her role as Eva Rawley in the fourth and fifth seasons of the hit NBC sitcom "227." Beyond acting, Smith built a successful career in modeling, working with leading high-fashion houses including Chanel, Versace, Norma Kamali, Thierry Mugler and Patrick Kelly. She also regularly walked the runway in designs by her brother, fashion designer Willi Smith, until his tragic death at the age of 39 in 1987 from pneumonia caused by complications of AIDS.
Born Doris A. Smith on September 25, 1952, she received the distinctive nickname Toukie in childhood from her grandmother, after an energetic red fire engine in a children's story. Before launching her modeling career in 1972, she studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, and in 1978 Bloomingdale's named her model of the year. Ten years after her runway success, Smith made her debut in the series "Miami Vice" and later appeared in the films "Straight Talk," "Joe's Apartment" and "The Preacher's Wife."
Smith's romantic relationship with Robert De Niro lasted from 1988 to 1996, though the couple carefully shielded their private life from press attention. In October 1995, a surrogate mother gave birth to twin boys for the couple, and a year later the union ended. She also worked in cooking, owning the catering company Toukie's Taste, which organized the wedding anniversary of Sean Penn and Madonna, and later briefly ran a restaurant in New York.