R.I.P. Marcia De Rousse: ‘True Blood’ Actor Dead at 70

Marcia de Rousse, an actor best known for her role on True Blood, died Sept. 2, Variety reports. She was 70 and passed away in Altadena, California after suffering from a long illness.

Born in Doniphan, Missouri, she graduated from the University of Missouri with degrees in Drama and English, according to her Facebook page. She had told TrueBloodNet.com in a 2009 interview that she initially “believed that [she] was going to teach special ed” when she went to college, but “walked past the theater department one day and walked in and that was it.”

“I thought, ‘Oh no, this is home. This is where I’m supposed to be,'” she said.

De Rousse’s first IMDb credit was the 1981 film Under the Rainbow, in which she portrayed a Hotel Rainbow guest.

She made her debut as Dr. Ludwig in the HBO drama’s third episode of Season 2, titled “Scratches.” She reprised the role in two other episodes.

True Blood premiered in 2008 and ran for seven seasons, following Anna Paquin‘s Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress with telepathic abilities who falls in love with vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer).

Another notable credential of de Rousse’s includes playing Kathleen in the 2002 romance drama Tiptoes, which starred Gary Oldman, Kate Beckinsale, Matthew McConaughey, Peter Dinklage and Patricia Arquette.

De Rousse’s most recent film role was portraying Ms. Judith in the 2016 thriller The Disappointments Room, which starred Beckinsale and Lucas Till.

According to TVFanatic, deRousse shared her medical struggles on her Facebook page, where she recently posted about falling in her doctor’s office in April, which caused a “dangerous” shift of her hiatal hernia.

“Can’t eat, can’t breathe, just general misery,” she shared with her followers, before writing, “Pallative [sic] care comes soon, and we wait to turn into hospice and then to die. Thank you all for being great friends. Love to you.”