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Topics: Celebrity
Phoebe Tonks
Annabel Schofield a staple of the 1980’s fashion scene and subsequent Dallas actress, has died at the age of 62.
The Welsh-born model passed away on February 28 after a gruelling battle with brain cancer.
Well known for appearing on hundreds of magazine covers during her career, Schofield often represented brands such as Yves Saint Laurent, Rimmel and Revlon.
In particular, she gained global recognition for an iconic appearance in a Bugle Boy Jeans TV commercial where she delivered the line, “Excuse me, are those Bugle Boy jeans you’re wearing?” while driving through the desert in a black Ferrari sports car.
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Represented by London’s Take Two Agency for much of her modelling career, the agency’s former owner Melissa Richardson paid tribute to how substantial Schofield’s impact had been on the business - and the fashion industry - during that time.
“She was one of David Bailey’s favorites and appeared in countless shoots for Italian Vogue,” recalled Richardson. “She was the forerunner of Take Two — without her, we could never have made it as we did. We loved her because she was funny and real and beautiful and down to earth. She never changed from the sweet little 17-year-old Welsh girl I first met. She was directly loyal, caring, and above all, a raging beauty. She knew her craft. She was the best.”
Born on September 4, 1963 in Llanelli, Wales, Schofield was surrounded by stardom all her life, thanks to her father, John D Schofield, who worked as an executive film producer on star studded films, including Romancing the Stone, Jerry Maguire and As Good As it Gets.
So much so, at the height of her modelling career Schofield appeared to have been bitten by the acting bug and chose to swap her cozy British life for the bright lights of Hollywood, to take on a recurring role alongside Larry Hagman as Laurel Ellis in the soap opera Dallas.
Following her stint on the long running soap opera, she took on a handful of other roles, before later moving to follow in her father’s footsteps and work behind the camera instead.
She is credit for a number of memorable production roles for The Brothers Grimm, Doom and City of Ember, and in 2010 even founded her own Burbank based company Bella Bene Productions, which allowed her to develop commercials, music and fashion projects.
During this time she also struck up a creative partnership with director and graphic artist Nick Egan, best known for his work with music legends such as The Ramones, The Clash, Duran Duran and Oasis. This in turn led to further collaborations with photographers like Andrew McPherson, Ellen von Unwerth, Michael Muller and Will Camden - the latter of which was the brains behind a stunning 3D Guerlain campaign with Angelina Jolie.
She is survived only by her mother, having lost both her father and sister Amanda, in the years prior to her death.