Actress Elizabeth Baur Dead At 69

Actress Elizabeth Baur, known for her role in the TV show “Ironside,” has died at the age of 69.

Baur died on Sept. 30 after a long illness, her publicist told The Hollywood Reporter. The iconic actress was known for the role of Officer Fran Belding on the NBC crime drama “Ironside.”

She appeared in 89 episodes of the show, first appearing in its fourth season and staying until it ended in 1975.

Baur, a Los Angeles native, started her career in the 1968 Tony Curtis film “The Boston Strangler,” before beginning to work in television.

She ultimately left the industry to raise her daughter. She is survived by her husband, Steve, and her daughter, producer Lesley Worton. She was first cousin to “Cagney & Lacey” star Sharon Bless.

Baur’s death came on the heels of several celebrity deaths, most notably legendary musician Tom Petty, who died of cardiac arrest at the age of 66.

“On behalf of the Tom Petty family, we are devastated to announce the untimely death of our father, husband, brother, leader and friend Tom Petty,” Petty’s manager, Tony Dimitriades, said in a statement, Rolling Stone reported. “He suffered cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu in the early hours of this morning and was taken to UCLA Medical Center but could not be revived. He died peacefully at 8:40 p.m. PT surrounded by family, his bandmates and friends.”

Petty’s friend and The Traveling Wilburys bandmate Bob Dylan reacted to the news in a statement to Rolling Stone.

“It’s shocking, crushing news,” Dylan’s statement read. “I thought the world of Tom. He was a great performer, full of the light, a friend, and I’ll never forget him.”

At the time of his death, Petty had just completed a 40th anniversary tour with his band, The Heartbreakers.

“Tom is in a position where he could do anything he wants with anyone he wants,” Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell said in a recent interview following the reformation of their early 1970s group, Mudcrutch. “The beauty of this is that he wants to reconnect with his old friends, not for money, but the pure joy of revisiting the energy that we started with. It’s been very, very spiritual. It’s commendable that he’d do something so generous.”

Before the massive 40th anniversary tour, Petty told Rolling Stone he felt he might not tour much more after the 50-show undertaking.

“I’m thinking it may be the last trip around the country,” he said. “It’s very likely we’ll keep playing, but will we take on 50 shows in one tour? I don’t think so. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was thinking this might be the last big one. We’re all on the backside of our sixties. I have a granddaughter now I’d like to see as much as I can. I don’t want to spend my life on the road.”

Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone / Featured Image: Pixabay / Embedded Images: CBS Television/Wikimedia Commons, Photofest via Hollywood Reporter