Annabel Schofield, ‘Dallas’ Actress and ‘80s Fashion Icon, Dies at 62
annabel schofield, the Welsh-born model who moved into television and film, has died. She passed away on Feb. 28 in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer; she was 62.
Annabel Schofield on the runway and in front of the camera
Born on Sept. 4, 1963, in Llanelli, Wales, Schofield rose to prominence as a defining face of 1980s London fashion, appearing on Italian Vogue covers and starring in campaigns for Yves Saint Laurent, Rimmel, Revlon and Boots No. 7. She was represented by London’s Take Two Agency and gained wider recognition from a memorable Bugle Boy Jeans TV commercial in which she delivered the line, “Excuse me, are those Bugle Boy jeans you’re wearing?” while driving a black Ferrari across the desert.
At the height of her modeling career she relocated to Los Angeles and was cast in 12 episodes of Dallas as Laurel Ellis, performing opposite Larry Hagman’s J. R. Ewing. Her screen credits also included the role of Alex Noffee in Solar Crisis opposite Charlton Heston, plus parts in Dragonard and Eye of the Widow.
From modeling to producing
annabel schofield later moved behind the camera, taking production roles on films such as The Brothers Grimm, Doom and City of Ember. In 2010 she founded Burbank-based Bella Bene Productions and served as an executive producer developing commercials, music and fashion projects. She struck a creative partnership with director and graphic artist Nick Egan and worked with photographer Will Camden as a producer on a 3D Guerlain campaign that featured Angelina Jolie.
Schofield collaborated with photographers including Andrew McPherson, Ellen von Unwerth and Michael Muller, and she wrote a semi-autobiographical novel titled The Cherry Alignmen.
Roots in film and lasting professional ties
She grew up around film sets: her father, John D. Schofield, was a British movie production executive whose screen credits included Romancing the Stone, Jerry Maguire and As Good as It Gets. Melissa Richardson, former owner of London’s Take Two Agency, said Schofield was “funny and real and beautiful, ” and that she had been a favorite of photographer David Bailey and a forerunner for the agency.
Schofield’s work spanned modeling, acting and producing, from her early Italian Vogue shoots to 12 episodes on a major U. S. primetime soap and later production credits and commercial projects through Bella Bene Productions.
No public memorial arrangements were listed in the notice of her death. Her production company, founded in 2010 and based in Burbank, is the most recent confirmed project tied to her career.
