Yahoo Lifestyle ‘Falcon Crest’ and ‘Star Trek’ Actress Dead at 70
Jill Jacobson, the TV actress best known for her roles in Falcon Crest and Star Trek: The Next Generation, has died. She was 70 years old.
Jacobson passed away on Sunday, Dec. 8, but her death was only confirmed to Variety by her publicist, Daniel Harary, over the weekend. Harary, who was also a friend of Jacobson’s, noted that the actress died in Los Angeles after a battle with “a long illness.” Her manager, Ben Padua, also confirmed the news to Entertainment Weekly.
"We are incredibly sad to say goodbye to our beautiful, soulful, hysterically funny, elegantly raunchy client, Jill Jacobson," Padua said in a statement shared with the outlet on Sunday, Dec. 15. "Jill was a total spitfire of an actress with comedic timing straight out of a Marx Brothers' flick and Hollywood glamor right from its golden age."
Born in Texas, Jacobson's acting career kicked off after she graduated from the University of Texas in Austin. Among her first credits were the R-rated slasher Nurse Sherry (1977) and the comedy-crime series Crazy Like a Fox (1986). She then went on to star in one of her most notable roles as Erin Jones in 22 episodes of the hit prime-time soap Falcon Crest before accepting a role in The New Gidget (1986-1987) for an eight-episode stint as Larue Wilson on the comedy series.
Jacobson later appeared in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1989) as Vanessa; an episode of Quantum Leap (1989) as Shirley Winnick; two episodes of Newhart (1989-1990), where she portrayed a character named Chantal in the Bob Newhart-led classic; five episodes of Days of Our Lives (1995) playing Nurse Nancy; and a single return to the popular sci-fi franchise as Aroya in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1996).
Other notable projects include an acting credit on Ghost Whisperer (2006), Castle (2014) and the short Boredom (2015). She also wrote and produced the short Mic Whore in 2014 and was due to appear in the 2025 drama Merrily, which is currently in production per IMDb.
Jacobson's death comes four months after the passing of fellow TNG alum Patti Yasutake. Yasutake, who most recently starred in Netflix's Beef, passed away at the age of 70 this past August following a battle with cancer.
