Deborah Van Valkenburgh had a sizzling career in the 1970s that saw her appear in many hit films and TV shows.
The versatile star, who was born in 1952, was the sexy street-smart siren Mercy in the 1979 cult film The Warriors.
After that the New Yorker had a memorable role in the 1984 rock star movie Streets Of Fire. Van Valkenburgh, who is now 73-years-old, played the savvy Reva Cody opposite Diane Lane and Willem Dafoe.
And then she went on to play peppy Jackie Rush for five seasons (1980–1985) on the television comedy Too Close for Comfort.
The theater-trained thespian also guest starred on shows such as Cagney & Lacey, Star Trek and Criminal Minds.
The actress was almost unrecognizable during a rare sighting in Los Angeles on Tuesday because the jet-black hair she is known for was a sleek silver color.
In the new images, the star is seen with her gray hair worn in soft curls over her shoulders as she sported light makeup and rectangular prescription glasses.
Deborah Van Valkenburgh had a sizzling career in the 1970s that saw her star in many hit films and TV shows. The versatile star, who was born in 1952, was the sexy street smart siren Mercy in the 1979 cult film The Warriors
In the film, a street gang must escape from the Bronx back to their home turf on Coney Island after being framed for the murder of a respected gang leader. Seen with costar Michael Beck
The star had on an olive green parka jacket that had buttons down the front and said Warriors over the top of one of the front pockets. She also had on a white T-shirt with dark blue denim jeans and red flat shoes.
The Hollywood stalwart had a purse over her shoulder and was pulling a rollie suitcase.
Van Valkenburgh graduated from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, with a BFA in painting and drawing.
The star also has studied acting with William Esper and John Shea, ballet with Ballet Arts Carnegie Hall and modern dance with James Cunningham.
She then learned puppet production with Jim Henson, voice with Kirk Nurock and Richard Green, and improvisation with Dan Richter.
Her main love has been acting. And the photogenic wonder got her start in theater in New York City.
She was in the Broadway production of Hair which boosted her reputation.
Then she worked on Off-Broadway plays, which included Honeybee, The Tempest, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Hay Fever, When Did You last See Your Mother?, Iolanthe, It Ain’t Aardvark, and Minutemen.
The looker in the ABC TV movie A Bunny’s Tale, about the Playboy Club and Playboy Bunnies, in 1985
Delta Burke, Joanna Kerns, Katie Budge, Lela Rochon, Van Valkenburgh, Lisa Pelikan, Kirstie Alley, Romy Walthall
Also on her resume is regional and touring company productions of Mooney’s Kid Don’t Cry, The Children’s Hour, and A View From the Bridge.
Then her film career took off.
In 1979 she had her star-making role in The Warriors.
The film featured Michael Beck, James Remar, Marcelino Sánchez, David Harris, Tom McKitterick, Brian Tyler, Dorsey Wright, Terry Michos, David Patrick Kelly, Roger Hill, Edward Sewer, and Lynne Thigpen.
In the film, a street gang must escape from the Bronx back to their home turf on Coney Island after being framed for the murder of a respected gang leader.
Principal photography took place in 1978 on location across New York City, including at Astoria Studios.
The New Yorker had a memorable role in the rock star movie Streets of Fire from 1984.
In an episode of the TV show Hotel with Douglas Barr in 1985
Van Valkenburgh with Harry Hamlin in 1981’s King Of The Mountain
It grossed $22.5 million worldwide and is now considered a cult classic film.
The movie focuses on The Warriors, a gang from Coney Island, as they meet with other gangs for a truce.
Luther, the sadistic leader of the Rogues, shoots the man asking for peace then falsely accuses the Warriors of responsibility.
Next there is a ‘dead or alive’ bounty on the Warriors.
Then enters the sexy temptress Mercy, who starts following the Warriors. Luckily, the gang makes it home.
On the hit sitcom Too Close For Comfort with Ted Knight and Lydia Cornell; the series aired from 1980 until 1985
In Streets of Fire she plays the sister of the lead character, played by Michael Pare.
She helps him rescue his ex-girlfriend – Ellen Aim, lead singer of the rock band Ellen Aim and the Attackers (played by Lane) – after she was kidnapped by a gangster, played by Dafoe.
Another one of her successes was TV’s Too Close for Comfort which starred Ted Knight, Nancy Dussault and Lydia Cornell.
Too Close for Comfort was a sitcom television series that aired on ABC from November 1980, to May 1983.
Its name was changed to The Ted Knight Show when the show was retooled in 1986 for its sixth season, which would turn out to be its last due to Ted Knight’s death.
Knight played work-from-home cartoonist Henry Rush, who is married to Muriel. Their two adult daughters, Jackie and Sara, live in the downstairs apartment of their San Francisco two-flat.
The family moves to Marin County for the show’s final season, where Henry Rush becomes a co-owner of the local weekly newspaper.
The actress was almost unrecognizable during a rare sighting in Los Angeles on Tuesday because the jet-black hair she is known for was a sleek silver color
In the new images, the star is seen with her gray hair worn in soft curls over her shoulders as she sported light makeup and rectangular prescription glasses
Van Valkenburgh was in a number of other movies like 1987’s Rampage Kate Fraser, 1988’s Phantom of the Ritz, 1997’s Mean Guns Cam, 1998’s Sorcerers Mother, 2005’s The Devil’s Rejects, 2009’s Broken Hart Gypsy Woman and 2013’s The Trials of Cate McCall.
She also appeared on TV in Hollywood Squares, Going for the Gold: The Bill Johnson Story Kimberly, New Love, American Style, Crime Story, Cagney & Lacey.
Then there was MacGyver, Picket Fences, Quantum Leap, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Chicago Hope, Once and Again, Cold Case, Criminal Minds, Ghost Whisperer Law & Order: LA and Hidden in Plain Sight.
