Marion Ramsey, the actress, is dead. The stage and screen star suddenly died early Thursday morning at her Los Angeles home. She’d been 73.
The death of Ramsey was confirmed to the ET by her rep Thursday night. No cause of death has been divulged yet.
Born on May 10, 1947, the Philadelphia native had her first major acting role in an episode of The Jeffersons in 1976. Shortly thereafter, she went on to be cast as a series regular on Cos, a sketch comedy series hosted by Bill Cosby.
Ramsey is best remembered in the Police Academy franchise for her role as the soft-spoken Officer Laverne Hooks, starting with the first movie in 1984. Ramsey reprised the role for each subsequent instalment of the series until Police Academy 6: City Under Siege.
MacGyver, Beverly Hills, 90210, The Nanny, Modern Family, and Return to Babylon also include additional film and TV credits. Her most notable recent role came in Lavalantula, the SyFy campy cult hit of 2015, where she appeared opposite her former co-star at the Police Academy, Steve Guttenberg. For the 2016 sequel, 2 Lava 2 Lantula, she reprised her role.
Ramsey also enjoyed a long career on stage, appearing in various productions on Broadway and Off-Broadway, including Miss Moffatt’s pre-Broadway production opposite Bette Davis.
