Diane Delano, the busy character actor who portrayed Officer Barbara Semanski on CBS’ Northern Exposure and the mean science teacher Bobbi Glass on The WB’s Popular, has died. She was 67.
Delano died Friday of cancer in her home in Sherman Oaks, her friend Stepfanie Kramer announced.
“She was big and bold and brought her sharp wit and perfect comic timing to every role,” Kramer said. “Her earthy and raucous presence enabled her to always own the room. She was one of a kind.”
As Rhonda Vasek, Delano had a romantic liaison with Douglas Brackman Jr. (Alan Rachins) in 1987 on the second season of NBC’s L.A. Law, and she guest-starred on such other shows as Falcon Crest, Cop Rock, Step by Step, Third Rock From the Sun, ER, Monk, Six Feet Under, Cold Case, The Bridge, 2 Broke Girls and PEN15.
Delano recurred as Officer Semanski on 12 episodes over the last four seasons (1991-95) of the Alaska-set Northern Exposure and was memorable as Glass, a mean and manly teacher at Jacqueline Kennedy High School, on Ryan Murphy’s Popular for 36 episodes during that series’ two-season run (1999-2001).
She played lots of cops and authority figures.
Born in Los Angeles on Jan. 29, 1957, Delano was related to Myrtland Vivian LaVarre, a New York stage actor who was convinced by Cecil B. DeMille to change his name to John Merton and move to Hollywood.
One of Merton’s kids became tough-guy actor Lane Bradford, and he would often take Delano and her cousins to watch him work. “Although it was in her DNA, I believe those early studio visits cemented Diane’s love for a life within the industry,” her cousin Rick Sparks noted.
Delano started acting when she was 6 and graduated from The American Academy of Dramatic Arts/West, and in 1983 she appeared onscreen for the first time on NBC’s St. Elsewhere and in the film Heart Like a Wheel as the sister of Bonnie Bedelia’s Shirley Muldowney.
During her 40-year-plus career, Delano also worked in such films as Ratboy (1986), A Mighty Wind (2003), The Wicker Man (2006) – as the bitchy Sister Beech – Miracle Mile (1988) and The Ladykillers (2004).
She provided the voice for Big Barda in Batman: The Brave and the Bold and the super-heroine Pantha in Teen Titans and was on the soap operas Days of Our Lives and Fumbling Thru the Pieces.
