Actress Jill Jacobson dies aged 70

U.S. TV actress Jill Jacobson has died at the age of 70.

The Falcon Crest star passed away on 8 December at a nursing home in Culver City, California, following a long illness, her friend Daniel Harary told Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

"She will be deeply missed by numerous relatives, friends and her beloved dogs, Benny and Kowalski," he said.

Her manager Ben Padua described his client as "beautiful, soulful, hysterically funny (and) elegantly raunchy".

"Jill was a total spitfire of an actress with comedic timing straight out of a Marx Brothers' flick and Hollywood glamour right from its golden age," he continued in a statement to Entertainment Weekly. "Jill took us on so many adventures and she was an absolute blast. Thank you, Jill. We'll see you in our dreams."

Jacobson is perhaps best known for playing private detective Erin Jones in the soap Falcon Crest between 1985 and 1987 and Larue Wilson, the title character's best friend, in The New Gidget between 1986 and 1987.

She also guest starred in two different Star Trek series - The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine - as different characters.

Her other TV credits include Days of Our Lives, Hung, Newhart, Castle, Who's the Boss? and Quantum Leap. Jacobson's last credited role was in the 2020 series Etheria.

The actress, who was a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society, discussed her battle with oesophageal cancer on the Jim Masters Show in September, according to People.

Admitting her "intense" cancer battle "kind of took me out of the game for a while", she added, "And now I'm so grateful, I just want to keep going, I want to help people. It makes you want to help people."