Toukie Smith, trailblazing model and actress on ‘227’, dies at 74

The famed model walked for numerous fashion houses in the 1970s before transitioning into acting. A longtime partner of Robert De Niro, she is survived by their twins, Airyn and Julian.

Toukie Smith, a model who walked runways for the likes of Chanel , Thierry Mugler and Hubert de Givenchy while starring alongside Marla Gibbs on the sitcom “ 227, ” has died. She was 74.

Her twins, Airyn and Julian, whom she shared with actor Robert De Niro, confirmed she died on Nov. 4 in a New York hospital after a “long, courageous battle” with multiple sclerosis, according to The Hollywood Reporter .

“I’ll always love you, Mom,” Airyn De Niro wrote in a brief tribute on Instagram.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Airyn De Niro (@airyphim)

Born Doris A. Smith in 1952, Smith adopted the stage name “Toukie” from a childhood nickname her grandmother gave her after listening to a song “about a little red fire engine with lots of energy.”

“I’ve always had lots of energy,” she told the Los Angeles Times in a 1990 profile highlighting her career. At the time, she was planning an AIDS tribute to her brother, fashion designer Willi Smith, who died from complications of the disease at the age of 39 in 1987.

“Willi always had fun with fashion,” Smith said of her brother at the time. “He had a special energy and a love of keeping clothes from being too serious. He also totally designed for the masses.”

Her modeling career soon took off after she graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1972, as she landed on the pages of Ebony, Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Seventeen. In 1978, Bloomingdale’s named her its Model of the Year. However, she believed she was destined for more than fashion runways and transitioned into acting in the 1980s.

In 1987-88, she joined the cast of “Miami Vice” as Angie, a recurring character who served as the assistant to pop singer Caitlin Davies (Sheena Easton) in three episodes.

In 1989, she became a fixture on “227” opposite Marla Gibbs as Eva Rawley, an artist who moves into the Lexington Palace building where Gibbs’ Mary Jenkins served as the landlord. Although Eva managed the building for a spell, she and Gibbs would share screen time for the beloved comedy for two seasons before it wrapped in 1990.

Her filmography includes roles in 1991’s “Talkin’ Dirty After Dark,” opposite Martin Lawrence and John Witherspoon, and 1996’s “The Preacher’s Wife” opposite Denzel Washington, Whitney Houston and Courtney B. Vance.

Smith is the second notable member of the “227” cast to pass away this year. Hal Williams, who played the family patriarch, Lester Jenkins, died in July.

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