Toukie Smith, the model and actress best known as Eva Rawley on the NBC sitcom 227, has died at the age of 74. Her twin children with former partner Robert De Niro, Airyn and Julian De Niro, confirmed her death on Monday, telling The Hollywood Reporter that she died on Wednesday, November 4, in a New York hospital after a long, courageous battle with multiple sclerosis.
Born Doris Smith in Philadelphia on September 25, 1952, she earned the nickname Toukie from her grandmother and began modeling in 1972. She became one of the top models of the 1970s, walking runways for Chanel, Versace, Givenchy, Issey Miyake and Thierry Mugler before moving into acting.
Her breakout acting role came in 1989, when she joined the cast of 227 as Eva Rawley, an artist who moves into the Washington, D.C., apartment building at the center of the series. She also recurred on Miami Vice and appeared in films including Me and Him and Goosed.
Airyn De Niro mourned her mother on social media with a throwback photograph of the two of them. Smith is survived by her twins, Airyn and Julian.
