Footloose star Lynne Marta dies aged 78

New Jersey-born actor also appeared in ‘Starsky & Hutch’ and ‘Columbo’

Lynne Marta, whose three-decade film acting career ran from 1971 to 2002, has died. She was 78.

The New Jersey-born actor was well-known for playing Lulu Warnicker, aunt of Kevin Bacon’s Ren, in 1984’s Footloose.

She was also a regular on television, appearing on shows including Charlie’s Angels, Love, American Style, Starsky & Hutch and Columbo.

Marta died on Thursday 11 January at her Los Angeles home folllowing a battle with cancer, her friend Chris Saint-Hilaire told The Hollywood Reporter.

She was born on 30 October 1945 in Somerville, New Jersey. Her father, George, was commissioner of air and water pollution for the State of New Jersey. Marta was the younger of two daughters.

She began her career on the teen dance show The Lloyd Thaxton Show, before continuing her career in Los Angeles with appearances on Gidget and The Monkees in 1966.

Lynne Marta with David Soul at Heathrow in 1977 (Getty Images)

A few years later, she appeared on the first season of the ABC anthology series Love, American Style.

She had a major breakthrough in 1972’s Joe Kidd, directed by John Sturges. Marta played the companion of a wealthy landowner (Robert Duvall) who catches the eye of a bounty hunter (Clint Eastwood).

In the 1980s, Marta was involved in what People described at the time as an “open relationship” with Starsky & Hutch star David Soul while he was married to actress Karen Carlson.

“All through the Starsky & Hutch years, David and Lynne lived together but spent time with other people,” the magazine noted. Marta appeared with Soul on his 1977 special David Soul and Friends.

In July 1989, Marta was a witness to the murder of young actor Rebecca Schaeffer.

Marta was in her apartment, a few feet down the hall from where Schaeffer was fatally shot by obsessive fan Robert John Bardo.

“The door shook, the wall shook,” she said in testimony reported in the Los Angeles Times at the time. “The cat went up into the air. I fell to my knees and crawled into the bedroom. Then, I heard Rebecca’s first scream.

“She was still screaming while I was talking to 911,” she continued. “By the time I got to the door, she was wailing. I opened the small hatch in my door. There was a smell I’ll never forget: the smell of gunfire. It was quiet except for light moaning.”

Marta is survived by her sister, MJ, and her cat, Mr Peaches.