Former model and “Dallas” actress Annabel Schofield died Saturday at the age of 62.
The Los Angeles-based Schofield had been battling salivary gland cancer, which had recently spread to brain cancer. She succumbed to that at Providence Little Mary Medical Center in Torrance, Calif., according to her friend Catalina Guirado-Cheadle.
As a teenager in the early 1980s, Schofield relocated from her hometown of Llanelli, Wales to start modeling in London. She became a familiar face on the fashion and club scene. Over the years, she was featured in such magazines as Cosmopolitan, German Vogue, Italian Vogue and Harper’s & Queen. Schofield landed hundreds of covers and was photographed by David Bailey and James White among other talents.
During her modeling career with the Take 2 Agency in London, Schofield appeared in such campaigns as Yves Saint Laurent, Revlon and Rimmel. In a commercial for the 1988 launch of Revlon’s Trouble fragrance, she delivered the line, “A little Trouble keeps life interesting.”
“Funny and down-to-earth,” Schofield was “very well-read and had a great love of art and photography,” according to Guirado-Cheadle, an actress and former model. Raised in a creative household, her late father John worked in film production with “The Brothers Grimm,” “As Good As It Gets,” “Romancing the Stone” and “Jerry McGuire” being among his credits. Her late sister Amanda also acted and appeared on “Breaking Bad.”
Schofield left London for Los Angeles in the late 1980s and joined the hit series “Dallas” as Laurel Ellis. The drama revolved around the fictitious oil baron “J.R. Ewing” and his feuding family In a 2012 interview with Mirror80, Schofield described her “Dallas” wardrobe “a nightmare,” since she had started out on the show with a more natural look. She explained, “The shoulder pads got bigger, my hair got higher and my lips got redder. I ended up in a white fur coat, but I started out in jean shorts. I gave up after a while trying to influence fashion on ‘Dallas.’”
Schofield was also known for a 1988 commercial, in which she appears to pull up in a black Ferrari in a desert to ask a handsome man, “Excuse me, are those Bugle Boy jeans you’re wearing?” Years later, she said that she never imagined that one-liner would be so big. “It seemed to be the only thing anyone remembers about me,” she said in the 2012 interview.
Although she was not allowed to drive the Ferrari during the half-day shoot, the stunt driver took her for a spin. More importantly, the compensatory residuals gave her “a greater freedom to turn stuff down” that she didn’t want to do, Schofield said in 2012.
She was sometimes out-and-about, attending the 1987 opening of The Stock Exchange nightclub in L.A. with guests like George Michael and Brigitte Nielsen. In 1988, Schofield flew back to London, joining Stella McCartney, Laurence Fishburne and Paul Marciano for the preview party for a Guess store. Fittingly, the model turned up for the 2019 opening night of photographer Tierney Gieron’s “Exposure” exhibition in Beverly Hills.
In 2013, Schofield drew from her modeling and acting years to publish the fictional book “The Cherry Alignment.” As a professional actress, the dark-haired Schofield appeared in “Solar Crisis” with Charlton Heston, “City of Ember,” “The Brothers Grimm” and “Doom.” She later started Bella Bene Productions to develop commercial, music and fashion projects. Through a creative partnership, she teamed up with the director and graphic artist Nick Egan, whose portfolio includes work with The Ramones, The Clash, Duran Duran and Oasis.
Egan said Tuesday, “Annabel was the kind of person who put everything into what she did. She had been on both sides of the camera — as an actress on ‘Dallas’ and as a model. As a producer, she could really understand everybody’s position. She also very much told you what she thought. That is a rarity, especially in the Hollywood entertainment industry where people never tell you the truth to your face.”
Schofield also worked with such photographers as Andrew McPherson, Ellen von Unwerth, Michael Muller and Will Camden. An early fan of Antony Price, Schofield was known for her impeccable style. She favored such labels as Katharine Hamnett, Kenzo, Versace, Yohji Yamamoto, Jean Paul Gaultier and Azzedine Alaïa.
In June of 2025, Schofield set up a GoFundMe drive to cover her increasing medical expenses. Prior to her death, she had raised nearly $35,000 of the $40,000 goal.
Pre-deceased by her father and sister, Schofield is survived by her mother Jill.