Roseanna Christiansen dead at 71: Dallas and The Jeffersons star dies

Dallas and The Jeffersons actress Roseanna Christiansen has died aged 71.

The cause of her death is unknown at this time.

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The star died on July 14 at Antelope Valley Medical Center in Lancaster, California.

Christiansen is best known for her role as Teresa, a Southfork ranch girl, in the last nine seasons of the series Dallas.

She joined the show during its sixth season in 1982.

Her character Teresa worked alongside butler Raoul, played by Tony Garcia.

Before Dallas, she played another maid, Carmen, in the 1981 season of The Jeffersons.

This was a brief stand-in role for Marla Gibb’s character, as Christiansen only appeared in three episodes.

Gibbs originally left the show to star in her own spin-off, Checking in.

However, the spin-off was unsuccessful and only lasted four episodes, prompting Gibbs to return to her role in The Jeffersons.

Christiansen started her acting career young. At the age of nine, she starred in an Off-Off-Broadway play with her brother Victor.

The New York actress is survived by husband Steven Rizzo, children Josiah and Grace, and sister Elba.

Christiansen is considered a brilliant acting coach in the school she founded, Action! acting.

“Many of her students refer to their private sessions as their ‘therapy sessions,'” her husband told The Hollywood Reporter.

“Though her life was too short, she spent enough time here to plant seeds of love, encouragement and beauty in everyone she met.”

Christiansen has also appeared on Matlock, CBS Summer Playhouse and A Year in the Life, TV Line reported.

She even starred in two films – This Is Kate Bennett and Temporary Insanity.