A handful of celebrities have died due to coronavirus complications since this writing, including 59-year-old Top Chef Masters winner Floyd Cardoz, and 86-year-old jazz legend Manu Dibango. Unfortunately, actor Mark Blum also died after contracting COVID-19, SAG-AFTRA executive vice president Rebecca Damon confirmed in a shared tweet on March 26, 2020. The New Jersey native, who starred in the hit film Desperately Seeking Susan, was 69 years old and leaves his wife, acting partner and Professor Janet Zarish.
Damon described Blum as “the actor of a real actor”, as his impressive resume shows. In addition to Desperately Seeking Susan, the former student at the University of Pennsylvania starred in the 1986 film, Crocodile Dundee, and television programs such as Frasier, The Sopranos and Mozart in the Jungle. Most recently, she starred in Succession as “Bill” and played “Mr. Mooney” in the Netflix series You.
It seems that Mark was loved by many, including two of his famous co-stars who spoke after the news of his death.
Madonna and Arquette Remember Mark Blum
In Desperately Seeking Susan, Mark played “Gary Glass”, the husband of Rosanna Arquette’s character, “Roberta Glass”. Madonna also had a leading role in the film, playing the mysterious “Susan Thomas”. The music icon went on Instagram to pay tribute to Blum, subtitling two frames of the film: “I Want to Acknowledge the Passing of a remarkable Human, fellow actor and friend Mark Blum, who succumbed to the Coronavirus”. It’s really tragic and my heart goes out to him, his family and loved ones”. He continued: “I remember him as funny, warm, loving and professional when we did Desperately Seeking Susan in 1985! Another reminder that this virus is not a joke, there is nothing random or fake that doesn’t affect us in some way”.
As for Arquette, she expressed “terribly sadness” at the loss of her husband on the screen and paid tribute to him on Twitter. “Rest in peace, my friend and co-star, what a good and kind person you’ve been,” she titled a shot of the couple. “My condolences to all your family and friends.”
