Footloose and Starsky & Hutch star passes away after battle with cancer… just weeks after death of her ex David Soul

Actress Lynne Marta died Thursday at the age of 78 in her home in Los Angeles following a cancer battle.

Marta’s friend Chris Saint-Hilaire confirmed her passing to The Hollywood Reporter. 

Marta spent four decades in show business, with her most prominent work coming in the movies Footloose and Joe Kidd; and on the TV shows Love, American Style, Starsky & Hutch, Barnaby Jones, The F.B.I. and Medical Center.

Marta’s death comes weeks after the January 4 passing of her longtime lover, Starsky & Hutch actor David Soul, at the age of 80. 

In 1983, she described their relationship to People as an ‘open relationship,’ as Soul had been married at the time to actress Karen Carlson.

The magazine reported at the time that throughout the Starsky & Hutch years from 1975-1979, ‘David and Lynne lived together but spent time with other people.’

Marta would appear with her late lover on his 1977 special, David Soul and Friends.

Marta had previously been married to late actor Brick Huston from 1968-1975. He died in August of 2018. 

Marta, who was born October 31, 1948 in Somerville, New Jersey, was the younger daughter of father George, who served as the state’s air and water pollution commissioner. 

In the 1972 film Joe Kidd for filmmaker John Sturges, Marta played Elma, the partner of landowner Frank Harlan (played by Robert Duvall), who would catch the attention of the film’s titular bounty hunter character, portrayed by Clint Eastwood. 

The actress played the role of Lulu Warnicker, the aunt of Kevin Bacon’s Ren character, in the 1984 film Footloose. 

On TV, she had also been features on a number of shows produced by the late Aaron Spelling, including The Mod Squad, Charlie’s Angels, The Rookies, Matt Houston and Vega$.

She also had worked on a number of series produced by the late Quinn Martin, such as The Streets of San Francisco, Dan August, Cannon, Caribe and The Manhunter.

The actress was also in proximity to one of the grimmest events in Hollywood history, when My Sister Sam actress Rebecca Schaeffer was murdered at the age of 21 on July 18, 1989 at her Los Angeles home by Robert John Bardo, a fan who was obsessed with her.

Marta was a neighbor of Schaeffer, and testified in Bardo’s trial about hearing the gunshots that claimed the life of the up-and-coming actress, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

‘The door shook, the wall shook,’ she testified in the case. ‘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. 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, according to THR.