Groundbreaking model and actress Toukie Smith, who paved the way for Black models in high fashion and starred in television series such as 227, has died aged 74, according to hellomagazine.com.
Her children confirmed she died on November 4 in a New York hospital following a long battle with multiple sclerosis.
Her twins, Airyn and Julian De Niro, paid tribute to their mother’s personal warmth, creative legacy and pioneering role in expanding opportunities for Black models and designers.
Born Doris Smith in Philadelphia in 1952, she adopted her professional name from a childhood nickname. She studied at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology before launching her modelling career in 1972.
Smith walked for major international designers, including Hubert de Givenchy, Thierry Mugler, Issey Miyake and Patrick Kelly, and featured in top publications such as Vogue, Ebony and Cosmopolitan. Bloomingdale’s named her Model of the Year in 1978. She also frequently modelled for her brother, the renowned fashion designer Willi Smith, whose WilliWear label transformed accessible fashion before his death in 1987.
Transitioning to acting, Smith joined the NBC sitcom 227 in 1989 as Eva Rawley for its final two seasons. Her television and screen credits also included Miami Vice, Talkin’ Dirty After Dark, I Like It Like That, and The Preacher’s Wife. Off screen, she ran a catering business and operated an eponymous restaurant in New York.
Smith was in a high-profile relationship with actor Robert De Niro from 1988 to 1996, during which they welcomed their twins via surrogate in October 1995.
Smith was part of a landmark generation of Black models in the 1970s and 1980s who broke barriers in mainstream fashion, combining high-fashion prestige with commercial success while promoting diversity behind and in front of the camera.
•Featured image: Toukie Smith & Robert De Niro/Getty Images