Nicole DeHuff, Deborah in Meet the Parents, dead at 30.

[Brent L]

This is sad, a fairly new career cut short. Meet the Parents is one of my favorite comedies ever, so she'll be missed by many I'm sure.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...=4&u=/eo/16099

Nicole DeHuff, an actress who played Teri Polo's sister in Meet the Parents, has died of causes related to pneumonia. She was 30.

The actress died Feb. 16 in Hollywood, four days after she reportedly checked into a Los Angeles hospital, was misdiagnosed and sent home with orders to take Tylenol.

When her condition worsened, she returned to the hospital and was prescribed antibiotics for bronchitis and again sent home. Two days later, paramedics were called to her home after she collapsed, gasping for breath. By the time she reached the hospital, she was unconscious and passed away soon after.

Meet the Parents marked DeHuff's feature-film debut. She played Deborah Byrnes, the sister whose wedding prompts Gaylord "Greg" Focker's (Ben Stiller) visit to girlfriend Pam Byrne's (Polo) childhood home to attend the ceremony and, as suggested by the title, meet the parents. Hilarity ensues.

In one of the movie's most memorable scenes, a Speedo-clad Stiller spikes a volleyball into DeHuff's face, breaking the bride-to-be's nose and cementing his own unpopularity.

DeHuff also appeared in 2004's Suspect Zero with Ben Kingsley and in an independent film called Killing Cinderella.

She also starred in the as yet unreleased independent film Unbeatable Harold, directed by her husband, Ari Palitz, and costarring Dylan McDermott and Gordon Michaels.

On the small screen, DeHuff had roles in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Court, The Practice, Dragnet, Without a Trace and Monk. She also appeared in the TV movie See Arnold Run.

A native of Oklahoma, DeHuff graduated from the Carnegie Mellon University acting program.

She is survived by Palitz, her husband of four years, as well as her sister, her mother and her father.

[Daniel-A]

Malpractice if I ever heard of it.

[paulringodaman]

It has to be malpractice...It is damn near impossible for a 30 year old to die of pneumonia in 2005.

[Groucho]

Wow, that's just unbelievably sad.

[Dr. DVD]

Didn't see her in much aside from Meet the Parents, but she was quite attractive.

That is an incredibly young age for someone to die nowadays. Something else had to be wrong with her, and the doctors should be sued for malpractice, as the report makes it seem that they didn't give a shit about her health.

[kms_md]

while highly unusual for a 30 year old to die from pneumonia, be careful throwing around the "m-word" until all the facts are known.

[sabre]

incredibly sad and I can relate to this story a lot. I had pnuemonia when i was 25 and just graduated from grad school. basically penniless and no health insurance i kept waiting to go to the doctor thinking it was just a cold. Finally as sick as sick can be the doctor gave me monster pills and i was better in a matter of days. They can tell if you have pnuemonia by listening to your lungs or chest x-ray. If that's all she had then malpractice. big time for missing it. but i expect it most be more complicated then that.

[The Infidel]

Not to nitpick, but according to IMDB, her birthday was in January of '74. She was 31.

[TheNightFlier]

Originally Posted by The_Infidel

Not to nitpick, but according to IMDB, her birthday was in January of '74. She was 31.

And we all know the IMDB is never wrong

Very sad though, and I'll still say malpractice, "go home and take some aspirin"

[Sepen]

Why in the heck would she go to the Hospital? Didn't she have a regular physician? 31, wow!

[Toad]

Maybe she couldn't breath, had a 104-degree temperature, was vomiting non-stop, etc.

Or, maybe her physician was out playing golf since he doesn't work past 2:00pm on Mondays and Wedesdays.

Or maybe it was midnight.

There are a million reasons why she would've gone to the hospital; this article doesn't report that info though.

[troystiffler]

Originally Posted by Sepen

Why in the heck would she go to the Hospital? Didn't she have a regular physician? 31, wow!

When it's that sudden, you should be immediatly going to the ER, not your family doctor. I guess if she thought the doc didn't know what he was talking about, she should have gone to a physician. But I'm just sayin' that you don't make an appointment at the doctor when your that ill.

I saw Killing Cinarella at a local film festival - it was alright. Meet the parents was excellent. She probably would have went on to become one of those recognizable supporting cast members - like John C Riley, Steve Zahn, etc.

It's always sad to hear about someone dying that young. But that's the way it is...

[movieking]

Someone posted this on imdb.com, so who knows if it is true or not, but it would make sense:

"Nicole passed away as a result of a double pneumonia complicated by asthma and sepsis. Normally it would take a older person far quicker than it did Nicole. She put up a fight, but the sepsis is a form of blood poisining that once takes hold is very difficult to combat."

[The Cow]

Weird that they post the story about a whole month after she died. (Feb 16th)

Edit: CNN just posted this yesterday too. http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movi...bit.dehuff.ap/

[Libby]

Yeah it is pretty sad. It took 4 docs to diagnose my mom with a ruptured apendix so I can never trust doctors.

[bwvanh114]

For all those calling this malpractice, not everybody with pneumonia is admitted to the hospital. In fact, I'd say only a minority is.

[The Nature Boy]

She was hot, but she would have been missed were she not hot. Too bad. Was she in the sequel?

[digitalfreaknyc]

She was not in the sequel. She was mentioned though.

[The Cow]

Originally Posted by digitalfreaknyc

She was not in the sequel. She was mentioned though.

She was in MTP.

[nickdawgy]

What an awful thing to happen. She was way too young.

[natevines]

Originally Posted by The Cow

She was in MTP.

And the sequel was Meet the Fockers, which she's not in.

[Fok]

sad news indeed

[Numanoid]

Originally Posted by kms_md

be careful throwing around the "m-word" until all the facts are known.

Yeah, be careful you guys.

[Geofferson]

Wow...way too young to die.

[JesseCuster]

Originally Posted by bwvanh114

For all those calling this malpractice, not everybody with pneumonia is admitted to the hospital. In fact, I'd say only a minority is.

Then clearly she should have been in the minority. These days, it's strange if an otherwise healthy 65 year old dies of pheumonia. A 30 year old? Someone(s) *****ed up big time.