‘Officer and a Gentleman’ actress Lisa Blount dies of rare blood disease

Actress Lisa Blount- who starred in An Officer and a Gentleman– died suddenly at the age of 53, likely of a rare blood disease.

Blount, who suffered from clotting and bruising disorder Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), was found dead by her mother with telltale bruising around her neck, after her family says she was unreachable for two days. Louise Blount, Lisa’s mother, told RadarOnline:

“I think that might have been part of the problem when she passed away because when I found her she had a purple look on her neck that looked like blood on the surface.”

Her mother also told the gossip site that Blount had suffered tremendously with her health, eventually leaving Los Angeles to return to Arkansas due to her illness:

“She’d had it for a long time and that was one reason she moved back here [Arkansas] from Los Angeles, because of her health,” Louise told RadarOnline.com.

“She’d had some surgeries and it was really, really excruciating pain… I’ve seen her in such pain.”

In addition to her mother, Blount is survived by her husband, filmmaker Ray McKinnon.