Stephen Furst

Actor and director remembered for Animal House, St Elsewhere and Babylon 5

Stephen Furst, who played naive student Flounder in the hit movie Animal House, has died of complications from diabetes. Furst was 63.

Furst died on Friday at his home in Moorpark, California, north of Los Angeles, said his son, Nathan Furst.

Furst played Kent “Flounder” Dorfman in the 1978 film that also starred John Belushi. It was Belushi’s character, Blutarsky, who drew Flounder into a prank that went terribly wrong and ended up with a gun loaded with blanks being shot into a ceiling, frightening a horse so much that it died of a heart attack.

Furst’s long list of credits included the 1980s medical drama St Elsewhere, on which he played the lovable Dr Elliot Axelrod.

He played alien Vir Coto and was an occasional director on the 1990s sci-fi series Babylon 5, shown on Channel 4.

He also voiced characters on projects including TV’S Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and the video The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea.

“He was proudest of his family, and he felt blessed and incredibly privileged to have the career that he had and enjoyed,” Nathan Furst said on Saturday.

Stephen Furst was also a director and producer, working with his other son, Griff. Their Curmudgeon Film projects included the movies My Sister’s Keeper and Cold Moon, a suspense thriller set for release in October, Griff Furst said.

Stephen Furst’s survivors include his wife, Lorraine, and two grandchildren, his sons said.