GOODWIN, DEBORAH MARIE
June 18, 1949 - June 11, 2021 Deborah was born in Dallas, Texas on June 18, 1949 to John Elliott “Jack” Goodwin and Thelma Mae Fields, and spent her formative years with her parents and two older brothers in New Mexico and Arizona. A true child of the southwest, that landscape informed her independent spirit. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at California State University Northridge after she relocated to California. Deborah, a natural journalist, became a writer/director/producer for documentaries and television. She loaned out her incredible skills to ABC, Showtime, and other major media corporations, while also maintaining her own company, Deborah Goodwin and Associates, where she created original material for countless clients. She wrote and produced interstitial, behind-the-scenes, the making-of, and other content, as well as studio lot and location interviews with actors and crew. Among them was her work on Making ‘The Winds of War’, When ‘Thelma Met Louise’, An Officer and a Gentleman: 25 Years Later, Robert Rodriquez’s Rebel Highway, Benson, interviewing Desmond Tutu, and many
Showtime series and movies. She traveled the world in her professional capacity, as well as in her personal life. In both, her innate curiosity, vast expertise, brilliant mind, and charming ability to connect with strangers resulted in an acclaimed career and enduring friendships worldwide.
The overriding priorities in Deborah’s life were her family, her friends, and travel. Often, they were happily combined. Deborah had visited well over 50 countries, particularly her beloved France. She was a Parisian at heart. And style. Trying to catch Deborah between flights was a challenge; she always had a next destination, a further adventure booked. She was every friend’s favorite travel companion, of course. It was always “What next? Where next?” with Deborah. Even her cascading illnesses never slowed her down for long. Right up to the end.
Deborah rooted for the San Francisco 49ers, the Green Bay Packers, and the L.A. Dodgers, and loved watching the games together with her niece Sheena. They also researched their family tree together, analyzed their favorite tv shows, and they enjoyed decorating Easter eggs and Christmas cookies. A very close and special bond. She was also a rock and a touchstone for her brothers, always there for them, throughout their lives. A responsible, consistent presence upon whom to depend.
Deborah, raised a Catholic, had as well a larger spiritual embrace. She also was committed to politics, fairness, understanding, tolerance, social justice, and peace. Oh, and rock’n’roll! She loved Springsteen, the singer-songwriters of her youth, Sweetwater, road trip music, and everything else. She understood the meaning of deep and abiding friendship. She kept in touch. She cared.
Listing Deborah’s friends would take volumes. And yet she was never spread thin, even as she continued to add to her tribe, her posse, her village. Every one of them would be treated as a cherished Best Friend. And now bereft and stunned at her passing. Too soon, our friend, too soon. “We love you most”, as your late dear friend Cherie would say. Deborah, who made her home in Santa Monica, was predeceased by her parents, and her brothers Charles Johnson and Michael Goodwin, and her dearest friend Robert Osborne. She is survived by her adored niece Sheena (Justin) Hanley, her grandnephew Liam Hanley, and her many cousins, as well as a host of inconsolable loved ones..
Deborah requested cremation, and a gathering in celebration of her life will be held later. Any donations in her memory she suggested go to the ACLU or her ophthalmologist Dr. Anthony Aldave’s charity Visionaries International.