DuShon Monique Brown, who starred in such dramas as “Prison Break” and “Chicago Fire,” has died of a heart attack.
Brown was part of the cast of long-running NBC drama “Chicago Fire,” in which she played Connie, the no-nonsense assistant to Chief Boden (Eamonn Walker). She also had a recurring role as nurse Katie Welch in “Prison Break,” alongside guest spots on “Empire” and “Shameless.”
“Chicago Fire’s” executive producer Dick Wolf paid tribute to the actress in a statement.
“The ‘Chicago Fire’ family is devastated to lose one of its own,” he said, according to the Mirror.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with DuShon’s family and we will all miss her,” Wolf said.
“She was a brilliant actor, but she was also so goofy. We used to get in so much trouble from the stage managers we worked with because we were cutting up so much. She was just a ham. And she was truly loved,” Stillwell said.
Brown herself had recently spoken about her love for her “Chicago Fire” role, the Mirror reported, and shed light on the evolution of her character.
“She was a noun. She was Secretary and it was a one-liner,” the actress told Hidden Remote in 2017.
“What was exciting was it was auditioning for a Chicago show, but it was also the possibility that she could maybe develop into something,” Brown said.
“Because coincidentally, I started out on another Chicago based-show called ‘Prison Break’ [where] my character did not have a name. She was called Nurse and she started out on a one-liner. Both of them were characters that were subordinates, telling their immediate supervisors that they had an appointment.
“I'll tell you when I was first cast for it, my character didn’t even have a name,” Brown said.
Before taking on television roles, Brown was a regular fixture in the Chicago theater scene. She also worked as a counselor seller at a high school in the city and was head of the school’s drama program.
The actress is survived by a 14-year-old daughter.