This week’s episode of All Rise marks the late Anne Heche’s final acting performance following her death in August 2022.
The actress — who starred as lawyer Corinne Cuthbert on the CBS series — appeared in six episodes during season 2, which aired in November 2020. Her last episode will air on Saturday, September 30, and will be dedicated in her memory.
Heche had a decades-long career starring in TV shows such as 1987’s Another World, 2006’s Men In Trees and 2009’s Hung. She also appeared in films including 199’7’s Donnie Brasco, 1998’s Psycho, 2009’s Spread, 2011’s Birth Rampart and 2016’s Catfight.
In August 2022, Heche died at the age of 53 following a car accident that left her in critical condition. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, Heche was allegedly speeding, ran off the road and collided with a house. Heche’s car subsequently went up in flames, resulting in severe burns and a pulmonary injury that left her in a coma. Days later, her rep shared that she had suffered a “severe anoxic brain injury” from the crash and was ultimately “not expected to survive.”
Us Weekly confirmed one week later that Heche’s cause of death was due to inhalation of smoke and thermal injuries. Her manner of death was listed as an accident, noting that a “sternal fracture due to blunt trauma” was another “significant condition” from the car crash.
Following her tragic passing, Heche’s 21-year-old son, Homer — whom she shared with ex-husband Coleman Laffoon — spoke out about the loss of his mother. (Heche also shared son Atlas, 14, with ex-boyfriend James Tupper.)
“My brother Atlas and I lost our Mom. After six days of almost unbelievable emotional swings, I am left with a deep, wordless sadness,” Homer said in an August 2022 interview. “Hopefully my mom is free from pain and beginning to explore what I like to imagine as her eternal freedom.”
In September, Homer filed paperwork to be put in charge of his mother’s estate after it was found that Heche didn’t have a written will. However, Tupper, 58, claimed that the actress left him her estate. In documents obtained by Us, he alleged that Heche made her intentions clear in an email she sent in January 2011.
“FYI In case I die tomorrow and anyone asks,” the alleged email read. “My wishes are that all of my assets go to the control of Mr. James Tupper to be used to raise my children and then given to the children. They will be divided equally among our children, currently Homer Heche Laffoon and Atlas Heche Tupper, and their portion given to each when they are the age of 25. When the last child turns 25 any house or other properties owned may be sold and the money divided equally among our children.”
Homer later slammed Tupper for his “unfounded personal attacks” against him.
“Mr. Tupper’s claims regarding [Homer’s] ‘suitability’ to serve as personal representative are not only immaterial, they are inaccurate and unfounded,” Homer claimed in court documents at the time.
Two months later, Homer was officially named the general administrator of Heche’s estate. Following all the legal drama, Homer revealed in January that he plans to release Heche’s unpublished memoir.
“I have a responsibility to share with her community what she was working on and how excited she would have been to tell you herself,” Homer wrote in a lengthy message via Heche’s Instagram account. “My mom had a completed manuscript for a second book at the time of her passing. The book is the product of mom’s further efforts to share her story and to help others where she could.”
He continued: “Call Me Anne is the result and I know she was excited to share with the world. So, mom, here I am sharing it with the community you created, may it flourish and take on a life of its own, as you would have wanted.”
Nearly one year after her death, Heche was finally laid to rest in May.
“Anne was given her final resting place Sunday [May 14] afternoon at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery – Cathedral Mausoleum,” a rep for the late actress said to Us in a statement on at the time. “She loved everyone so passionately and deeply and her children, her legacy, thank everyone for their support and love through this difficult time and are grateful to be able to honor their mother, [Sunday] on Mother’s Day.”
