'Can't Buy Me Love' Actress Amanda Peterson Dies

Amanda Peterson, best known for starring in 1987's "Can't Buy Me Love," died unexpectedly in her sleep on Sunday.

She was 43 years old

Her mother, Sylvia Peterson, says that her daughter's last moments were happy ones.

"She was in bed, and she'd had a wonderful day, and we were planning on a dinner the next day," Sylvia said.

Peterson was found dead in her Greeley, Colorado home, after she failed to appear for a scheduled meeting and police were alerted.

"It was just a very, very big surprise," her mother added.

While no cause of death has yet been determined, Sylvia suspects that Amanda's sleep apnea may have been the reason Amanda passed so young.

"She was just so much fun, and she was just great," Sylvia remembers. "She had a cute sense of humor [and a] love of history – just a very, very cute person."

While she was prevalent in film as a youngster, Peterson's last on-screen appearance was 1994's "Windrunner." Peterson retired from acting and moved to Colorado, where she focused on graduate school and building a normal life for herself.

"She went back to school," her mother said, "but she did not ever go back to Hollywood. She lived in Greeley and she lived in Fort Collins, and pretty much just continued in graduate work and in studying in that kind of thing. She was very involved with her church work."

She was also reportedly working on an autobiography.

Peterson is survived by her second husband, David Hartley, and two children.