'95 taurus 3.0 liter

Ordinarily starts easily and runs well, which it was doing until suddenly coming uphill nearing home it began to operate roughly, cutting out momentarily and operating as if running out of fuel (but tank nearly full).l  Within a moment or two I made it into my drivewway where it completely stalled and cannot be restarted.  I've performed some checks.;  The plugs are firing properly.  It is obviously getting no gas to the engine.  The fuel pump "whirls" when ignition turned to "start".  What accounts for sudden complete shutdown like this, and what approach do I use to determine the cause?