Suzanne Somers

Somers began acting in small roles during the late 1960s and early 1970s. She appeared on various talk shows promoting her book of poetry and bit parts in movies, such as the "Blonde in the white Thunderbird" in American Graffiti; it led to appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.[11] She appeared in an episode of the American version of the sitcom Lotsa Luck, based on the British sitcom On the Buses, as the femme fatale, in the early 1970s. She also appeared in The Rockford Files in 1974 and had an uncredited role as a "pool girl" in Magnum Force in 1973. She also had a guest-starring role on The Six Million Dollar Man in the 1977 episode "Cheshire Project".[12] She played a passenger on the first episode of The Love Boat[13] and made a guest appearance in a 1976 episode of One Day at a Time.[14]

After actresses Suzanne Zenor and Susan Lanier did not impress producers during the first two pilot episodes of the ABC sitcom Three's Company, based on the British sitcom Man About the House, Somers was suggested by ABC president Fred Silverman, who had seen her in her initial appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Silverman hired her the day before the taping of the third and final pilot commenced.[15] Somers portrayed Christmas "Chrissy" Snow, who exemplified many blonde stereotypes and was employed as an office secretary. At first, Somers made $3,500 per week from the show.[16]

The series co-starred John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt in a comedy about two single women living with a single man who pretended to be gay in order to bypass the landlord's policy of prohibiting single men sharing an apartment with single women. The program was an instant success in the Nielsen ratings, eventually spawning a short-lived spin-off series, The Ropers, loosely based on the British sitcom George and Mildred, starring Norman Fell and Audra Lindley.[17]

When Three's Company began its fifth season in late 1980, Somers demanded a salary increase from $30,000 to $150,000 per episode, to match the compensation paid to Ritter, as well as 10% of the show's profits.[18] Somers's request was influenced by her second husband, Alan Hamel.[19]

ABC was willing to offer only a $5,000 per episode raise.[16] Somers then refused to appear in the second and fourth episodes of the season, citing excuses such as a broken rib. She finished the remaining season on her contract; however, her role was decreased to just 60 seconds per episode, with her character appearing in only the episode's closing tag in which Chrissy calls the trio's apartment from her parents' home. After ABC fired her from the program and terminated her contract, Somers sued the network for $2 million, saying her credibility in show business had been damaged. The lawsuit was settled by an arbitrator who decided Somers was owed only $30,000, due to a single missed episode for which she had not been paid. Future rulings also favored the network and producers. Somers said she was fired for asking to be paid as much as popular male television stars.[18]

In 1983, Suzanne Somers through her Hamel/Somers Productions signed a deal with Columbia Pictures Television.[20]

Somers and her Three's Company co-star, John Ritter, reconciled their friendship after 20 years of not speaking to each other, shortly before Ritter's death in 2003.[21]

Somers appeared in two Playboy cover-feature nude pictorials, in 1980 and 1984. Her first set of nude photos was taken by Stan Malinowski in February 1970 when Somers was a struggling model and actress and did a test photoshoot for the magazine. She was accepted as a Playmate candidate in 1971, but declined to pose nude before the actual shoot. During an appearance on The Tonight Show in 1980, she denied ever posing nude, except for a High Society topless photo. This prompted Playboy to publish photos from the 1970 Malinowski shoot, without her permission.[22] Somers' original motivation for posing nude was to be able to pay medical bills related to injuries her son Bruce Jr. suffered in a car accident. By the time the photos were published, her son was 14 and Somers feared seeing his mother posing nude would be difficult for him. Somers sued Playboy and settled for $50,000, which was donated to charity, with at least $10,000 of it going to Easterseals.[23] The second nude pictorial by Richard Fegley appeared in December 1984 in an attempt by Somers to regain her diminished popularity after the Three's Company debacle in 1981. Despite her anger and the earlier lawsuit, Playboy approached her earlier that year to pose nude a second time. Initially she was angered again, but eventually agreed after discussing it with her family. She felt she would have a better chance to control the quality of the photos the second time, and having such control was an important condition that Somers attached to posing. Despite Somers' earlier belief that her son would not want to see his mother nude, her then 18-year-old son did view the second pictorial.[24]

In the 1980s, Somers lived in Las Vegas and was an entertainer, headlining at the former MGM Grand (now Horseshoe Las Vegas) for two years until the theater burned down and then at the Las Vegas Hilton (now Westgate Las Vegas) for another 2+1⁄2 years.[25]

Suzanne Somers on the USS Ranger in 1981

In the early 1980s, Somers performed for U.S. servicemen overseas.[26][27][28]

From 1987 to 1989, Somers starred in the sitcom She's the Sheriff, which ran in first-run syndication. Somers portrayed a widow with two young children who decided to fill the shoes of her late husband, a sheriff of a Nevada town. The show ran for two seasons.[29]

In 1990, Somers returned to network television, appearing in numerous guest roles and made-for-TV movies.[30]

In September 1991, Somers returned to series television in the sitcom Step By Step (with Patrick Duffy), which became a success on ABC's youth-orientated TGIF lineup.[31]

In the early 1990s, Somers was the spokeswoman in a series of infomercials for the Thighmaster, a piece of exercise equipment which is squeezed between one's thighs above the knees. In 2014, Somers was inducted into the Infomercial Hall of Fame.[32]

In 1991 a two-hour biographical film of Somers, starring the actress herself, entitled Keeping Secrets, based on her first autobiography of the same title, was broadcast on ABC. The movie chronicled Somers' troubled family life and upbringing, along with her subsequent rise to fame.[31]

In 1994, Somers launched a daytime talk show titled Suzanne Somers, which lasted one season.[31]

Step By Step continued on ABC until the end of its sixth season in 1997, when the series moved to CBS for what turned out to be its final season.[31]

From 1997 to 1999, Somers co-hosted the revised Candid Camera show, when CBS revived it with Peter Funt.[33]

In the 2000s, Somers appeared on the Home Shopping Network for more than 25 hours per month, selling household items, clothing and jewelry that she designed.[1]

Somers receiving patriotic civilian service award for past USO tour performances after performing The Blonde in the Thunderbird for members of the U.S. military and their families

In the summer of 2005, Somers made her Broadway theatre debut in a one-woman show, The Blonde in the Thunderbird, a collection of stories about her life and career. The show was supposed to run until September, but was cancelled in less than a week after poor reviews and disappointing ticket sales.[29] She blamed the harsh reviews: The New York Times referred to it as "...a drab and embarrassing display of emotional exhibitionism masquerading as entertainment."[34] She compared her treatment by critics with the treatment of soldiers in the Iraq War, prompting even more criticism.[35]

In 2012, Somers began an online talk show, Suzanne Somers Breaking Through, at CafeMom. Three of the episodes featured a reunion and reconciliation with former Three's Company co-star Joyce DeWitt; the two had not seen nor spoken to each other in 31 years. Somers and Dewitt briefly discussed John Ritter and how glad they were they both had spoken with him shortly before his sudden death.[36]

In the fall of 2012, The Suzanne Show, hosted by Somers, aired for a 13-episode season on the Lifetime Network. Somers welcomed various guests covering a wide range of topics relating to health and fitness.[36]

On February 24, 2015, Somers was announced as one of the stars participating on the 20th season of Dancing with the Stars. Her partner was professional dancer Tony Dovolani.[37] Somers and Dovolani were eliminated in the fifth week of competition and finished in 9th place.[38]

In May and June 2015, Somers starred in "Suzanne Sizzles" at the Westgate Las Vegas.[25]

Somers had hyperplasia in her 20s and skin cancer in her 30s.[18]

In April 2000, Somers was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a lumpectomy to remove the cancer, followed by radiation therapy.[42]

In 2018, it was reported that she underwent an experimental stem-cell therapy to regrow the breast she lost to cancer.[52]

In 2020, Somers fractured her hip when she jumped out of a private tram to her house.[53]

Somers died at her home in Palm Springs, California, on October 15, 2023, one day before her 77th birthday. Her breast cancer had returned earlier in the year.[7][54]

The handprints of Suzanne Somers in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park

Suzanne Somers three-way poncho on display at Walgreens, an As seen on TV product endorsed by Somers

• Anniversary Game (1969–1970)[12]
• Lotsa Luck (1974)[55][36]
• The Rockford Files – The Big Ripoff (aired October 25, 1974)[36][12]
• Sky Heist (1975)[56]
• The Six Million Dollar Man (1977)[12]
• Starsky & Hutch (1975–1979, 3 appearances)[36]
• One Day at a Time (1976)[36]
• The Love Boat (1977)[13]
• Three's Company (1977–1981)[1]
• Happily Ever After (1978)[57]
• Hollywood Wives (1985) (miniseries)[31]
• She's the Sheriff (1987–1989)[31][36]
• Rich Men, Single Women (1990)[31]
• Step by Step (1991–1998)[31][1][12]
• Keeping Secrets (1991)[31][12]
• Exclusive (1992)[31]
• The Suzanne Somers Show (1994–1995)[31]
• Full House (1994)[30]
• Seduced by Evil (1994)[31]
• 8-Track Flashback (1995–1998)[31]
• Devil's Food (1996)[31]
• Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade (1996) (Host)[30]
• The Simpsons (1996)
• Love-Struck (1997)[30]
• Candid Camera (co-host from 1997 to 2000)[1]
• No Laughing Matter (1998)[30]
• Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List (2009) (guest appearance)[30]
• The Suzanne Show (2012) (Host)[30]
• The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (2013) (guest appearance)[30]
• Dancing with the Stars (2015) (contestant)[38]
• Home & Family (2017)[30]

• Bullitt (1968) as Woman (uncredited)[36][12]
• Daddy's Gone A-Hunting (1969) as Sidewalk Extra (uncredited)[36]
• Fools (1970) as Woman at Baptism (uncredited)[36]
• American Graffiti (1973) as Blonde in T-Bird[36][1][12]
• Magnum Force (1973) as Pool Girl (uncredited)[12]
• It Happened at Lakewood Manor (1977, TV movie)[31] as Gloria
• Zuma Beach (1978, TV movie)[57] as Bonnie Katt
• Yesterday's Hero (1979) as Cloudy[30]
• Nothing Personal (1980) as Abigail Adams[30]
• Serial Mom (1994) as Herself[36]
• Rusty: A Dog's Tale (1998) as Malley the Dog (narrator)[30]
• Say It Isn't So (2001) as Gilbert's Mom / Herself (cameo, uncredited)[36]