Suzanne Somers

**Suzanne Somers** (born **Suzanne Marie Mahoney** on October 16, 1946 in San Bruno, CA and died on October 15, 2023 in Palm Springs, CA) is an American Actress, Model, Author, Singer, and Health Spokesperson. She is best known to TV audiences for her portrayal of Chrissy Snow on the ABC sitcom *Three's Company* for five season and Carol Lambert on the ABC/CBS sitcom *Step by Step* for it's entire run. She once appeared as a panelist on *Match Game* in the mid-to-late 1970s.

Born Suzanne Marie Mahoney in San Bruno, California, the third of four children in an Irish-American Catholic family. Her mother, Marion Elizabeth was a medical secretary, and her father, Francis Mahoney was a laborer and gardener. She attended Capuchino High School, then she was accepted at San Francisco College for Women (commonly referred to as "Lone Mountain College"), a now-defunct single sex school which became a campus of the Jesuit University of San Francisco.

Somers began her acting career in the late 1960s, early 1970s. Her most famous cameo was in the 1973 film *American Graffiti* where she played the "Blonde in the T-Bird". She appeared alongside James Garner in a 1974 episode of *The Rockford Files* and had an uncredited role as a topless pool girl in *Magnum Force*, also in 1974. But it wasn't until January 1977 when she landed the role that would make her a household name and a global superstar.

She was cast in the ABC sitcom *Three's Company* (based on the British sitcom *Man About the House*) after actresses Suzanne Zenor and Susan Lanier did not impress producers during the first two test pilots, Somers was hired the day before the filming of the third and final pilot officially commenced. She portrayed the character Chrissy Snow, a stereotypical dumb blonde, who was employed as an office secretary. Suzanne co-starred alongside John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt in a comedy of errors about two young ladies living with a young man who pretends to be gay in order to bypass the landlord's policy prohibiting single men sharing an apartment with single women. The show quickly became ratings gold and 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). TV audiences loved Somers as the dumb blonde, Chrissy Snow, deeming her the audience favorite, leading the media to proclaim her the show's breakout star, and she was generally credited for making the show a worldwide phenomenon.

After the start of the fifth season of *Three's Company*, tension between Somers and her co-stars John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt increased. Marking the beginning of contract re-negotiations and sparked friction on the set. Suzanne demanded for a heavily increased salary from $30,000 to $150,000 per episode, plus 10% of the show's profits and when her terms weren't met, she retaliated by going on a series of strikes. Executives believed that a complete loss of Somers could damage the program's popularity so a compromise was reached.
Suzanne was still under contract with ABC and continued to appear in the series but only in the one minute tag scene of a handful of episodes. Her scenes were taped on separate days from the show's regular taping; she did not appear on set with any of the show's other cast members as rumors swirled that John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt refused to even be in the same room with Somers. It was written into the story that Chrissy returns to her hometown, Fresno, to care for her ailing mother, and was only seen when she telephoned her former roommates (beginning with the episode titled "Room at the Bottom") and they recounted that week's adventures to her. This arrangement continued for the remainder of the fifth season with the episode titled "And a Baby Makes Four" marking Somers' final appearance as Chrissy on the series.

After her contract was terminated, she sued ABC for $2 million, claiming her credibility in show business had been damaged. It went to an arbitrator who decided she was owed only $30,000, due to a single missed episode for which she had not been paid. Other rulings favored the producers. Suzanne claimed she was fired for asking to be paid as much as male television stars of the day such as Alan Alda and Carroll O'Connor.

Suzanne did not have any kind of contact with her *Three's Company* co-stars until decades later. She reconciled with John Ritter just days before his untimely death in September 2003 and were in talks of having Somers appearing on his show *8 Simple Rules* in a guest starring role and after 30 years, she finally made up with Joyce DeWitt as the two ladies shared an emotional reunion on her web series *Breaking Through* (aired February 2, 2012).

After her termination from *Three's Company*, Somers was on the road to redeem herself. She became a Las Vegas entertainer and performed for US servicemen overseas. She also appeared in two *Playboy* cover-feature nude pictorials, in 1980 and 1984. The first set of 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*, she denied ever posing nude (except for a *High Society* topless photo), which prompted *Playboy* to publish photos from the Malinowski shoot a decade later, in 1980. The second nude pictorial by Richard Fegley appeared in the December 1984 issue of the magazine.

Later on, she became the spokeswoman for the *Thighmaster* in a series of infomercials airing in the late 1980s, early 1990s. The *Thighmaster* was a piece of exercise equipment that is squeezed between one's thighs. At the height of her exposure as official spokesperson for *Thighmaster* infomercials, Somers made her first return to a series, although not on network television. In 1987, she starred in the sitcom *She's the Sheriff*, which ran in first-run syndication. Somers portrayed a widow with two young kids who decided to fill the shoes of her late husband, a sheriff of a Nevada town. The show ran for two seasons.

In 1990, Somers made the return to network TV, appearing in numerous guest roles and made-for-TV movies, mostly for ABC. Her roles in these, including the movie *Rich Men*, *Single Women*, attracted the attention of Lorimar Television and Miller-Boyett Productions, who were developing a new sitcom. Somers had starred in the film with Heather Locklear, who inadvertently directed the focus of both production companies to Somers due to Locklear's starring role on *Going Places* (from Lorimar and Miller/Boyett). For Lorimar, this was asking Somers back, since they alone had produced *She's the Sheriff*.

In September 1991, Suzanne made a comeback in the new sitcom *Step By Step* (co-starring with Patrick Duffy). The new series quickly became a success on ABC's youth-oriented TGIF lineup. A week after the premiere of *Step By Step*, a two-hour biopic 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. Playing off her rejuvenated career, Somers also launched a daytime talk show in 1994, aptly titled *Suzanne Somers*, which lasted one season. *Step By Step* continued on the ABC programming lineup until the end of its sixth season in 1997, whereupon the series moved to CBS that fall for what turned out to be its final season. With her sitcom now airing on CBS, Somers was chosen to co-host the network's revival of *Candid Camera* with Peter Funt, which began airing later that season.

In 2001, Somers was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a lumpectomy, and radiation, but declined to undergo chemotherapy. In November 2008, she announced she was diagnosed with inoperable cancer by six doctors.

But a week later, she learned that she was misdiagnosed. During this time, she interviewed doctors about cancer treatments and these interviews became the basis of her book, *Knockout*, about alternative treatments to chemotherapy. Somers also promoted alternative cancer treatments, for which she was criticized by the American Cancer Society in a quote saying: "The American Cancer Society is concerned. I am very afraid that people are going to listen to her message and follow what she says and be harmed by it", says Dr. Otis Brawley, the organization's chief medical officer. "We use current treatments because they've been proven to prolong life. They've gone through a logical, scientific method of evaluation. I don't know if Suzanne Somers even knows there IS a logical, scientific method." More broadly, Brawley is concerned that in the United States, celebrities or sports stars feel they can use their fame to dispense medical advice. "There's a tendency to oversimplify medical messages.... Well, oversimplification can kill".

She is also opposed to water fluoridation and in January 2013 she suggested that Adam Lanza went on his shooting spree at Sandy Hook Elementary School due to the level of toxins in his diet and the household cleaners he was exposed to. She stated that all these chemicals may "overelectrify the brain".

In summer 2005, Suzanne made her Broadway 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. She blamed the harsh reviews (*The New York Times* referred to it as "...a drab and embarrassing display of emotional exhibitionism masquerading as entertainment") and told *The New York Post*: "These men [New York critics] are curmudgeons, and maybe I went too close to the bone for them. I was lying there naked, and they decided to kick me and step on me, just like these visions you see in Iraq".

In January 2007, the Associated Press reported that a wildfire in Southern California had destroyed a number of homes and properties including Somers' Malibu home.

In 2012, she began hosted an online talk show titled *Breaking Through* followed by a 13-episode season of *The Suzanne Show* on the Lifetime network. Somers welcomed various guests covering a wide range of topics related to health and fitness.

Recently, she appeared on the 20th season of ABC's *Dancing With The Stars*. She was partnered with professional dancer Tony Dovolani. On one episode, Somers stepped back into the shoes of her *Three's Company* character Chrissy Snow, dancing with her partner to the show's iconic theme song as part of a tribute to John Ritter. Suzanne and Tony were eliminated on the fifth week of competition, finishing in 9th place.

Suzanne has married twice; she was first married to Bruce Somers, they married in 1965 and divorced in 1968. She is currently married to Alan Hamel, they first met in 1969 when he hosted the short-lived game show *The Anniversary Game* where she worked as a prize model (rumors have surfaced that Somers was also a prize model/assistant on the NBC game show *High Rollers* {later known as *The New High Rollers*} with Alex Trebek, but this is most likely not true). They married in 1977 and later appeared as celebrity panelists on *Tattletales* (Somers also appeared as a panelist on *Match Game* that same year) and she has one child, son Bruce Somers Jr., from her first marriage.

In July 2023, her breast cancer had returned earlier in the year. On October 15, 2023, Somers died in her home at Palm Springs, CA days before her 77th birthday had arrived. She was 76.