Suzanne Somers, the bubbling blonde actor identified for enjoying Chrissy Snow on the tv present “Three’s Company” in addition to her enterprise endeavors, has died. She was 76.
Somers had breast most cancers for over 23 years and died Sunday morning, her household mentioned in a press release supplied by her longtime publicist, R. Couri Hay. Her husband Alan Hamel, her son Bruce and different rapid household had been along with her in Palm Springs, California.
“Her family was gathered to celebrate her 77th birthday on October 16th,” the assertion learn. “Instead, they will celebrate her extraordinary life, and want to thank her millions of fans and followers who loved her dearly.”
In July, Somers shared on Instagram that her breast most cancers had returned.
“Like any cancer patient, when you get that dreaded, ‘It’s back’ you get a pit in your stomach. Then I put on my battle gear and go to war,” she told Entertainment Tonight at the time. “This is familiar battleground for me and I’m very tough.”
She was first identified in 2000, and in addition had pores and skin most cancers. She confronted some backlash for her reliance on what she’s described as a chemical-free and natural life-style to fight the cancers. She argued in opposition to using chemotherapy, in books and on platforms like “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” which drew criticism from the American Cancer Society.
Somers was born in 1946 in San Bruno, California, to a gardener father and a medical secretary mom. She started performing within the late Nineteen Sixties, taking part in the blonde driving the white Thunderbird in George Lucas’s 1973 movie “American Graffiti.” Her solely line was mouthing the phrases “I love you” to Richard Dreyfuss’s character.
At her audition, Lucas simply requested her if she might drive. She later mentioned that second “changed her life forever.”
Somers would later stage a one-woman Broadway present entitled “The Blonde in the Thunderbird,” which drew largely scathing opinions.
She appeared in lots of tv reveals within the Seventies, together with “The Rockford Files,” “Magnum Force” and “The Six Million Dollar Man,” however her most well-known half got here with “Three’s Company,” which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984 — although her participation led to 1981.
On “Three’s Company,” she was the ditzy blonde reverse John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt within the roommate comedy. In 1980, after 4 seasons, she requested for a increase from $30,000 an episode to $150,000 an episode, which might have been similar to what Ritter was getting paid. Hamel, a former tv producer, had inspired the ask.
“The show’s response was, ‘Who do you think you are?’” Somers advised People in 2020. “They said, ‘John Ritter is the star.’”
She was quickly fired and her character was changed by two completely different roommates for the remaining years the present aired. It additionally led to a rift along with her co-stars; They didn’t converse for a few years. Somers did reconcile with Ritter earlier than his dying, after which with DeWitt on her on-line discuss present.
But Somers took the break as a chance to pursue new avenues, together with a Las Vegas act, writing books, internet hosting a chat present and turning into an entrepreneur. In the Nineteen Nineties, she additionally turned the spokesperson for the “Thighmaster.”
Somers returned to community tv within the Nineteen Nineties, most famously on “Step by Step,” which aired on ABC’s youth-targeted TGIF lineup. The community additionally aired a biopic of her life, starring her, referred to as “Keeping Secrets.”
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