Suzanne Pleshette biography

Synopsis

Early Career

Actress. Suzanne Pleshette was born January 31, 1937, in New York City. Her father, Eugene Pleshette, was a stage manager, network executive and manager of the Paramount Theater in Brooklyn during the big band era. Her mother, under the stage name Geraldine Rivers, was an artist and dancer.

Pleshette began her acting career on the stage in the 1950s after attending New York's High School for the Performing Arts and Syracuse University. She then moved into film and TV roles, often getting parts because of her husky voice.
In 1958, Pleshette appeared on Broadway with Maureen Stapleton and Eli Wallach in the play The Cold Wind and the Warm. She also made her film debut that year with Jerry Lewis in The Geisha Boy.

In 1961, she was nominated for an Emmy Award for her appearance as Julie Lawler on the TV show Dr. Kildare. Pleshette also appeared in numerous TV shows, including Have Gun Will Travel, Playhouse 90 and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

She also replaced Anne Bancroft in the role of Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker, opposite Patty Duke as Helen Keller in 1961. After she received excellent reviews, she toured extensively in the role.

Film Breakthrough

Pleshette got a big break on film in 1963 when Alfred Hitchcock cast her in The Birds. The Golden Globes named her Best Newcomer - Female. She also performed in about two dozen other films, including Disney movies such as The Ugly Dachshund, Blackbeard's Ghost and The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin.

Pleshette was the producers' original choice for the role of Catwoman on the 1966 Batman TV show. When negotiations broke down, the part went to Julie Newmar.

Bob Newhart

But it was her role as Emily Hartley that brought her the most acclaim, including two Emmy nominations. Pleshette played a schoolteacher to Bob Newhart's psychologist character in The Bob Newhart series. The situation comedy revolved around their careers and off-beat friends, as well as Bob's patients. The married couple was childless, a novelty at the time in television. The highly-rated show ran from 1972 to 1978.

Pleshette was also nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her role as Leona Helmsley in the TV-movie Leona Helmsley: Queen of Mean (1990). She also appeared on the sitcoms Will & Grace and 8 Simple Rules.

Personal Life

Pleshette was married three times. First up was actor Troy Donahue on January 4, 1964, her co-star in Rome Adventure (1962). They divorced only eight months later. On March 16, 1968, she married businessman Thomas Joseph Gallagher III. He died January 21, 2000.

In December 2000, Pleshette announced her engagement to actor Tom Poston, 79. They had met back in 1959 while they were in the Broadway comedy The Golden Fleecing. And each had starred on a Bob Newhart show, but not at the same time. She was in the 1970s version, he was in the 1980s show.

However, Poston had appeared in a recurring role in the 70s version as an old friend of Newhart's character, Bob Hartley. And Pleshette appeared in the '80s version finale (now considered a classic) when, back in her role as Emily Hartley, she rolled over in bed, revealing to Newhart that the whole show (1982-1990) had been a dream.

Pleshette and Poston married on May 11, 2001. In August 2006, Pleshette underwent chemotherapy treatment at Los Angeles' Cedar-Sinai Medical Center for lung cancer. In September 2007, Pleshette attended a 35th reunion of the cast of the 1970s Bob Newhart Show in a wheelchair, just four days after leaving the hospital after battling pneumonia. "I never thought I'd be here tonight," said Pleshette.

A year later, on January 19, 2008, Pleshette's battle with health complications finally caught up with her. She died of respiratory failure at her Los Angeles home.

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