Suzanne Somers biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Model, actress, businesswoman and writer Suzanne Marie Mahoney was born on October 16, 1946, in San Bruno, California. The daughter of an abusive alcoholic father, Somers briefly attended Lone Mountain College in San Francisco before dropping out after becoming pregnant. After marrying and divorcing her child’s father, she sought out modeling and acting work in San Francisco.

For years, Somers supported herself and her son with odd jobs and small acting parts. She met her future husband Alan Hamel while working on the game show The Anniversary Game in the late 1960s. One of her most famous early roles, however, was the mysterious girl in the thunderbird that Richard Dreyfuss chases after in the George Lucas 60s nostalgia film American Graffiti. Around this time, she also wrote a volume of poetry with the tantalizing title Touch Me, which attracted the attention of Johnny Carson. Somers became a frequent guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

Her biggest career breakthrough came in 1977 as one of the stars of the hit sitcom Three’s Company with John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt. On the show, she played the bubbly, goofy Chrissy Snow, who became viewed as one of television’s quintessial “dumb blondes.” Around this time, she married Alan Hamel, who also became her manager. Following a salary dispute, Somers was eventually written off in 1981.

After being dumped from her hit show, Somers reinvented herself as an entertainer. She often played Las Vegas with such performers as Rich Little and Bobby Vinton. In 1987, Somers returned to television with the syndicated sitcom She’s the Sheriff, in which she played a woman who takes over her late husband’s policing duties in Lakes County, Nevada. Before the show went off the air in 1989, Somers published her memoir Keeping Secrets (1988), revealing her troubled childhood growing up with a verbally abusive alcoholic father and the lasting impact of his addiction on herself and her family.

Expanding Career

While she had been a spokesperson for different companies over the years, Somers developed her businesses as well. In the late 1980s, she started marketing a small piece of exercise equipment called the ThighMaster. This was the first time in her career as a health and fitness promoter.

In 1991, Somers again found success on the small screen, co-starring with Patrick Duffy in the family sitcom Step by Step.