Suzanne Somers, an American actress, author, singer, businesswoman, and health spokesperson, graced the small screen with her talent. From 1977 to 1981, she portrayed the character Chrissy Snow on Three’s Company, and later from 1991 to 1998, she took on the role of Carol Foster Lambert on Step by Step.
Bio/Wiki
Age- 76 years
Height- 1.66 m
Weight- 63 kg
Full name- Suzanne Marie Somers
Born- 16 October 1946
Birthplace-San Bruno, California, United States
Died- 15 October 2023
Death place-Palm Springs, California, United States
Spouse-Alan Hamel (m. 1977–2023), Bruce Somers (m. 1965–1968)
Profession-American actress and writer
Nationality- American
Family
Suzanne Marie Mahoney was born in San Bruno, California. Her mother worked in the medical field and her father was a laborer and gardener, but he was also an alcoholic and abusive. She was the third child out of four in a Catholic family that was working-class and of Irish-American descent.
Husband
Somers got married to Bruce Somers in 1965, and they had a son, Bruce Jr., in November 1965. However, the marriage ended in 1968 after three years. Somers then became a prize model on the Anniversary Game (1969-70) where she met Alan Hamel, who was the host. They got married in 1977. Somers has three granddaughters named Camelia, Violet Somers, and Daisy Hamel-Buffa.
Education
Somers went to Mercy High School in Burlingame, California. Her father’s all-night rages made it difficult for her to focus on schoolwork, and she would often fall asleep in class. Despite this, she played the lead role in H.M.S. Pinafore. However, she was expelled at age 14 for writing sexually suggestive notes to a boy, which were never sent. Somers graduated from Capuchino High School in 1964.
Career
Somers acted in small roles in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She was on talk shows promoting her poetry book and had bit parts in movies like American Graffiti and Lotsa Luck. She appeared in The Rockford Files in 1974 and had an uncredited role in Magnum Force in 1973. Somers also had guest-starring roles on The Six Million Dollar Man, The Love Boat, and One Day at a Time. Her most famous role was as “Chrissy Snow” on Three’s Company in 1977. That same year, she was a panelist on Match Game and appeared on Tattletales with her husband Alan Hamel.
Somers was cast in Three’s Company in 1977 after two other actresses didn’t impress producers. The ABC president suggested Somers, who played Chrissy Snow, a stereotypical dumb blonde who worked as an office secretary. The show co-starred John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt, and was about two single women living with a man who pretended to be gay to bypass the landlord’s policy. It was a success and spawned a spin-off called The Ropers. In 1980, Somers demanded a salary increase of $150,000 per episode and 10% ownership of the show’s profits to match Ritter’s compensation.
Suzanne Somers did not show up in some episodes of Three’s Company season due to a dispute over her salary. She finished the rest of the season with a reduced role. ABC eventually fired her and she sued them for $2 million, but only received $30,000. Somers believed she was fired for asking to be paid as much as male stars like Alan Alda and Carroll O’Connor. In 1983, she signed a deal with Columbia Pictures Television. Somers reconciled with her co-star John Ritter before his death in 2003.
Somers was featured in two Playboy covers in 1980 and 1984. Her first nude photos were taken in 1970 when she was a struggling model and actress. She was asked to pose nude for Playboy in 1971 but declined. Somers denied ever posing nude except for a High Society topless photo during an appearance on The Tonight Show. Playboy published her photos from the 1970 shoot without her permission in 1980, prompting Somers to sue. She settled for $50,000, which was donated to charity. Her second nude pictorial in 1984 was an attempt to regain her popularity after the Three’s Company debacle in 1981. Somers supported bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. Her book, Ageless,[33] included interviews with 16 practitioners of bioidentical hormone therapy, but gives extra discussion to one specific approach, the “Wiley Protocol”.
Movies and TV show
Movies
- Fools (1970) as Woman at Baptism (uncredited)
- Bullitt (1968) as Woman (uncredited)
- Daddy’s Gone A-Hunting (1969) as Sidewalk Extra (uncredited)
- American Graffiti (1973) as Blonde in T-Bird
- Magnum Force (1973) as Pool Girl (uncredited)
- Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977) as Party Girl
- It Happened at Lakewood Manor (1977, TV movie) as Gloria
- Zuma Beach (1978, TV movie) as Bonnie Katt
- Yesterday’s Hero (1979) as Cloudy
- Nothing Personal (1980) as Abigail Adams
- Totally Minnie (1988, TV movie) as Director
- Serial Mom (1994) as Herself
- The Nutty Professor (1996) as Thighmaster Lady on TV (uncredited)
- Rusty: A Dog’s Tale (1998) as Malley the Dog (narrator)
- Say It Isn’t So (2001) as Gilbert’s Mom / Herself (cameo, uncredited)
TV Show
- Mantrap (1971–73)
- Anniversary Game (1969–70)
- Sky Heist (1975)
- The Six Million Dollar Man (1977)
- Lotsa Luck (1974)
- Starsky & Hutch (1975–79, 3 appearances)
- Three’s Company (1977–81)
- The Love Boat (1977)
- Tattletales (1977)
- Happily Ever After (1978)
- Zuma Beach (1978)
- Goodbye Charlie (1985)
- She’s the Sheriff (1987–89)
- Rich Men, Single Women (1990)
- Step by Step (1991–98)
- Keeping Secrets (1991)
- Exclusive (1992) (also co-executive producer)
- The Suzanne Somers Show (1994–95)
- Full House (1994)
- 8-Track Flashback (1995–98)
- Devil’s Food (1996)
- Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade (1996) (Host)
- Love-Struck (1997)
- Candid Camera (co-host from 1997 to 2000)
- Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List (2009) (guest appearance)
- The Suzanne Show (2012) (Host)
- The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (2013) (guest appearance)
- Dancing with the Stars (2015) (contestant)
- Home & Family (2017)
Awards
- People’s Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series (1992, 1978 · Step by Step)
Net Worth 2023
In October 2023, Suzanne Somers’ net worth was approximated to be $100 million at the time of her passing.
Suzanne Somers’s Cause of Death
Suzanne Somers, renowned for her performances in the popular American sitcoms Three’s Company and Step by Step, passed away at the age of 76. Regrettably, the actress succumbed to breast cancer on Sunday morning, just a day before she was set to celebrate her 77th birthday. R Couri Hay, her trusted publicist, confirmed this sad news in a statement provided to People Magazine.
Suzanne Somers passed away peacefully at home in the early morning hours of October 15th. She survived an aggressive form of breast cancer for over 23 years,” he said.
“Suzanne was surrounded by her loving husband Alan, her son Bruce, and her immediate family.
“Her family was gathered to celebrate her 77th birthday on October 16th.
“Instead, they will celebrate her extraordinary life, and want to thank her millions of fans and followers who loved her dearly.”
Alan Hamel and Bruce Somers are left behind by her, along with her son Bruce junior, as her ex-husband.
In July, Somers took to Instagram to reveal the news of her breast cancer’s resurgence.
“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 diagnosed in 2000, and also had skin cancer.
She faced some criticism for her reliance on what she described as a chemical-free and organic lifestyle to combat the cancers.
