Quite a bummer to see Suzanne pass. She was definitely one of the pretty women I first noticed as I was morphing into a Tweener! Many will mock her passing as being the spokesperson for the Thighmaster via numerous late-night ads but many forget she didn’t just disappear when ABC decided to fire her from Three’s Company for demanding a pay raise. How dare a woman, who’s the major ratings draw for a mediocre SitCom, which was an English show repurposed for ABC; Man of the House; ask for her fair share!
I can’t remember the order it went. There was Step by Step with Patrick Duffy, I think it was about a blended family and She’s the Sheriff, probably the tired trope of things being turned upside in a small community. I remembered this premise well via Carter Country.
What’s more amazing and now sad. Suzanne was seen by audiences and the TV studios as a very attractive, dare I say “hot” lady; personally I hate the term. It makes the woman into a timely commodity and many who get the moniker are not pretty on the inside nor will their looks last. The truly beautiful women of show biz have good character, I’ll divulge my list another day. Anyway, in Suzanne’s case, she was about 30 when fame, success and the cover of People happened. Many great ladies of the Seventies and earlier did. After that, over 25 is considered to be an old crone. Hollywood got gross and sickeningly obsessed with youth as the cornerstone to beauty. I’m glad Suzanne received her shot when she did yet I wish Three’s Company panned out as well as it did for John Ritter.
Thanks for everything Suzanne.