Famed comedy actress and fitness icon Suzanne Somers has died. She was 76.
In a statement from her longtime publicist R. Couri Hay to People, it was revealed Somers passed away peacefully at home on Sunday morning surrounded by family who had originally gathered to celebrate her 77th birthday on Monday.
Somers first came to attention with a cameo in George Lucas’ “American Graffiti” and broke through in 1977 with ABC comedy series “Three’s Company” in which she played Chrissy Snow opposite Joyce DeWitt’s Janet Wood and John Ritter’s Jack Tripper.
The basic premise had the trio living out of a Santa Monica apartment with Ritter posing as a gay man in order to placate the girls’ landlord who doesn’t want tenants of the opposite sex cohabitating. The show was an immediate success, jumping to No. 3 in the national ratings in its first year.
Somers demanded a five-fold increase in her salary around the show’s fifth season which led to her being written out of the show and replaced.
She stayed in TV, with two seasons as the lead of sitcom “She’s the Sheriff,” and then joined Patrick Duffy as co-lead of ABC family comedy “Step by Step” which ran for eight seasons. She also co-hosted “Candid Camera” in 1997.
Somers became very wealthy thanks to a personal multi-million-dollar business empire built on her infomercials and serving as a spokeswoman for the muscle-toning ThighMaster device.
She soon started her own health and beauty product line along with penning multiple books on wellness, aging, weight loss and sex. She also survived an aggressive form of stage II breast cancer in 2000, but was diagnosed with a second bout of breast cancer earlier this year.
Her other screen credits included “Bullitt,” “Serial Mom,” “Magnum Force,” “Billy Jack Goes to Washington” and guest spots on “The Rockford Files,” “Starsky & Hutch” and “The Love Boat”.
Source: Variety
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