Suzanne Somers, of ‘Three’s Firm,’ dies at 76

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Suzanne Somers, the effervescent blonde actor known for playing Chrissy Snow on the tv show “Three’s Company” and who turned an entrepreneur and New York Periods very best-promoting author, has died. She was 76.

Somers experienced breast most cancers for over 23 several years and died Sunday early morning, her spouse and children explained in a assertion supplied by her longtime publicist, R. Couri Hay. Her spouse Alan Hamel, her son Bruce and other immediate family members ended up with her in Palm Springs, California.

“Her family members was collected to rejoice her 77th birthday on October 16th,” the statement browse. “Instead, they will rejoice her extraordinary everyday living, and want to thank her tens of millions of followers and followers who loved her dearly.”

In July, Somers shared on Instagram that her breast most cancers experienced returned.

“Like any most cancers patient, when you get that dreaded, ‘It’s back’ you get a pit in your stomach. Then I put on my battle equipment and go to war,” she informed Amusement Tonight at the time. “This is acquainted battleground for me and I’m quite tricky.”

She was initial identified in 2000, and had formerly battled skin cancer. Somers faced some backlash for her reliance on what she’s described as a chemical-no cost and organic lifestyle to combat the cancers. She argued in opposition to the use of chemotherapy, in guides and on platforms like “The Oprah Winfrey Present,” which drew criticism from the American Most cancers Modern society.

Somers was born in 1946 in San Bruno, California, to a gardener father and a professional medical secretary mother. Her childhood, she’d afterwards say, was tumultuous. Her father was an alcoholic, and abusive. She married youthful, at 19, to Bruce Somers, following turning out to be pregnant with her son Bruce. The few divorced a few decades afterwards and she started modeling for “The Anniversary Game” to aid herself. It was during this time that she achieved Hamel, who she married in 1977.

She commenced performing in the late 1960s, earning her initially credit history in the Steve McQueen film “Bullitt.” But the spotlight really hit when she was solid as the blonde driving the white Thunderbird in George Lucas’s 1973 movie “American Graffiti.” Her only line was mouthing the words and phrases “I adore you” to Richard Dreyfuss’s character.

At her audition, Lucas just requested her if she could travel. She afterwards stated that moment “changed her lifetime endlessly.”

Somers would later on stage a one particular-woman Broadway present entitled “The Blonde in the Thunderbird,” about her daily life, which drew largely scathing assessments.

She appeared in numerous television displays in the 1970s, which include “The Rockford Files,” “Magnum Force” and “The 6 Million Greenback Man,” but her most famed component arrived with “Three’s Corporation,” which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984 — nevertheless her participation finished in 1981.

On “Three’s Organization,” she was the ditzy blonde opposite John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt in the roommate comedy.

“Creating her was basically intellectual,” she told CBS Information in 2020. “How do I make her likable and loveable … dumb blondes are irritating. I gave her a ethical code. I imagined it was the childhood I would’ve favored to have had.”

In 1980, following 4 seasons, she requested for a raise from $30,000 an episode to $150,000 an episode, which would have been similar to what Ritter was getting paid out. Hamel, a previous tv producer, had inspired the inquire.

“The show’s response was, ‘Who do you imagine you are?’” Somers explained to Men and women in 2020. “They explained, ‘John Ritter is the star.’”

She was instantly phased out and quickly fired Her character was changed by two distinct roommates for the remaining decades the clearly show aired. It also led to a rift with her co-stars They did not speak for several decades. Somers did reconcile with Ritter prior to his death, and then with DeWitt on her on the net speak present.

But Somers took the split as an option to go after new avenues, including a Las Vegas act, hosting a chat present and getting to be an entrepreneur. In the 1990s, she also grew to become the spokesperson for the “ThighMaster.”

The 10 years also noticed her return to network tv in the 1990s, most famously on “Step by Action,” which aired on ABC’s youth-targeted TGIF lineup. The network also aired a biopic of her lifetime, starring her, known as “Keeping Secrets.”

Somers was also a prolific writer, composing textbooks on getting old, menopause, beauty, wellness, sex and most cancers.

She was in good spirits and surrounded by spouse and children prior to her death, even giving an job interview to Persons Journal about her birthday options to be with her “nearest and dearest.”

Hamel, in the Men and women story, reported she’d just returned from the Midwest where by she experienced six months of intensive physical treatment.

“Even just after our five decades collectively, I still marvel at Suzanne’s incredible perseverance and motivation,” Hamel said.

She explained to the magazine that she experienced asked for “copious amounts of cake.”

“I really adore cake,” she mentioned.