Suzanne Somers, the effervescent blonde actor known for playing Chrissy Snow on the television show “Three’s Company” and who became an entrepreneur and New York Times best-selling author, has died. She was 76.
Somers had breast cancer for over 23 years and died Sunday morning, her family said in a statement provided by her longtime publicist, R. Couri Hay. Her husband Alan Hamel, her son Bruce and other immediate family were with her in Palm Springs, California.
“Her family was gathered to celebrate her 77th birthday on October 16th,” the statement read. “Instead, they will celebrate her extraordinary life, and want to thank her millions of fans and followers who loved her dearly.”
In July, Somers shared on Instagram that her breast cancer had returned.
“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.”
Somers had breast cancer for over 23 years and died Sunday morning, her family said in a statement provided by her longtime publicist, R. Couri Hay. Her husband Alan Hamel, her son Bruce and other immediate family were with her in Palm Springs, California.
“Her family was gathered to celebrate her 77th birthday on October 16th,” the statement read. “Instead, they will celebrate her extraordinary life, and want to thank her millions of fans and followers who loved her dearly.”
In July, Somers shared on Instagram that her breast cancer had returned.
“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.”
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00:00 Suzanne Somers, the effervescent blonde actor known for playing Chrissy Snow on the television
00:05 show "Three's Company" and who became an entrepreneur and New York Times best-selling author, has died.
00:12 She was 76. Somers had breast cancer for over 23 years and died Sunday morning,
00:20 her family said in a statement provided by her longtime publicist, R. Khoury Hay.
00:26 Her husband Alan Hamill, her son Bruce and other immediate family were with her in Palm Springs,
00:32 California. Her family was gathered to celebrate her 77th birthday on October 16, the statement
00:40 read. Instead, they will celebrate her extraordinary life and want to thank her millions of fans and
00:47 followers who loved her dearly. In July, Somers shared on Instagram that her breast cancer had
00:54 returned. "Like any cancer patient, when you get that dreaded, it's back you get a pit in your
01:00 stomach. Then I put on my battle gear and go to war," she told Entertainment Tonight at the time.
01:07 "This is familiar battleground for me, and I'm very tough."
01:11 She was first diagnosed in 2000 and had previously battled skin cancer.
01:17 Somers faced some backlash for her reliance on what she's described as a "chemical-free"
01:23 and "organic" lifestyle to combat the cancers. She argued against the use of chemotherapy,
01:30 in books and on platforms like "The Oprah Winfrey Show," which drew criticism from the
01:36 American Cancer Society. Somers was born in 1946 in San Bruno, California, to a gardener father
01:45 and a medical secretary mother. Her childhood, she'd later say, was tumultuous. Her father was
01:52 an alcoholic and abusive. She married young, at 19, to Bruce Somers, after becoming pregnant with
02:00 her son Bruce. The couple divorced three years later and she began modeling for the Anniversary
02:07 Game to support herself. It was during this time that she met Hamill, who she married in 1977.
02:16 She began acting in the late 1960s, earning her first credit in the Steve McQueen film "Bullet."
02:22 But the spotlight really hit when she was cast as the blonde driving the white Thunderbird
02:28 in George Lucas's 1973 film "American Graffiti." Her only line was mouthing the words "I love you"
02:36 to Richard Dreyfuss' character. At her audition, Lucas just asked her if she could drive.
02:43 She later said that moment changed her life forever. Somers would later stage a one-woman
02:50 Broadway show entitled "The Blonde and the Thunderbird" about her life, which drew largely
02:55 scathing reviews. She appeared in many television shows in the 1970s, including "The Rockford Files,"
03:03 "Magnum Force" and "The Six Million Dollar Man." But her most famous part came with "Three's
03:09 Company," which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984, though her participation ended in 1981.
03:18 On "Three's Company," she was the ditzy blonde opposite John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt in the
03:24 roommate comedy. In 1980, after four seasons, she asked for a raise from $30,000 an episode to $150,000
03:34 an episode, which would have been comparable to what Ritter was getting paid. Hamill, a former
03:41 television producer, had encouraged the ask. The show's response was, "Who do you think you are?"
03:47 Somers told People in 2020. They said, "John Ritter is the star."
03:54 She was promptly phased out and soon fired; her character was replaced by two different roommates
04:01 for the remaining years the show aired. It also led to a rift with her co-stars;
04:07 they didn't speak for many years. Somers did reconcile with Ritter before his death,
04:13 and then with DeWitt on her online talk show. But Somers took the break as an opportunity to
04:19 pursue new avenues, including a Las Vegas act, hosting a talk show and becoming an entrepreneur.
04:27 In the 1990s, she also became the spokesperson for the Thighmaster.
04:31 The decade also saw her return to network television in the 1990s,
04:37 most famously on Step by Step, which aired on ABC's youth-targeted TGIF lineup.