German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/14. Photo: Terb Agency.
American Arcade postcard.
Sardonic and sultry
Suzanne Pleshette was born in Brooklyn Heights, New York City, in 1937. Her parents were Jewish and the children of immigrants from Russia and Austria-Hungary. Her mother, Geraldine (née Kaplan), was a dancer and artist who performed under the stage name Geraldine Rivers. Her father, Eugene Pleshette, was a stage manager, network executive, and manager of the Paramount Theater in Brooklyn.
She graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts and later graduated from Manhattan's prestigious acting school, The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater. She made her Broadway debut in Meyer Levin's 1957 play 'Compulsion', adapted from his novel inspired by the Leopold and Loeb case. Reviewers described her appearance and demeanour as sardonic and her voice as sultry.
She began appearing in films in the early 1960s, such as her film debut the comedy The Geisha Boy (Frank Tashlin, 1958) starring Jerry Lewis, the romantic drama Rome Adventure (Delmer Daves, 1962), and Fate Is the Hunter (Ralph Nelson, 1964), about the crash of an airliner and the subsequent investigation.
But she is now best known for her role in the classic suspense film The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963). Jon C. Hopwood a.o. at IMDb: "Her most famous cinematic role was in Alfred Hitchcock's classic, The Birds (1963), as the brunette schoolteacher jilted by the hero of the film, Mitch Brenner (played by Rod Taylor). Pleshette's warm, earthy character was a perfect contrast to the icy blonde beauty, Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren)."
In 1964 Pleshette wed her Rome Adventure co-star Troy Donahue, but the marriage ended acrimoniously after just eight months. She worked with Steve McQueen in the Western Nevada Smith (Henry Hathaway, 1966), and was nominated for a Laurel Award for her starring performance in the comedy If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (Mel Stuart, 1969) opposite Ian McShane. She also co-starred with James Garner in the drama Mister Buddwing (Delbert Mann, 1966) and the Western comedy Support Your Local Gunfighter (Burt Kennedy, 1971).
Dutch postcard, no. 1062. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Spanish postcard by CyA, no. 35. Photo: Warner Bros. Angie Dickinson, Troy Donahue, and Suzanne Pleshette in Rome Adventure (Delmer Daves, 1962).
The Queen of Mean
Suzanne Pleshette's early television appearances included Route 66 (1960), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960), and Dr. Kildare (1961), for which she was nominated for her first Emmy Award in 1962. Later, she guest-starred in such popular 1960s TV series as The Fugitive (1964-1965), Gunsmoke (1970), and Columbo (1971).
Pleshette was Emily Hartley, wife of psychologist Bob Hartley (played by Bob Newhart) in the popular sitcom The Bob Newhart Show (1972–1978). For her role, she was nominated twice for the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, in 1977 and 1978. She reprised her role of Emily Hartley in the memorable final episode of a subsequent comedy series, Newhart (1990), in which viewers discovered that the entire series had been her husband Bob's dream when he awakens next to Pleshette in the bedroom set from the earlier series.
Pleshette portrayed Manhattan hotel magnate Leona Helmsley in the television movie Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean (1990), which garnered her Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations.
As a voice actress, she provided the voices of Yubaba and Zeniba in the English dub of Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki's Academy Award-winning film Spirited Away (2001) and the voice of Zira in Disney's The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (Darrell Rooney, 1998) and sang the song 'My Lullaby'.
She also appeared as the estranged mother of Megan Mullally's character Karen Walker in three episodes of Will & Grace (2002-2004). The role would prove to be her last. She was diagnosed with lung cancer and underwent chemotherapy in the summer of 2006.
Suzanne Pleshette died in 2008, at age 70. Her second husband was Texas oil millionaire Tom Gallagher, to whom she was wed from 1968 until his death from lung cancer in 2000. She suffered a miscarriage during her marriage to Gallagher, and the couple stayed childless. In 2001, she married former Newhart co-star Tom Poston. They were married until his death from respiratory failure in 2007.
Spanish postcard by Postal Oscarcolor S.L., no. 17.
Trailer The Birds (1963). Source: bing wall (YouTube).
Sources: Jon C. Hopwood (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.
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