Suzanne Pleshette Dies At Age 70

Beautiful, Husky-Voiced Actress Best Known For Hitchcock's "Birds," "Bob Newhart Show"

(AP)  Suzanne Pleshette, the beautiful, husky-voiced film and theater star best known for her role as Bob Newhart's sardonic wife on television's long-running "The Bob Newhart Show," has died, said her attorney Robert Finkelstein. She was 70.

Pleshette, who underwent chemotherapy for lung cancer in 2006, died of respiratory failure Saturday evening at her Los Angeles home, said Finkelstein, who is also a family friend.

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Photos; Suzanne Pleshette

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"The Bob Newhart Show," a hit throughout its six-year run, starred comedian Newhart as a Chicago psychiatrist surrounded by eccentric patients. Pleshette provided the voice of reason.

Four years after the show ended in 1978, Newhart went on to the equally successful "Newhart" series in which he was the proprietor of a New England inn populated by more eccentrics. When that show ended in 1990, Pleshette reprised her role - from the first show - in one of the most clever final episodes in TV history.

It had Newhart waking up in the bedroom of his "The Bob Newhart Show" home with Pleshette at his side. He went on to tell her of the crazy dream he'd just had of running an inn filled with eccentrics.

"If I'm in Timbuktu, I'll fly home to do that," Pleshette said of her reaction when Newhart told her how he was thinking of ending the show.

Born Jan. 31, 1937, in New York City, Pleshette began her career as a stage actress after attending the city's High School of the Performing Arts and studying at its Neighborhood Playhouse. She was often picked for roles because of her beauty and her throaty voice.

"When I was 4," she told an interviewer in 1994, "I was answering the phone, and (the callers) thought I was my father. So I often got quirky roles because I was never the conventional ingenue."

She met her future husband, Tom Poston, when they appeared together in the 1959 Broadway comedy "The Golden Fleecing," but didn't marry him until more than 40 years later.

Although the two had a brief fling, they went on to marry others. By 2000 both were widowed and they got back together, marrying the following year.

"He was such a wonderful man. He had fun every day of his life," Pleshette said after Poston died in April 2007.

Among her other Broadway roles was replacing Anne Bancroft in "The Miracle Worker," the 1959 drama about Helen Keller, in New York and on the road.

Meanwhile, she had launched her film career with Jerry Lewis in 1958 in "The Geisha Boy." She went on to appear in numerous television shows, including "Have Gun, Will Travel," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Playhouse 90" and "Naked City."

By the early 1960s, Pleshette attracted a teenage following with her youthful roles in such films as "Rome Adventure," "Fate Is the Hunter," "Youngblood Hawke" and "A Distant Trumpet."

She married fellow teen favorite Troy Donahue, her co-star in "Rome Adventure," in 1964 but the union lasted less than a year. She was married to Texas oilman Tim Gallagher from 1968 until his death in 2000.

Pleshette matured in such films as Hitchcock's "The Birds" and the Disney comedies "The Ugly Dachshund," "Blackbeard's Ghost" and "The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin." Over the years, she also had a busy career in TV movies, including playing the title role in 1990's "Leona Helmsley, the Queen of Mean."

More recently, she appeared in several episodes of the TV sitcoms "Will & Grace" and "8 Simple Rules ... For Dating My Teenage Daughter."

In a 1999 interview, Pleshette observed that being an actress was more important than being a star.

"I'm an actress, and that's why I'm still here," she said. "Anybody who has the illusion that you can have a career as long as I have and be a star is kidding themselves."

[jackie49b]

Rest in Peace, Suzanne. You were always one of my favorite actresses; if you were in a show or movie, I would watch it. And I loved watching her read her poetry on Johnny Carson; if Steve McQueen is the male definition of cool, then Suzanne deserves the female definition. She was a real lady with real class.

[ampsanne]

I just loved Suzanne. Especially when she starred with Troy Donahue in Rome Adventure and Bob Newhart. Beautiful lady and actress. Don''t find too many like her nowadays. R,I,P, Suzanne and and know that you were loved.

[sdollen]

To Shafterriffic - I don''t think Suzanne ever posed for Playboy..maybe you''re thinking of Barbi Benton?

You can google to your hearts content and won''t find any ties between Suzanne and PB....

I loved her on Bob Newhart. RIP Suzanne.

[shafteriffic]

Rest in peace. I remember when I was a little boy, I found a Playboy with her in it. She was very HOT! I will never forget that. I wonder why they didn''t mention that in any of the articles I''ve read about her? It definitely was nothing to be embarassed about.

[pressenter1]

SUZANNE PLESHETTE IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE ACTRESSES.I LOVED WATCHING HER ON THE BOB NEWHART SHOW.I AM SAD THAT SHE PASSED AWAY.LIKE ALL HER FANS, I WILL MISS HER VERY MUCH.GOD BLESS YOU, SUZANNE.THANKS FOR ALL THE WONDERFUL MEMORIES.YOU WILL ALWAYS BE IN OUR HEARTS FOREVER.

[rowdytexan2]

Go in peace! You were always a lady and I admired that. And thanks for the great entertainment!

[j_flood]

She was great - the looks she used to give Newhart were priceless - and to hook up with Poston was something too. I''ll be sure to smile when I think of her. R I P

[rikedoid]

It''s sad to see people like Ms. Pleshette pass away. So many of the entertainers from the sixties were incredibly talented and were individuals for sure - if you ever saw them on Carson for example. Seems today all we are doing is churning out Britney clones. (Some exceptions apply).
RIP, condolences to family & friends, and thanks (as a tv/movie viewer anyway) for a job well done.

[dakotaclark]

Hmmm...

She was a wonderful entertainer.

Time does not stand still for anyone %u2013 yet; and as I grow older, I can see the forest thinning.

I regret that I never had the chance to meet her. It would have been great fun to prepare a meal for Tom Poston and Suzanne Pleshette as guests. I am sure their stories would have been very entertaining.

Both made big contributions to entertainment.

[hazelknows]

We all enjoyed her work, a great talent and will be missed.....