Suzanne Pleshette

Not to long ago, I wrote a post about Tom Poston and his passing on April 30, 2007. Only a few weeks ago, his wife Suzanne Pleshette, who had worked with him on The Bob Newhart show passed away as well.

Suzanne was born January 31, 1937 in Brooklyn, New York. She attended the High School of Performing Arts and later Syracuse University. She made her acting debut at the age of 20 on Broadway. Two years later she stared in another Broadway play with Tom Poston. In 1961 she replaced Anne Bancroft as Anne Sullivan in the play The Miracle Worker along side Patty Duke.

I remember seeing her in a few early films including The Geisha Boy with Jerry Lewis and The Birds with Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor. In the late 1960s she would appear in numerous television shows including, Ben Casy, Wagon Train, Have Gun - Will Travel and Dr. Kildare.

From 1972 through 1978 she starred as Bob Newhart’s wife, Emily. In a surprise ending, Pleshette played Emily in the final episode of Bob Newhart’s show Newhart. At the end, Bob wakes up next to Pleshette and realizes that it has all been a dream, the hotel, the strange characters, etc.

Her last role would be that of Megan Mullaly’s character’s mom on Will & Grace.

She was married three times. First to Troy Donahue (1964 - eight months) and then to oilman Tommy Gallagher from 1968 until his death in 2000 from lung cancer. In 2001 she married Tom Poston.

In 2006, she announced she had lung cancer, but was thought to have beaten it. She died of respiratory failure in her home on January 17, 2008. She was to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 31, 2008, but did live to see this happen. Marcia Wallace attended the ceremony on her behalf.