Known for her smoky voice and role as Bob Newhart's no-nonsense wife in The Bob Newhart Show, Suzanne Pleshette died at age 70 last night. Pleshette had suffered from lung cancer in recent years.
Pleshette was born in NYC and attended LaGuardia High School, aka the High School for the Performing Arts. She started on Broadway in 1957, eventually replacing Anne Bancroft in The MIracle Worker, and started to star in some TV series around the same time. Her first memorable Hollywood role was in the Alfred Hitchcock film, The Birds (she plays the schoolteacher Annie).
However, her iconic role was as Emily Hartley, the droll, sexy wife in The Bob Newhart Show, which ran between 1972 and 1977. Her character and Bob Newhart's would discuss matter during bedtime, which was slyly recalled when Newhart ended his 1983-1990 series Newhart in what many think of as one of the best TV finales ever.
Here's Suzanne Pleshette's IMDB listing. Fun fact: In 1990, Pleshette played Leona Helmsley a TV movie, Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean (Pleshette was nominated for an Emmy and Golden Globe).
