Suzanne Somers, ‘Three’s Company’ star, dead at 76

Actress Suzanne Somers, best known for her roles on “Three’s Company” and “Step by Step,” and who also carved out a career pitching fitness and health products, died Sunday. She was 76.

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People confirmed the death of Somers, who died the day before her 77th birthday.

“Suzanne Somers passed away peacefully at home in the early morning hours of October 15th,” Somers’ longtime publicist, R. Couri Hay, wrote in a statement on behalf of the actress’ family. “She survived an aggressive form of breast cancer for over 23 years.

“Suzanne was surrounded by her loving husband Alan, her son Bruce, and her immediate family. Her family was gathered to celebrate her 77th birthday on October 16th. Instead, they will celebrate her extraordinary life, and want to thank her millions of fans and followers who loved her dearly.”

Hay said a private family burial will take place this week, with a memorial service next month.

Somers had roles in “She’s the Sheriff” and appeared in “American Graffiti” and “Serial Mom,” but she made her mark in Hollywood in “Three’s Company,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

In “Three’s Company,” Somers played Chrissy Snow, a quintessential “dumb blonde” roommate of Janet Wood (Joyce DeWitt) and Jack Tripper (John Ritter), Variety reported.

The show was based on the British show, “Man About the House,” the entertainment news website reported.

Tripper, a culinary school student who decided to take advantage of the cheap housing arrangement, is forced to pose as a gay man so their landlord, who opposed opposite-sex tenants, would allow them to room together.

The show was an immediate hit, rising to No. 3 in national television ratings in 1977-78, ushering in the “jiggle era” of TV, Variety reported.

The show stayed in the top five in ratings through the beginning of the 1980 TV season, but a business conflict between Somers and the show resulted in her exit from the series.

Somers demanded a five-fold increase in her salary to $150,000 per episode and a 10% cut of the show’s profits, according to Variety. Her role was ultimately reduced to a weekly walk-on role, and she was written out of the series after the 1980-81 season and was replaced by other characters, the entertainment news outlet reported.

Somers sued the show’s producers for $2 million but received only a small fraction of that amount, ABC News reported.

Somers found it difficult over the next few years to find work, but starred in “She’s the Sheriff” from 1987 to 1989, and in “Step by Step” from 1991 to 1998, according to IMDb.com.

Somers also performed in a one-woman show in Las Vegas during the 1980s, an act she reprised in 2015, according to ABC News.

In 1990, Somers became the commercial spokesperson for the Thighmaster, a piece of exercise equipment. She helped sell millions of units and was inducted into the Direct Marketing Response Alliance Hall of Fame, the news outlet reported.

In 1992, Entertainment Weekly called the Thighmaster “the dirty little secret for the ‘90s,” according to Variety.

A savvy businesswoman, Somers hawked successful lines of personal products, including skin care, hair care, makeup and other health products, ABC News reported.

She sold items on her website and on Home Shopping Network and wrote more than two dozen books about wellness, aging, weight loss and sex, according to Variety. She also published a volume of poetry.

Born in San Bruno, California, on Oct. 16, 1946, Suzanne Marie Mahoney was the third of four children in an Irish-American Catholic family, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

A dyslexic growing up amid constant domestic turmoil -- her father was an abusive alcoholic -- Somers was a poor student at the Catholic schools she attended in the San Francisco Bay area, Variety reported.

She married her boyfriend, Bruce Somers, when she became pregnant at age 19, according to the entertainment news outlet. Her only child, Bruce Somers Jr., was born in 1965.

Her first marriage ended in 1968 when her husband learned that she was having an affair with her drama coach, Variety reported.

Somers made her film acting debut in the 1968 film, “Bullitt,” according to Variety. On television she secured roles on “The Rockford Files,” “Starsky & Hutch,” “The Love Boat” and “One Day at a Time.”

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