Actress Suzanne Somers, best known for her portrayal of Chrissy Snow in the ABC sitcom Three's Company, passed away today one day shy of her 77th birthday. Somers died of breast cancer, a disease with which she was first diagnosed in 2000. Back in July, Somers revealed the cancer had returned.
After uncredited roles in movies such as Bullitt and American Graffiti and guest roles in The Rockford Files and The Six Million Dollar Man, Snow became an overnight sensation in 1977 with Three's Company along with co-stars John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt.
Somers remained with the show for its first four seasons before being fired during its fifth season in 1981 due to wanting her salary to match Ritter's. In retrospect, the only reason she wasn't paid what Ritter was paid was because she was a woman. Frankly, the show just wasn't the same after her departure as neither Jenilee Harrison nor Priscilla Barnes brought the energy she had to the show.
Somers did manage to carry on as a Las Vegas entertainer and spokeswoman for the Thighmaster. After starring in the short-lived syndicated TV series, She's The Sheriff, Somers experienced a career resurgence co-starring in the ABC (and later CBS) sitcom Step by Step with Patrick Duffy which aired from 1991 to 1998. While Step by Step was a knock off of The Brady Bunch, Somers and Duffy and several of their younger co-stars brought the show considerable charm.
Following her breast cancer diagnosis, Somers was taken to task for her promotion of scientifically unproven hormonal therapies. Somers was also less frequently seen on TV although she did host a couple of short-lived TV talk shows including one where she reunited with Joyce DeWitt after more than 30 years. With Somers passing and John Ritter's death in 2003, DeWitt is the last surviving member of Three's Company original cast. In 2015, in one of her last credits, Somers appeared on ABC's Dancing With The Stars. R.I.P.
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