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Revision as of 02:54, 17 January 2011 by Ejfetters (talk | contribs) (→External links)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| Susan Blakely | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1948-09-07) September 7, 1948 (age 76) Frankfurt, Germany |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1972–present |
| Spouse(s) | Todd Merer (m. 1969–1970's) (divorced) Steve Jaffe (m. 1982) |
Susan Blakely (born September 7, 1948) is an American film actress who has mainly played supporting roles.
Life and career
Early life
Blakely was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1948. She is the daughter of Weezie, a former art teacher, and Colonel Lawrence Blakely, a career Army officer. Her first career break came while she was living in El Paso, Texas, where her father was stationed at Fort Bliss. Around 1967, a photograph of Blakely posed poolside in a black and white "op art" swimsuit was used by a local TV station, KELP-TV (now KVIA-TV), on its ID slide that ran during breaks between shows. Her blond "California girl" good looks were exactly what was in demand at the time, and she was easily able to secure sponsorship for a national modeling competition, which she won. The prize was a year's contract with the Ford Modeling Agency in New York. Her first appearance on a cover was for a hairstyle magazine.
In 1982, Blakely married media consultant and legal, medical and crisis management expert Steve Jaffe, a former television producer. They live in Beverly Hills, California.
Career
Blakely first arrived in Hollywood in the early 1970s as a highly paid fashion model and then branched off into acting. Blakely's first major role was as Patty Simmons in the disaster movie The Towering Inferno. She received recognition for her roles in the 1974 films Report to the Commissioner and The Lords of Flatbush, played the role of Iris Crawford in the 1975 gangster biopic Capone opposite Ben Gazzara, and then gained wide popularity with her starring role in the 1976 television miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man for which she won that year's Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and an Emmy nomination from the television academy. She also portrayed a reporter named Maggie Whelan in the 1979 film The Concorde ... Airport '79 which flopped at the box office and was derided by many critics. In 1981, she portrayed Eva Braun opposite Anthony Hopkins (who played Adolf Hitler) in the television movie The Bunker. Between 1989 to 1994, she portrayed various characters on mystery drama Murder, She Wrote.
She portrayed Frances Farmer in the 1982 television film based on Farmer's autobiography, Will There Really Be a Morning?, for which she was nominated for the third time in the Best Actress category of the Golden Globes. In 2002, Blakely won the Best Actress Award at the California Independent Film Festival for her starring role in the film Hungry Hearts.
She had two guest-star roles in 2008 on CBS' #1 rated comedy series, Two and a Half Men as Angie in "If My Hole Could Talk" and "Waiting for the Right Snapper".
Blakely has created a jewelry line of her own designs, which has been sold privately but will be made available, in limited pieces, on the Internet.
References
- http://www.hatecrimemovie.com/Bios/SusanBlakely.html Susan Blakely as "Martha Boyd"]
- Susan Blakely biography]