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| Susan Dey | |
|---|---|
| Name | Susan Dey |
| Birth name | Susan Hallock Dey |
| Birth date | 10 December 1952 |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1969–2019 |
| Spouse | William "Skip" Ward (m. 1976; div. 1981) |
| Partner | Steve Martin (rumored) |
Susan Dey Susan Hallock Dey (born December 10, 1952) is an American actress known for work in television and film during the 1970s through the 1990s, and for later roles in production and advocacy. She rose to prominence on a popular sitcom and later earned recognition for a dramatic series, collaborating with numerous entertainers and industry institutions. Her career intersects with television networks, motion picture studios, and advocacy organizations.
Born in Los Angeles, California, she is the daughter of Shirley and Jerry Dey and grew up in the San Fernando Valley, near communities associated with Hollywood, Burbank, California, Van Nuys, and Sun Valley, Los Angeles. Her formative years coincided with the postwar expansion of California suburbs and nearby entertainment industry centers such as Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., and Universal Studios. Family ties and local schooling brought her into contact with regional performing arts programs and community productions linked to institutions like Hollywood High School and area theaters. Early influences included exposure to television programming produced by networks including CBS, ABC, and NBC.
Her first major role came as a member of an ensemble cast on a sitcom produced by MTM Enterprises and broadcast by CBS that became a cultural phenomenon in the 1970s, alongside co-stars who worked with figures such as Mary Tyler Moore and Garry Marshall. During this period she shared billing with actors who later appeared in projects connected to The Tonight Show, The Carol Burnett Show, and variety programming associated with Ed Sullivan. Transitioning to drama, she portrayed a lead character in a legal drama produced for CBS that tackled contemporary social issues and earned critical attention comparable to series created by David E. Kelley, Steven Bochco, and Aaron Spelling. Her television work included guest spots and recurring roles that brought her into collaborations with directors and producers affiliated with Paramount Television, Lorimar Television, and the American Film Institute. Film appearances placed her alongside performers who worked in films distributed by 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, and Warner Bros., and she participated in projects showcased at festivals such as the Cannes Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. Throughout her career she worked with writers and showrunners whose careers intersected with series like Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Following peak acting periods, she shifted toward occasional screen appearances, voice work, and roles behind the camera, working with production entities linked to Sony Pictures Television and Paramount Global. She engaged with charitable organizations and advocacy groups connected to health, mental health, and arts education, often appearing at benefit events alongside figures from Actors Fund, Alzheimer's Association, and arts institutions such as the Gershwin Theatre and Lincoln Center. She participated in panels, retrospectives, and documentaries exploring television history with scholars from UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and curators from the Paley Center for Media. In industry contexts she collaborated with agents and managers associated with Creative Artists Agency, William Morris Agency, and peers who had relationships with unions such as SAG-AFTRA.
Her personal relationships and family life included a marriage and later partnerships; these associations put her in social circles overlapping with entertainment figures seen at events hosted by organizations like The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and Emmys ceremonies presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. She has navigated public discussions about privacy, substance use, and recovery—issues also addressed in autobiographies and public statements by celebrities such as Pamela Anderson, Robert Downey Jr., and Carrie Fisher. Health and wellness advocacy in her later years linked her to physicians and nonprofit leaders associated with institutions including Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins Hospital, and nonprofit networks supporting recovery services.
Her body of work is frequently cited in histories of American television alongside landmark programs and creative personnel connected to 1970s in television, 1980s in television, and movements exemplified by shows on CBS, ABC, and NBC. Awards and nominations she received came from industry organizations such as the Golden Globe Awards, the Primetime Emmy Awards, and guilds like Screen Actors Guild; retrospectives and academic studies have placed her performances in analyses alongside those of contemporaries from The Mary Tyler Moore Show era ensembles and later dramatic ensembles. Her influence persists in popular culture through reruns, syndication, and streaming platforms operated by companies like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video, and through references in biographies, oral histories, and museum collections at institutions such as the Museum of Television and Radio and the Paley Center for Media.
Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:American television actresses Category:Actors from Los Angeles