As the husky voice Emily, Suzanne redefined the role of the TV wife. A
beautiful and radiant woman who happened to be highly intelligent --
she had a higher IQ than her psychologist husband Bob -- Emily was funny and sarcastic with a biting sense of humor.
Before she was Emily Hartley, Suzanne had built a reputation as a
raconteur who made numerous appearances as a guest on Johnny
Carson's "The Tonight Show." One of those appearances led to her
role in "The Bob Newhart Show."
When co-creator David Davis watched Suzanne and Newhart
interact on "The Tonight Show," he observed a special chemistry
between the two and envisioned them starring together in a sitcom.
"Bob and I had known each other forever," Suzanne told the Archive of American Television. “CBS wanted Bob paired with a television star because Bob was a record star, not a television star. They looked at the two of us [on “The Tonight Show”] and said, 'Perfect.'”
Suzanne had been slated to play Laura Petrie on the first Dick Van Dyke series, but contractual conflicts made her unavailable. Ten years later Van Dyke requested her for his TV wife again for his second sitcom, “The New Dick Van Dyke Show,” but the series was shot on location near Phoenix and Suzanne was unwilling to work in Arizona.
Davis believed she was perfect for the part of Emily.
"She was revealing her own frailties, talking freely about being over 30. She was bubble-headed but smart, loving toward her husband but relentless about his imperfections,” he told TV Guide.
We were trying to get away from the standard TV wife, and we knew that whoever we picked would have to be offbeat enough and strong enough to carry the show along with Newhart. We didn’t dream Suzanne would accept the part.”
The Hartleys were a unique television couple for the 1970s: a married but childless couple.
“We loved each other and didn't denigrate each other,” Suzanne said in the Archive of American Television interview. “It could have been a shrill relationship, [but] I did not want to be this bitch shrew wife who moved this little wussy guy around. I think what we did for Emily was fabulous.”
“The Bob Newhart Show” featured witty, sophisticated and somewhat eccentric comedy. The characters were well developed and allowed to grow during the seven-season (1972-78) run.
Suzanne, who was nominated for two Emmys, re-appeared as Emily Hartley in the famous “dream finale” of Newhart's second sitcom.
Newhart's wife Jenny suggested that “Newhart” end with Dick (Newhart) waking up in bed and telling his wife that he dreamed he'd operated a Vermont inn. The twist was that the wife was Emily, not Joanna (Mary Frann)..
Suzanne told Newhart, “If I'm in Timbuktu, I'll fly home to do that.."
“They wrote a fake ending where Bob is up in heaven with God,” she told the Archive of American Television. “The cast was trying to guess who would play God.”
“That scene never appeared in the script because we knew that the tabloids would get a hold of it,” Newhart said to the Archive of American Television. “The tabloids even broke the news that the series would end with me dying and going to heaven and talking to God, George Burns,” Newhart said.
Suzanne said, “They built the set in secret. They didn't tell the cast until 20 minutes before we did it. They hid me in the trailer for six hours. We were so nervous we couldn't rehearse.”
And for the final scene, the set was built to emulate the bedroom from the old “Bob Newhart Show.”
“The audience recognized the bedroom set and started applauding. We were apprehensive because we didn't know how it would be received,” Newhart said.
No. 18
Classic TV Beauties 1970s Countdown
SUZANNE PLESHETTE as Emily Hartley in "The Bob Newhart Show"
As for her distinctive voice, Suzanne often told the story, “When I was four I was answering the phone and callers thought I was my father.”
By age 21 she had made her Broadway and TV debut, and she played the female lead opposite Jerry Lewis in the comedy “The Geisha Boy.”
Several years later she made her mark on Broadway when
she replaced Anne Bancroft as Annie Sullivan in “The Miracle Worker.”
Suzanne was the original choice to play Catwoman in “Batman,” but negotiations broke down and the part went to Julie Newmar.
Suzanne made numerous made-for-TV movies during the “Bob Newhart Show” days, mainly because TV actors weren't well compensated in the 1970s. “It started out as an economic necessity. I need to supplement my income,” she said. “Car hops made what we were making.”
Her most famous TV movie role was playing convicted New York hotelier Leona Helmsley in “Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean,.” which earned her Emmy and Golden Globe nominations,
Suzanne died of lung cancer in 2008.
“[The live studio audience] heard this mumble under the covers, and nobody does my octave,” Suzanne said. “I think they suspected it might be me, but when that dark hair came up from under the covers, they stood and screamed.”
Born in New York to Russian Jewish parents, Suzanne grew up in the entertainment business. Dad Eugene Pleshette managed the Paramount Theater and she became friends with all the Big Band stars of the day, including Frank Sinatra and the Andrew Sisters.
“I had a fabulous upbringing. I thought we were rich because my father went to work every night in a tuxedo.”
