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I dont think it was a matter of being blonde. Like Liz Taylor, her attribute was having light eyes with dark hair.
Angie has a different type of sexuality than Pleshette also. Even though Pleshette was the better actress,Angie probably had better connections and established herself as a feature-film actress(until she got older); Pleshette seem to fall between casting types.

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I respect her for going for leading roles. Good interesting personal information that you have given about her. It sounds as though our Suzanne was a bit of a rebel, which was definitely not good for her career.

SP was und5b4er contract to Warner Bros in the '60s. They put her in terrible movies and even she was good in them, they weren't big hits. Which is really what Hollywood cares about, in the end.
Her 'thing' in those days was to grab as many leading lady roles as possible, no matter how lousy the movies were. She didn't want to play second leads. She knew she was good and she deserved better material.
Mostly because her movies weren't high profile moneymakers, the biggest directors (excluding Hitchcock) didn't hire her and that didn't help her career at all.
SP had an assertive, intelligent quality that Hollywood had a hard time dealing with back then. She was also considered slightly masculine, tomboyish, and bawdy, at least in comparison to the 'cupcakes' that got a lot of the bigger roles. So there's that, too.
She also was very frank and spoke her mind. She didn't mince words. She pissed off and intimidated some studio bosses but got along great with giants like Hitchcock and Disney.
Hitchcock signed her to a multimovie contract and, after they did "The Birds" together, he offered her the role eventually played by Diane Baker in "Marnie." Pleshette wanted the leading lady role or nothing. Hitchcock, whom Pleshette called "wonderful" and whom she said she adored, understood but was disappointed.
With those soulful eyes, deep husky voice, she was a little bit like a later ve5b4rsion of Kay Francis. She deserved much better movie projects and she should have hit big stardom. But, really, what women of 'the new generation' became huge movie stars in the 1960s? Ann-Margret, sure, but very few others.
Suzanne Pleshette kept working and had quite a life.

I always thought of Ms. Pleshette as a poor man's Elizabeth Taylor. I love both actresses! May they both RIP. We're watching Twilight Zone marathon and Hitchcock thrillers this 4th of Julyand The Birds is one we'll view tonight!

But she bore a resemblance to Liz, and like Joan Collins, roles that Pleshette might have done, went to Taylor. (interesting, her "Will and Grace" role was first offered to Taylor! But by then La Liz was too infirm to perform properly.)
Suzanne had a terrific screen presence and an unforgettable voice. Although she did not become a major movie star, she had a fine career.

'My dad used to complain that she was too skinny on the Bob Newhart show, and he liked petite women. Remember that opening sequence with her in a long dress with low neckline? She was tiny!'
Shw wasn't too skinny then; if you notice,she was always dressed in loose tops and was somewhat stocky from the waist down. She lost weight,as we discussed, for other subsequent tv films.

Man, I guess I really do misunderstand. When was she ever a size 14, or even a 12? Or a size 10 for that matter? She varied from a size 2 to an 8 is more like it.
The only thing I remember where she was a little fuller was in something called "One Step Beyond" from 1959. She was about 20 and still had some baby fat on her.
My dad used to complain that she was too skinny on the Bob Newhart show, and he liked petite women. Remember that opening sequence with her in a long dress with low neckline? She was tiny!
Yeah, I guess she was a pear shape - booty in the butt and hips, skinny from the waist up. So that's a good thing right?
I do remember hearing that she was pregnant during the first season of Bob Newhart show. Maybe, more than one of the seasons. That fills you out big time.
As to lack of feature-film casting, I think it is because she was off-beat and didn't catch on with the low common denominator. She was caviar and Dom Perignon and the LCD prefers hot dogs and beer.

'I went back and read some of the other posts and figured out that I had misunderstood - that you and others were alarmed that she was at times too skin111cny and thus didn't get roles.'

Right, not to skinny, the reversebut not for TV films which were more reasoanble in thier criteria. But that is assuming her looks had anything to do with lack of feature-film casting. Before tv films were invented, everybody was a feature-film actor
You're right, Liz had more severe weight changes, more in her later years. But Suzanne looked like she could very from a size 4 > 14, and in-between(like on the Newhart SHow)

Simpleminded - I don't think she was like Liz in weight. Liz had some pretty extreme swings.
She had a fuller face when younger, but she was always on the slender side right? I went back and read some of the other posts and figured out that I had misunderstood - that you and others were alarmed that she was at times too skinny and thus didn't get roles.
The movie you saw was called "Fantasies" and yeah, she did look a lot different from Emily Hartley. Emily was cute, whereas the Suzanne of the t.v. movies in the 80's was drop dead gorgeous.

pouncemo,
Look at her on the Bob Newhart Show in pantsuits and loose-fitting clothes where she maintained somwhat of a stocky appearance(from the waist down) for most of the show. She also was stocky on DIAGNOSIS MURDER decades later when she was a guest star.
I always figured she had one of those bodies that was what it was,until I saw her on a tv-film(early 80's) where she played a soap-star where the cast members where being murdereda completely different Suzanne with long hair & tight fitting jeans and short black leather jacket! I had never seen her that way before. Suzanne was like Liz Taylor in weight-variance.

When was she ever heavy? Also, did she for sure get her nose done? I saw a publicity shot of her from very early in her career and she did look quite different from even a few years later.
She had a fantastic figure - remember the nightgown scene in 'A Rage To Live'?
Anyway, it is weird that she didn't go even further with her feature film career than she did. But how many beautiful and talented actresses can you say that about?
Still, she left me with about 7 movies that are on my desert island list.

ah..you tied the weight and leading role topics together when I was only 1/2 way there. However, Suzanne did her leading lady roles on TV
I posted a similar topic on Patty Duke's board about her looks with regards to casting, and everybody thought it was hands-0ff comment,as if I dare mention it. But it's the reality if the business.
(with Patty,she seemed to be pretty,but was one that would have crossed that casting-type with a nose reshaping. Actually, Suzanne has her nose done early in her career)

A few months ago I posted on 'The Birds' about one of your points. I remarked then that it was strange that she didn't get that many good leading parts. I pointed out then that perhaps her voice was too husky for some directors. Sexy though her voice always seemed to be to me. But you may have pointed out another indicator on your other topic about her weight fluctuation. I always thought she looked good in the early days. But she didn't have that slimline look that Tippi Hedren had in the Hitchcock movies. Slimline figures got the leading parts it seems. And blondes of course.