Suzanne Pleshette: 1937—2008

Suzanne in Nevada Smith (1966)

As a boy I harbored an unspoken attraction to all-American girl-next-door types, and easily fell for Suzanne Pleshette at a time when buxom Europeans like Sophia Loren and Anita Ekberg were all the rage. I probably first saw her in The Birds (1963) and favored her earthy, brunette and sexually aware schoolteacher over ‘Tippi’ Hedren’s icy, urbane blonde. It was nothing against ‘Tippi’ — my eyes simply gravitated toward the film’s true g-spot.

    “I don’t sit around and wait for great parts,” she’s quoted as saying at the IMDb. “I’m an actress, and I love being one, and I’ll probably be doing it till I’m 72, standing around the back lot doing Gunsmoke.” That never came to pass, unfortunately, as she’s left us at 70 from respiratory failure. (Ms. Pleshette developed lung cancer two years ago.) But her long list of credits on stage, screen and television reveal a talent less interested in exploiting her good looks than someone in love with her craft.

If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969)

    Nonetheless, in the late ‘60s at the age of 12, I found myself falling hard for her face, her style, her eyes, and her throaty voice in If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium. It’s probably not that good a film, but I remember going to see it three or four times just for her. The scene above brings back a flood of memories…what she did for that shirt! Yes, she’s part of my history and life…may she rest in peace.

AP news story

Below, Suzanne in The Birds (click images to enlarge):

With ‘the distance’ in her eyes, it’s a flawless portrayal of tragic longing and suppressed desire through understated lust, a sensitive individual scarred by unfulfilled needs.