Suzanne Somers, the effervescent blonde actress best known for playing Chrissy Snow on the television show “Three’s Company,” has died. He is 76 years old.
Somers had been battling breast cancer for more than 23 years and died Sunday morning, her family announced in a statement provided by her longtime representative, R. Couri Hay. Her husband Alan Hamel, her son Bruce, and other close family members are with her in Palm Springs, California.
“His family gathered to celebrate his 77th birthday on October 16,” the statement said. “Instead, they will celebrate his extraordinary life, and I want to thank the millions of fans and followers who loved him so much.”
In July, Somers shared on Instagram that her breast cancer had returned.
“Like any cancer patient, when you fear, ‘It’s back,’ you feel the pit of your stomach. “That’s why I put on my battle gear and go to war,” he told the talk show Entertainment Tonight at the time. “This is a battlefield I am familiar with, and I am very strong.”
He was first diagnosed in 2000, and he also had skin cancer. He has faced criticism for what he says is an organic, chemical-free lifestyle to fight both cancers. In books and on platforms such as “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” he presented arguments against the use of chemotherapy, which earned him criticism from the American Cancer Society.
Somers was born in 1946 in San Bruno, California. His father was a gardener, and his mother worked as a medical secretary. She started acting in the late 1960s, and in 1973 she played the blonde driving the white Thunderbird in George Lucas’ “American Graffiti”. His only catchphrase was saying the words “I love you” to the character played by Richard Dreyfuss.
In his audition, Lucas only asked him if he knew how to drive. He later said that moment “changed his life forever.”
