Sunday, February 27, 2011

Actress Susan Blakely

Like Jessica Lange, Susan Blakely started out as a high-profile fashion model. Like Jessica Lange, she invited skepticism when she made the transition from modeling to acting, only to have the last laugh when it turned out that she could act. And like Jessica Lange, she played troubled actress Frances Farmer.

I'm not kidding! While Ms. Lange is known for playing Farmer in the theatrical release Frances, Susan Blakely played her in the TV movie Will There Be A Morning? They appeared within a year of each other in the early eighties.


Since debuting in the disaster picture The Towering Inferno in 1974, Susan Blakely has worked steadily as an actress, doing everything from playing Eva Braun in The Bunker to making guest appearances on TV shows such as "Murder, She Wrote" and "Two and a Half Men."

My favorite Susan Blakely movie is the small 1979 film Dreamer, with Tim Matheson. In that film, Matheson plays a competitive bowler who hopes to win a major championship, have his own bowling alley, and win the girl of his dreams - played by our heroine. This could be where the idea for the TV series "Ed" came from. :-)

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