Suzanne Pleshette Dead at 70

Suzanne Pleshette, most well-known for her role opposite Bob Newhart as his sassy, schoolteacher wife, has died. She was 70 years old.

Born in 1937, Pleshette attended the New York School of the Performing Arts and made her Broadway debut in 1961's The Miracle Worker. She got her big-screen break opposite Jerry Lewis in 1958's The Geisha Boy, then had a starring role in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, after the portly director worked with her on his TV show.

In 1972, Pleshette landed the role of Emily Hartley, Bob Newhart's wife on the classic sit-com. The role garnered her two Emmy nominations. In 1990, she reprised that role in the series finale of the comic's second series, Newhart. There, she met her future husband, Tom Poston, to whom she was married until his death last year. In the last few years, she made distinguishing guest-appearances on Will & Grace as Karen's con-artist mother.

Pleshette had been battling lung cancer for nearly a decade. Sources close to the family say she died of respiratory failure in her home Saturday evening.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008