Suzanne Somers, 'Three's Company' Star & Mega-Successful Entrepreneur, Dies at 76

Suzanne Somers, who parlayed success playing a lovably dumb blonde on "Three's Company" into a reported $100M fortune as a self-help guru and entrepreneur, died Sunday at 76 following a protracted cancer battle.

"Extra" confirmed her death with her publicist, R. Couri Hay.

“Suzanne Somers passed away peacefully at home in the early morning hours of Oct. 15," Hay said. "She survived an aggressive form of breast cancer for over 23 years. Suzanne was surrounded by her loving husband, Alan [Hamel], her son, Bruce, and her immediate family.”

The bubbly star died just one day shy of her 77th birthday. Hours before her death was announced, People magazine had posted an exclusive story on her birthday plans.

Somers told the outlet she was "feeling positive" as she continued dealing with a resurgence of her cancer, and planned to be with her "nearest and dearest," including her husband Alan Hamel, 87, their children, and their grandchildren.

She told People she'd heard her daughter-in-law was making "her famous short rib tacos and I have asked for copious amounts of cake. I really love cake.”

Somers had just returned from the Midwest, where she underwent six weeks of physical therapy. In gratitude to her many fans and followers, she had just launched a special "LOVE" bracelet.

“It’s a way for us to send and receive love and feel the unity of our most important human connection. The message on the card memorializes a voice that I heard, as clear as day, when I was in the hospital about 10 years ago. It said, ‘It’s not who you are. It’s not what you have. It’s not what you do. It’s only about who you love and who loves you'... I knew in that moment God was speaking directly to me and simplifying our entire existence here on Earth.”

Instead of the family gathering that had been planned, Hay said her loved ones would "celebrate her extraordinary life, and want to thank her millions of fans and followers who loved her dearly."

A private, family-only burial will happen within days, with a memorial to follow in November.

Close friend Barry Manilow, 80, told People exclusively, "Suzanne and I were friends for decades. She was the sister I never had and my close confidant forever. We shared triumphs and heartaches. Her fame in so many fields overshadowed her real talent as one of our greatest comedic actors, a loving mother, an amazing homemaker, and one of the world’s best cooks. I will miss her dearly and hope that she is now out of pain and at peace.”

Somers was born Suzanne Mahoney on October 16, 1946, in San Bruno, California. She began her acting career in the late '60s with an uncredited role in the high-profile film "Bullitt" (1968) and had a nude scene in the Clint Eastwood vehicle "Magnum Force" (1973) that was recirculated in adult magazines once she found fame.

Her most attention-grabbing early performance was as an enigmatic Blonde in T-Bird in the surprise hit "American Graffiti" (1973).

After several guest spots and small movie roles, she was cast as daffy Christmas "Chrissy" Snow on "Three's Company" (1977-1981), a situation comedy characterized by old-school burlesque humor and propelled by star John Ritter's pratfalls. Its premise, racy at the time, was that one guy (Ritter) and two girls (Somers and Joyce DeWitt) were living together. So inappropriate was this situation that the guy, Jack, had to pretend he was gay in order for the landlord Mr. Roper (Norman Fell) to accept the arrangement.

"Three's Company" was a smash hit, and Somers became an overnight household name — a poster of her in an electric-blue one-piece swimsuit was one of the top sellers of the decade.

As the series wore on, buxom Chrissy became dumber and dumber, and Somers more and more popular. Ahead of Season 5, she demanded $150,000 per episode and a percentage of the show's overall profits. In response, her airtime was reduced to an infamous series of short, filmed phone calls. She sued, but lost all but what she was owed — no damages.

The fallout led to bad blood with the rest of the cast, but the show went on without her, leaving Somers to reinvent herself.

Somers also battled Playboy over its publication of early-years nudes she had not approved, and while they settled, she went on to pose for the men's magazine in 1984.

After proving her ability to sing and dazzle on the Las Vegas Strip, Somers began doing TV spots for Thighmaster, a device to help women tone their thighs. In the exercise-crazed '80s, it was a huge seller, and led to Somers developing her own products — which would eventually earn her a fortune.

After appearing in the miniseries adaptation of Jackie Collins' sultry "Hollywood Wives" in 1985, she returned to series TV via the syndicated sitcom "She's the Sheriff" (1987-1989), and enjoyed a longer run as a mom on the sitcom "Step by Step" (1991-1998).

Her 1991 TV movie found Somers playing herself and exposing harmful family secrets, an example of how she made herself her most lucrative product over time.

Somers mostly walked away from acting after "Step by Step's" demise, appearing in the TV movie "The Darklings" (1999) and, in one final cameo performance in a film, in "Say It Isn't So" (2001) — she had bigger fish to fry.

Having hosted a failed daytime talk show in 1994, she co-hosted "Candid Camera" from 1997-1999, took a stab at Broadway (but Broadway stabbed back) with the short-lived one-woman show "The Blonde in the Thunderbird" (2005), and launched an online talk show in 2012 that led to a sweet reunion with her long-estranged "Three's Company" co-star DeWitt; Somers had rekindled a friendship with Ritter just prior to his shocking 2003 death following a heart attack.

Somers was on Season 20 of "Dancing with the Stars," hoofing with Tony Dovolani, and lasting until the fifth week.

Somers had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001. Having survived it initially, she became a high-profile and controversial proponent of alternative medicine and outspoken critic of environmental toxins.

Married and divorced by 22, Somers wed Canadian TV personality Alan Hamel in 1977. Together, she and Hamel — she with one son, he with two daughters — spent the next 46 years as a devoted couple. As recently as 2021, Somers candidly reported that she and Hamel still had sex multiple times a day.

She also made the news in 2015 when she talked about her good friend Barry Manilow's marriage to Garry Kief on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen," effectively and inadvertently outing him, although with no hard feelings from Manilow.

In 2019, she made waves by posing nude at 73.

Her propensity for grabbing headlines even without TV or movie roles led to Somers' prolific career as an author. Between 1980 and 2017, she published 25 books, some New York Times best sellers, among them a widely derided book of poetry called "Touch Me" (1980), her revealing memoir "Keeping Secrets" (1987), weight-loss and fitness tomes, fountain-of-youth volumes, and hits like "Sexy Forever" (2010) and the memoir "Two's Company: A Fifty-Year Romance with Lessons Learned in Love, Life & Business" (2017).

Somers is survived by Hamel; by her son from her first marriage; by Hamel's daughters from his first marriage; and by six grandchildren.