These actresses are some of the most popular from 1970s television whose beauty and talent were showcased in such shows as Charlie’s Angels and Dukes of Hazzard, among others as well. Many of their faces also graced the pages of the most popular teen and gossip magazines of the decade.
The 1970s saw the poster industry come to life thanks to poses from such lovely actresses as Loni Anderson, Cheryl Ladd, Farrah Fawcett, Lynda Carter, Susan Anton, Lindsay Wagner, and more hung on the bedroom walls of many a fan.
Some of these actresses worked in movies too but many got start working on television during the 1970s, and a few went on to successful film careers.
1. Loni Anderson
Buxom blonde Loni Anderson’s TV career began in the ’70s with roles on S.W.A.T, Police Woman, and Barnaby Jones. Her breakout role was as Jennifer Marlowe, the intelligent and sexy receptionist on WKRP in Cincinnati. She played the role from 1978 to 1982 and her work on the series earned her two Emmy nominations.
Once the series ended, there was no shortage of work for Anderson. She played Jayne Mansfield in a TV biography, The Jayne Mansfield Story, co-starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. She also played Thelma Todd in a TV biography, White Hot, The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd.
Like Farrah Fawcett, Lynda Carter, and Suzanne Somers, Anderson also tried her hand at posing for posters with several bikini shots.
2. Susan Anton
In 1970 Susan Anton became the spokesperson for Muriel Cigars. Later she became spokesperson for Serta mattresses. In 1978, ABC gave her and Mel Tillis a summer variety series, Mel and Susan, Together, but the show was canceled after just four weeks. Nonetheless Anton was voted one of the Most Promising Stars of 1979 by Time Magazine.
Anton was also a poster queen, with several very nice poses on the market issued through Pro Arts.
She landed a starring role in the 1979 series Cliffhangers which was an attempt to bring back old-time movie serials (stories told in short segments over a period of weeks). She also got a chance to be in a movie in 1979: Goldengirl, co-starring James Coburn. The movie failed to set the box office on fire, but that didn’t slow Anton down. She kept working as an actress and singer and continues to this day in both of those roles.
3. Catherine Bach
Catherine Bach’s first movie role was as a murder victim in the 1973 film The Midnight Man. After that she landed a role in the film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.
But it was as Daisy Duke in the hit series The Dukes of Hazzard, beginning in 1979, that Bach her biggest success. At the audition for Daisy, she asked to bring in her own costume, which consisted of a T-shirt and a pair of ragged, cut-off jeans, now known as “Daisy Dukes”.
Bach had a recent role as Anita Lawson on the daytime soap, The Young and the Restless.
4. Adrienne Barbeau
In the late 1960s, Adrienne Barbeau debuted on Broadway in the musical Fiddler on the Roof. After that, she went on to work in a variety of plays including Grease (for which she won a Tony Award nomination) and Women Behind Bars.
In 1972, she took the role of Carol Traynor in the series Maude, starring the late Bea Arthur. She made guest appearances on TV series like The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Barbeau made a famous pin-up poster in 1978 which was a huge hit. The pose can be found on the cover of her autobiography There Are Worse Things I Could Do.
Barbeau’s career moved from TV to the big screen in the 1980s, when she became a “scream queen” in horror films like The Fog (directed by her husband at the time, John Carpenter), Swamp Thing, Creepshow and others.
She is still a busy actress, working in both film and television.
5. Chelsea Brown
The very lovely Chelsea Brown is an actress and comedian who had a regular role on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. She was usually a more subdued character, compared to the antics of co-stars Goldie Hawn, Ruth Buzzi, and Lily Tomlin.
She moved on from Laugh-In and got a regular role in the short-lived medical series Matt Lincoln, starring Vince Edwards in the title role.
Later in the 1970s, she moved to Australia, where she still resides and plays roles in popular soap operas.
When Joanna Cameron was in college in 1969, her friend Linda Hope introduced her to her father, Bob Hope, who cast Joanna in his film, How To Commit Marriage. After that, she got bit parts in a variety of ’70s TV shows.
For a while, in the early ’70s, Joanna was called the queen of commercials as she made a decent living hawking all kinds of products from cosmetics to travel. She didn’t mind, because working in commercials gave her an independence as opposed to having to live just day to day like many struggling actresses who are just starting out have to do.
Finally in 1975 she was cast as high school science teacher Andrea Thomas on the Saturday morning live-action kids show The Secrets of Isis. The show ran for two seasons.
After the show ended she did some work in other TV shows, but focused most of her time on marketing for various hotels and working in the home healthcare area.
7. Lynda Carter
Lynda Carter’s first taste of the public spotlight was as a singer in high school. At 17 she joined two of her cousins and formed a band called The Relatives.
Carter went to college but dropped out after a short time. She pursued a singing career, without success. Her acting career was also slow to take off, with just small parts in series including Matt Helm and Starsky and Hutch.
In 1975, when she was almost ready to move back home to her native Arizona, when she won the role of Wonder Woman and she became an “overnight” success. The series ran first, as just a series of special presentations, performing well in the ratings, then ABC finally took the plunge and made it into a regular series. It lasted for a year on that network then moved to CBS who brought Wonder Woman into modern times. The series lasted there until 1979.
Carter became a poster girl with several poses produced by Pro Arts, the company responsible for giving us the famous Farrah Fawcett red swimsuit poster. Her famous “belly button” pose (found on the back of her 1978 debut album Portrait) was a best-selling poster that year for Pro Arts.
8. Charo
Charo was born María del Rosario Mercedes Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza in Spain. Her first U.S. appearance was in the 1960s on the Today Show. She also appeared on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In.
In the 1970s Charo became widely known for her guitar-playing and her catch-phrase, “cuchi cuchi.” Charo appeared on The Love Boat, Chico and the Man, and Ironside.
In 1976 she starred in an unsold pilot episode of a series called Charo and the Sergeant. The episodes that were taped were only broadcast on the American Armed Forces Network overseas.
Charo later moved to Hawaii and learned Japanese. She continues to perform.
9. Gretchen Corbett
Gretchen Corbett’s career in TV got started in 1968 when she appeared in an episode of the short-lived series N.Y.P.D.
In the ’70s she had a small role in the Jon Voight film Out of It. Some of you may also remember Corbett in the cult film Let’s Scare Jessica to Death in which she played a mute girl.
Her career really took off in the ’70s when she was seen on just about every popular TV series. She gained most exposure in her role as lawyer Beth Davenport on The Rockford Files. She left the show after four years due to a contract dispute between Universal, which owned her contract, and the show’s producers. That didn’t slow her down, however, and she continued to make appearances in a variety of series over the years.
10. Cathy Lee Crosby
Cathy Lee Crosby has had a varied career. She has worked as a successful actress, author, and producer. In the ’70s, she guest-starred in a variety of popular shows including Cannon, Barnaby Jones, and Emergency.
In 1974 Crosby starred in the successful TV movie Wonder Woman. The movie was a pilot for the TV series, but in the movie Wonder Woman has no super-powers to speak of and she doesn’t resemble the character from the comic books. A year after the movie came out, Lynda Carter took up the role.
Crosby still works in front of and behind the camera. Look for an old copy of One Woman magazine from 1984. She was featured in the magazine’s second edition, which includes beautiful, full-color photos of Crosby taken by six different photographers.
11. Phyllis Davis
Phyllis Davis’s career got started in the late ’60s with a role in the movie Lord Love a Duck and another in Spinout opposite Elvis Presley.
In the ’70s she appeared on television in The Odd Couple and The Streets of San Francisco. Her claim to fame came with the role of former showgirl Beatrice Travis on the series Vega$. Davis played Beatrice for 64 episodes, from 1978 until 1981. After she left the series she made guest appearances on other television shows.
Sadly, lovely Phyllis died September 27, 2013 at age 73.
12. Joyce DeWitt
When Three’s Company first came out, the character of Janet was over-shadowed by the popularity of Chrissy Snow, as played by Suzanne Somers. But as the series continued, Joyce DeWitt changed her appearance and her character became more interesting. She lost weight, or so it seemed, got a short, sassy haircut, and developed into a truly beautiful woman.
DeWitt stayed stayed with the series for its entire run, from 1977-84. She also did a series of ads for Leggs pantyhose. The print ads make nice collectibles, if you can find them.
13. Angie Dickinson
Angie Dickinson’s career in show business began in the 1950s with bit-parts on various TV shows and films. Her appearances as Sergeant Suzanne “Pepper” Anderson in the police drama Police Woman broke new ground with its portrayal of a woman in a leading role and as a police officer. Police Woman paved the way for other female-led series including The Bionic Woman and Charlie’s Angels.
In 1999, Playboy Magazine listed Angie as number 42 on their “100 Sexiest Stars of the Century” list.
In 2002, TV Guide ranked her number 3 on their “50 Sexiest TV Stars of All Time.” Not bad for a woman who once considered a career in journalism.
14. Lola Falana
Lola Falana was discovered by Sammy Davis, Jr., who gave her a role in his 1964 Broadway show Golden Boy and became her mentor. She recorded her first single in 1965, My Baby, and was cast in her first film, A Man Called Adam, in 1966 opposite Sammy Davis, Jr. The movie was a musical drama about the life of a self-destructive jazz musician, played by Davis.
Falana’s career took off in the ’70s with guest-starring roles in TV series including The New Cosby Show and The Streets of San Francisco. She was nominated for a Golden Globe award for her work in the film The Liberation of L.B. Jones.
Falana posed for Playboy in 1970 and was hired by Fabergé to advertise their line of cosmetics and perfumes under the Tigress brand.
In 1980, she was dealt a major set-back back when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but continued to work until the summer of 1987 when the the disease came to a crest and brought her career to a halt. Falana stated in a 1994 interview that “I couldn’t sing-I couldn’t find the rhythm. My tongue was so paralyzed.” By the fall of 1987, she was paralyzed on the left side of her body not being able to move her arm or leg. Her doctors were filled with nothing but gloom and doom, but she was determined to over come. She turned her faith to God, becoming a Catholic and she began to take therapy and within five months was up and walking again.
Falana no longer performs and spends much of her time involved with the Lambs of God Ministry, which helps orphan children in sub-Saharan Africa.
15. Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett’s career started in the 1960s with her guest appearance on I Dream of Jeannie. She made other television appearances throughout the ’60s but took her first big screen role in the early ’70s in the film Myra Breckinridge.
Fawcett took a recurring role on the series Harry O playing Sue Ingham. It was her famous red bathing suit pose, produced by Pro Arts, that brought her into the public eye. That and the role of Jill Monroe on the series Charlie’s Angels. Fawcett left the series after one season to work on a film career, but success there wasn’t easy to achieve.
In 1984 Fawcett was finally taken seriously as an actress when she gave a wonderful performance in the TV movie The Burning Bed. It was finally discovered that she was more than just eye-candy.
Sadly, Fawcett passed away in June 2009 of intestinal cancer.
16. Lynda Day George
Lynda began modeling at age 12 and in the 1960’s she started to get work in television by making appearances on popular shows of the day.
In 1966, she met actor Christoper George when they worked in the film The Gentle Rain. They worked together again in the 1970 John Wayne film, Chisum. They eventually fell in love and married on May 15, 1970.
In a magazine article interview done in 1971, she had three goals: She wanted to be the best wife and mother she could possibly be. She wanted to fulfill what the rest of her family, friends and pets needed of her. She wanted her career to continue.
In 1970-71, she starred as Amber Cole in the short-lived series, The Silent Force. She was then cast as Lisa Casey an expert in makeup and disguise in Mission: Impossible. Her work in the series garnered her a Golden Globe nomination in 1972 and an Emmy nomination in 1973.
Sadly, her husband, Christopher died of a heart attack at age 52 (some sources state age 54) on November 28, 1983. Lynda worked only sporadically after his death.
17. Erin Gray
Erin Gray’s modeling career began at age 15, but TV viewers got their first glimpse of this beautiful lady when she appeared in commercials for Camay soap, Breck shampoo, and RC Cola. It wasn’t long until Gray was making guest appearances on TV shows like Police Story and the short-lived Gibbsville.
In 1978 she took a role in Evening in Byzantium, which led to the role of Colonel Wilma Deering on the series Buck Rogers in The 25th Century. Her role in the series was an important one, because she was TV’s first female colonel who showed that women could be strong and in charge. Back in the 70s this was a fairly new concept.
After appearing in the Buck Rogers, she made an appearance on Magnum P.I. starring Tom Selleck. Her character, Joy ‘Digger’ Doyle was a security expert and rumor had it that she was to star in a spin-off series that never materialized.
Gray is still active in the business and some of her most recent work was a role on the web series Star Trek Continues as Commodore Gray.
18. Shelley Hack
Shelley Hack began her career as a teen fashion model and becoming the face associated with the Revlon perfume Charlie.
It was when she replaced Kate Jackson, in the fourth season of Charlie’s Angels, that Hack got her big break. She was Tiffany Welles, a beautiful young woman who hailed from Boston. She was tall, educated, and refined. She stood out from the other angels and some fans felt that she simply didn’t fit in. She left the series, but not before being blamed publicly for the series falling ratings. She was replaced by another lovely lady, Tanya Roberts, but ratings didn’t improve and the show was cancelled.
Hack went on to work in a variety of television movies and stared in two short-lived comedy series, Cutter to Houston (1983) and Jack and Mike (1986-87). Both series received positive reviews from critics, but simply couldn’t find their audience.
Hack continues to be involved in the world of entertainment as she and her husband produce content for television and film and new media through their production company Smash Media.
19. Deidre Hall
Deidre Hall may be best known for her role as Dr. Marlena Evans on the soap Days of Our Lives, a role she took on 1976. But prior to that she appeared in a variety of ’70s TV series including Adam 12, Columbo, and Kung Fu.
You may remember seeing Hall on a Saturday morning TV show. Hall was half of the crime-fighting duo Electra Woman and Dyna Girl from the 1976 Krofft Super Show. The segments were about 12 minutes long and the show only lasted 16 weeks.
20. Mariette Hartley
Mariette Hartley’s career began on stage and her first film role was in the 1962 film Ride the High Country with Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea.
Hartley did more TV and film work during the ’60s, but her career took off in the 70’s with a series of commercials for Polaroid instant cameras opposite James Garner. The pair was successful as a couple that it was rumored, falsely, that they were married in real life. Hartley won an Emmy in 1978 for “Married” an episode of The Incredible Hulk.
21. Pamela Hensley
Pamela Hensley career in television and movies began in the early ’70s with roles on popular shows including Marcus Welby, M.D., Ironside, and The Rockford Files. She also appeared in the films Doc Savage: Man of Bronze and Rollerball.
There are two roles that most folks associate with Hensley. The first is the evil, scheming Princess Ardala on the ’70s sci-fi series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. The second is her role was CJ in the ’80s series, Matt Houston. After Matt Houston ended, Hensley disappeared from the entertainment business, only to reappear as an author in 2004 with the publication of The Jewish-Sicilian Cookbook.
22. Kate Jackson
Kate Jackson was the silent ghost, Daphne Harridge, on the daytime gothic soap Dark Shadows from 1970-71. Then she worked on TV movies including Satan’s School For Girls, Killer Bees, and Death Scream and made appearances in popular series like Bonanza, Movin’ On , and The Jimmy Stewart Show.
But when Aaron Spelling cast her to play Jill Danko in The Rookies, Jackson came to the attention of a larger audience. After that series ended, Kate was offered the role of Sabrina Duncan in another Spelling production: Charlie’s Angels. Jackson was responsible for coming up for the name of the series; it was going to be called The Alley Cats but networks passed it up. She left the popular series after three seasons, explaining that it was time to try other things. Insiders say she was disheartened about having to turn down the lead role in Kramer Vs. Kramer due to her commitment to the series. That film part went to Meryl Streep.
Jackson added directing and producing to her resume when she produced TV movies with her own production company, Shoot The Moon Enterprises.
23. Maren Jensen
Maren Jensen came to public attention with her role as Athena on the classic sci fi series Battlestar Galactica.
While in college, Jensen began modeling and appeared on the covers of Mademoiselle and Vogue. In 1977 she landed a role on The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries and was cast a year later on Battlestar Galactica.
In 1981 she played her last role in Wes Craven’s Deadly Blessings. Her career was cut short when she was diagnosed with Epstein-Barr Syndrome. She lives in New York with her husband and daughter.
24. Jayne Kennedy
Jayne Kennedy is an actress, model, and sportscaster. In 1970 she became the first African-American woman to be crowned Miss Ohio. She went on to become one of the ten finalists for Miss USA. Kennedy married actor and writer Leon Isaac Kennedy and in 1978 they moved to Hollywood to pursue careers in entertainment.
Kennedy did guest stints in many popular ’70s shows, including Shaft, Kojak, Sanford and Son, Starksy and Hutch, and The Six Million Dollar Man. Kennedy also starred as a model who moonlighted as a secret agent in a short-lived series called Cover Girls.
In 1978, she broke into the male-dominated world of professional football when she became the first female sportscaster on NFL Today.
25. Cheryl Ladd
Cheryl Ladd came to Hollywood with the intention of starting a singing career. It seemed like she was on her way when she was cast as the voice for Melody Jones on the Saturday morning cartoon series Josie and the Pussycats.
Ladd appeared in commercials and took bit parts in shows including Happy Days and The Partridge Family. It was the part as Chris Monroe, replacing Farrah Fawcett, on Charlie’s Angels that propelled her into the spotlight. She became a pin-up and poster favorite, with several different poses on the market.
26. Audrey Landers
At the age of 12 Audrey Landers wrote a country song that got her a recording contract with Epic Records. She made appearances on Merv Griffin and eventually signed a contract to star on the daytime drama, The Secret Storm. More than just a pretty face, Landers studied music at Julliard School in New York while majoring in psychology at Columbia University.
Landers made several guest appearances on television, including episodes of Emergency, Happy Days, Police Woman, and even a very short-lived series called Highcliff Manor. But her biggest success came in the 1980s when she took the role of Afton Cooper on Dallas.
Landers has recorded ten albums and has a successful music career in Europe. With her younger sister, Judy Landers, she did a photo shoot for Playboy in January, 1983.
27. Judy Landers
Judy Landers has made a career playing dim-witted blondes. One of her first television appearances was as Boom Boom on Happy Days in the episode titled “Bye Bye Blackball.” Landers landed an 11-episode stint on Vega$ and her next role came in 1981, playing Stacks in BJ and the Bear.
Landers worked with her sister Audrey on several projects. The venture they are the most proud of is the kid’s show, The Huggabug Club. The sisters created the show and wrote nearly 150 songs to be used on the episodes. The Huggabug Club won the Parent’s Choice Award and the Dove Foundation Award.
28. Carol Lynley
Thanks to the reader who suggested that I add Carol Lynley to this list. Lovely Lynley was a child model before she began acting at age 15. She worked on both the stage and screen and was nominated in for a Golden Globe in 1959 for her work in Blue Denim on Broadway. It was a controversial play about a young girl who has to find a way to deal with the fact she is pregnant. Lynley was in the film version too. Pretty dramatic and shocking stuff for the 1950s!
Lynley went on to appear in a variety of films and TV shows. In the ’70s she guest-starred on The Immortal, The Sixth Sense, Mannix, and appeared in the pilot episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker.
Lynley’s most recent work was in the short film Vic, directed by the late Sage Stallone.
29. Pamela Sue Martin
Before becoming an actress, Pamela Sue Martin was a successful teen model. She was modeling when she heard about auditions for the film To Find a Man. She won a role in the film and her strong performance paved the way for her role in Irwin Allen’s The Poseidon Adventure.
Martin went on to other roles on television and the big screen, but in 1977 she was cast in her breakout role, as Nancy Drew in the The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. She stayed with the series for 21 episodes before leaving, reportedly because she didn’t like that the two shows were combined in the second season.
Martin left her sweet teenager image behind; in July 1978 she posed for Playboy, like so many TV actresses of the time, and in the 1980s went to star on the nighttime soap Dynasty, as the spoiled Fallon Carrington. She would leave that series in 1984 after just three seasons.
She currently resides in Idaho where she owns and operates a theater.
30. Lee Meriwether
Lee Meriwether won the 1955 Miss America pageant and began to do guest spots on a variety of TV shows. A popular misconception is that Meriwether portrayed Catwoman on the classic 1960’s Batman series. In reality, she only played that role in the 1966 film, Batman: The Movie.
Starting in 1969, Meriwether replaced Barbara Bain on the series Mission: Impossible, completing eight episodes. We might remember Meriwether best for her role as Betty Jones on the series Barnaby Jones ,which ran from 1973 to 1980.
She continues to work on TV, stage, film and game voice-overs.
31. Joanna Pettet
London born Joanna Pettet’s acting career started on the Broadway stage in a series of plays which brought her to the attention of director Sidney Lumet who cast her as Kay in the 1966 film The Group. The film was a success at the box office and this opened doors for Pettet to work in a variety of other 60’s films including The Night of the Generals and Casino Royale and she appeared in a variety of roles on popular 60s television shows as well.
Once the 70s rolled around her work in feature films slowed and she took to making a string of made-for-television-movies as well as making multiple appearances in popular 70s and 80s television shows.
Pettet’s last film appearance was in 1995 film Terror in Paradise. She has since retired from the entertainment business and spends much of her time working for animal charities.
32. Suzanne Pleshette
Lovely, sultry-voiced Suzanne Pleshette began acting on the stage in 1957. By the 1960s, she started to get work in films and eventually television, too.
In 1972 Pleshette was cast as Emily Hartley, wife of psychologist Robert Hartley (Bob Newhart), on The Bob Newhart Show. After the series ended in 1978, Pleshette worked in a variety of other roles.
In 2006 Pleshette had surgery as part of lung cancer treatment. Sadly, she died of respiratory failure on January 19, 2008. She is buried at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.
33. Stephanie Powers
Stefanie Powers was just 15 when she signed a contract with Columbia Pictures. The studio considered Powers to be one of the brightest new talents at the time, but her career in film was short-lived. Powers took five years off and then focused her attention on the small screen, taking on the role of The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. in 1967. When that series ended, Powers made numerous guest appearances on television series including The Mod Squad, Banacek, The Rookies, and Harry O.
In 1976, Powers starred in a series called Feather and the Father Gang which lasted for 14 episodes. She also did a turn on the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman, playing a space traveler named Shalon.
In the 1980s she went starred with Robert Wagner in the very successful series, Hart to Hart. In 2010 she released a memoir, One from the Hart.
34. Catherine Schell
Katherina Freiin Schell von Bauschlott, better known to American and British audiences as Catherine Schell, graced our TV screens in the classic sci-fi series Space 1999 from 1975-77.
Schell joined the cast in the second season in the role of Maya, from the planet Psychon. Maya had the ability to morph into any life form, but could stay in that state for less than an hour. She added a super-hero aspect to the show, shape-shifting into one creature or another and coming to the rescue.
Schell also had the distinction of being a Bond girl. She appeared in the 1969 film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, credited as Catherina Von Schell. It wasn’t until her role in the television movie Madame Sin that she began to go by the name of Catherine Schell.
35. Jaclyn Smith
Jaclyn Smith originally aspired to be a famous ballerina, but her attention shifted to modeling when she appeared in a television ad for Breck Shampoo in 1971. A few years later, she could be seen on commercials advertising Wella Balsam shampoo as well.
Smith played bit parts in shows including The Partridge Family, McCloud, and Switch. In 1976 she was offered the role of Kelly Garrett in the made-for-television movie, Charlie’s Angels. The movie was a huge success and the rest is history. Charlie’s Angels ran for five seasons and Kelly Garrett was Smith’s most famous role.
Smith still acts on occasion. She has a successful line of clothing sold at K-Mart stores.
36. Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers’s career began in the late 1960s. You might remember her in the 1973 film American Graffiti as the mysterious and beautiful blond in the T-Bird.
Somers played small roles in television series like The Rockford Files, Lotsa Luck, and One Day at a Time. Her big break came with the role of Chrissy Snow on the hit series, Three’s Company, co-starring the late John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt. Somers stayed with the series for four years. At the beginning of the fifth season she asked for a huge raise in salary. because she believed she was the reason the show was so successful in the ratings and she should be compensated accordingly. This view wasn’t shared by the producers of the show, who promptly lessened her screen time to about 60 seconds per episode and she was eventually released from her contract. Co-stars John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt weren’t very happy with Suzanne’s behavior and the show did suffer in ratings as it tried to find a suitable replacement for her character.
Suzanne was also a popular poster queen with a variety of poses on the market.
But, Suzanne was no dumb blonde. She went on to write books, endorse health products and to do shows in Las Vegas before making it back to TV in several series.
37. Laurette Spang
In 1972, Laurette Spang signed a seven-year contract with Universal Studios which led to guest appearances on a variety of shows including Lou Grant, Charlie’s Angels, and Adam 12 among others.
Spang was cast as Cassiopeia in the television movie Saga of a Star World, the pilot for the Battlestar Galactic series that ran from 1978-79.
After that series ended, Spang made a series of guest appearances on other TV shows. In 1980 she married actor John McCook and in 1984 she retired from acting to begin a family.
38. Loretta Swit
Loretta Swit began her career in 1967 doing stage acting. In 1969 she came to Hollywood to do guest stints on popular series including Mannix, Gunsmoke, Hawaii 5-O, and Mission: Impossible.
In 1972, she took the part of Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in the television adaption of the film M*A*S*H. She took over the role from Sally Kellerman. Swit remained with the series for its entire run, from 1972-1983.
After leaving M*A*S*H, Swit was cast in the pilot movie for the series Cagney and Lacey, playing Chris Cagney. She was unable to continue with the role due to contractual obligations. Meg Foster, and finally Sharon Gless, would assume the role in the classic female cop series.
Swit is very committed to animal rights causes and lends her time as a spokesperson for those issues.
39. Lindsay Wagner
Lindsay Wagner’s first career choice was modeling, but she came to hate that line of work.
She decided to give acting a try, and got parts on shows including Night Gallery and Marcus Welby, M.D. It was a guest-starring role on the popular show The Six Million Dollar Man that made Wagner a TV star. As Jamie Sommers, Steve Austin’s high school sweethear, Wagner won many fans. When her character died on that series, the outcry was so huge that the network agreed to bring her back. Her character, it turned out, hadn’t really died; she had just gone comatose. Wagner got her own show, The Bionic Woman, which ran from 1976-78.
Wagner went on to be labeled the Queen of the made-for-TV-movie. She worked on a variety of entertaining movies, from the 1970s onward.
40. Carol Wayne
Lovely Carol Wayne’s career began in the 1960s with appearances on such popular shows as The Man From U.N.C.L.E., I Spy, and I Dream of Jeannie.
Wayne’s career expanded in the ’70s with roles on Mannix, Love American Style, and Emergency!. But she may be most remembered for her work with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. She played the Matinee Lady alongside Carson’s Art Fern, who would often make jokes about her lovely appearance and ample bosom.
Sadly, while vacationing in Manzanillo, Mexico in 1985, Wayne went for a walk on the beach and disappeared. Her body was found three days later by a fisherman, floating in a shallow bay. At first, her death was ruled suspicious but after an autopsy revealed no sign of foul play, her death was labeled accidental. There are those, however, who still believe that her death was not an accident.
(This original article was written by Glory Miller and published on Reel Rundown)
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