Brett Somers (July 11 1924 – September 15 2007)[1] was a Canadian-born American actress, singer, and comedienne. She was best known as a panelist on the 1970s game show, Match Game.
Personal life
Born as Audrey Johnston in New Brunswick, Canada, she grew up near Portland, Maine. She ran away from home at age
17 and moved to New York City to pursue a career in acting.[2] There she settled in Greenwich Village. She changed her first name
to "Brett" after the lead female character in Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, and the surname "Somers" was her mother's maiden name. She became a U.S.
citizen late in life.[3] After moving to New York City,
Somers married and had a daughter, Leslie, before divorcing her first husband.[2] In 1953, she married actor Jack
Klugman; they had two sons: Adam and David. The couple separated in 1974, but never
divorced.[4]
Career
Early career
Somers began her career in theater, and made many of her initial television appearances in dramatic programs such as
"The Philco Television Playhouse", "Kraft Television Theatre", "Playhouse 90" and
"Robert Montgomery Presents".[5] Her Broadway debut, in the play "Maybe Tuesday", was a flop; the show closed after five performances.
[6] She also appeared in Happy Ending,
The Seven Year Itch and The Country
Girl with her husband, Jack Klugman. She also amassed a number of film credits,
including Getting There, Bone, Bus Riley's Back in Town and The Great
American Beauty Pageant.
Television credits
Somers made many appearances on episodic primetime television, including Love,
American Style, The Defenders, Have Gun Will Travel, Ben Casey,
CHiPs, The Love Boat, Barney Miller, The Mary Tyler Moore Show,
and The Fugitive.
Somers had recurring roles as the ex-wife of Oscar Madison (played by real-life spouse Klugman) on the ABC sitcom television series The Odd Couple in the
early 1970s, as well as the role of "Siress Belloby" on the science fiction series Battlestar Galactica in 1978. She played Perry
Mason's receptionist "Gertie" on a short-lived revival of the series in 1973 which featured Monte Markham as Perry Mason.
Match Game
A tall woman, Somers was best-known for her appearances as a panelist on the 1970s CBS
game show Match Game. She and the show became known
for somewhat outlandish and risque dialogue; the show has been described as having the feel of being at a game at someone's
cocktail party. Somers was an iconic on-screen presence, wearing enormous eyeglasses, various wigs, and playing foil to Charles Nelson Reilly, Betty White, Richard Dawson, and Fannie Flagg, among others. Somers was often the subject of questions on Match Game, such as "You may or
may not believe in reincarnation, but listen to this. In a previous life, Brett used to be a ________."
Somers was not originally on the celebrity panel. When spouse Jack Klugman appeared on
the first week of the program in 1973, he suggested that producers bring her aboard. Her wit and
dry humor proved extremely successful, and she would remain a regular panelist for the remainder of the show's nine year network
and syndicated run.[7]
Later life
In 2002, she appeared with Charles Nelson Reilly
and Betty White (via videolink) as part of a Match Game reunion on CBS's The Early Show. She also appeared with Reilly on Hollywood
Squares during that show's "Game Show Week" in 2003.
In 2006, she was a prominent interviewee in The Real Match Game Story: Behind the Blank
on GSN, and hosted the Match Game DVD as well. Somers also appeared in a
cabaret show, An Evening with Brett Somers, from 2003 to 2004.
[8]
Death
During a 2002 interview, Somers denied rumors that she had suffered from cancer. She would reiterate that point in future
interviews.[4] Somers had a
naturally husky voice which may have caused the misperception that she suffered from a throat ailment.
Somers died on the morning of September 15 2007 at her
home in Westport, Connecticut. [1] Her son Adam gave the cause of her death as stomach and colon cancer, which first developed in 2004 but
was held in remission until August 2007. [9]She was
survived by her husband (Klugman) and their two sons. Her daughter, Leslie (from Somers' first marriage) died in 2003 from lung cancer.
References
External links
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