Susan Blakely

Early life

Blakely was born in Frankfurt, Germany, the daughter of American parents, Mary Louise, a former art teacher, and Colonel Larry Blakely, a career Army officer. After she attended University of Texas at El Paso, she moved to New York and studied acting with Warren Robertson, Lee Strasberg, Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse and later studied with Charles Conrad in Los Angeles. She currently studies with Warner Loughlin. She began a professional modeling career in 1967 at Ford Modeling Agency.

Career

Blakely arrived in Hollywood in the early 1970s, and began appearing in supporting roles in films include Savages, The Way We Were, and The Lords of Flatbush. Her first major role was as Patty Simmons in the 1974 disaster film The Towering Inferno. The following year, she played the female lead roles in films Report to the Commissioner alongside Michael Moriarty, and Capone opposite Ben Gazzara.

Blakely gained wide critical acclaim with her leading role in the 1976 ABC television miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Irwin Shaw. For her performance, Blakely won that year's Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama and earned a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. She earned a second Emmy Award nomination the following year when she reprised her role in Rich Man, Poor Man Book II. After her television success, she played leading roles in two movies in 1979; disaster film The Concorde ... Airport '79 opposite Alain Delon, and sport drama Dreamer with Tim Matheson.

During 1980s and 1990s, Blakely played leading roles in many made for television movies. She portrayed Frances Farmer in the 1982 film based on Farmer's autobiography, Will There Really Be a Morning?, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film. She played Eva Braun opposite Anthony Hopkins in Adolf Hitler' biographical film The Bunker (1981), and Joan Kennedy in The Ted Kennedy Jr. Story (1986). She appeared in such feature films as Over the Top (1987), My Mom's a Werewolf (1989), and Hate Crime (2005). She guest starred on Hotel, The Twilight Zone, Falcon Crest, Murder, She Wrote, Nip/Tuck, Brothers & Sisters, Southland, and Cougar Town.

Personal life

In 1969, Blakely married a lawyer Todd Merer, but the pair divorced in 1977. In 1982, Blakely married media consultant and crisis management expert Steve Jaffe, also a film and television producer. In 2003, Blakely created a semi-precious jewelry line from her own designs.