Susan Dey
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
Susan Dey has been a regular sight on the small screen since her debut, at age 18, on "The Partridge Family." As Laurie, the pretty, sensible, eldest daughter and keyboardist of the traveling musical clan, she exuded an earnest, slightly gawky charm, even when her braces were wreaking havoc with the group's electrical equipment in a memorable episode.
After the show went off the air, Dey tried her luck on the big screen playing opposite William Katt in the bland teen romance "First Love" (1977), played the tomboyish Jo March in a TV adaptation of "Little Women" (NBC, 1978) and kept reasonably busy in a series of modest TV-movies, failed sitcom pilots and several other features. The best of the latter was the "Echo Park" (1985), with Dey as a single mother with show business aspirations who rents a room to a writer (Tom Hulce). Released several years before the boom in independent films, it went practically unnoticed by mainstream Hollywood, despite earning good reviews. A dutiful daughter role on the naval drama series "Emerald Point N.A.S." (CBS, 1983-84) failed to turn Dey's career around, but the role of Grace Van Owen, one of many high-powered attorneys peopling NBC's "L.A. Law," thrust her back into the spotlight. The long, straight hair of Laurie Partridge had been cut to a stylish bob, her alto voice a trifle deeper than before, Dey proved one of the series' main attractions over a six year run (1986-92). She ventured back to sitcoms as co-star of CBS' "Love and War" in 1992, but her return to comedy was short-lived. Citing "creative differences" with the series' producers, Dey opted out after one season. She continued working in TV-movies of varying quality, some of which were executive produced by her husband, Bernard Sofronski. (Dey had co-producer credit on others.) Among the more notable were "Bed of Lies" (ABC, 1992), wherein she was a woman who killed her politician husband, "Lies and Lullabies" (ABC, 1993), as a drug addict, "Blue River" (Fox, 1995), as an emotionally-repressed mother, and "Bridge of Time" (Fox, 1997), as a UN worker, one of the passengers of a plane which crashes into a Shangri-la-like preserve.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1970
Played Laurie Partridge on the musical sitcom, "The Partridge Family" (ABC)
1972
Feature film debut in a supporting role in "Skyjacked"
1973
TV-movie debut in "Terror on the Beach" (CBS)
1974
Voiced Laurie Partridge on the CBS animated cartoon, "Partridge Family: 2200 A.D."
1977
First leading role in a feature, "First Love"
1977
Played Jane Benson on the short-lived CBS sitcom, "Loves Me, Loves Me Not"
1978
Starred as Jo March in the NBC miniseries "Little Women"
1983
Played Celia Warren on the CBS drama, "Emerald Point N.A.S."
1985
Received top billing opposite Tom Hulce in the feature, "Echo Park"
1986
Portrayed lawyer Grace Van Owen on the NBC drama, "L.A. Law"
1989
Starred in the ABC TV-movie, "I Love You Perfect," also received first time producing credit
1992
Cast as Wallis 'Wally' Porter on the CBS sitcom, "Love and War"
1993
Left "Love and War" citing "creative differences" with the producers
1994
Portrayed an abused wife in the TV-movie "Beyond Betrayal" (CBS)
1997
Starred in Fox TV-movie, "Bridge of Time"
2004
Guest-starred in two episodes of NBC's "Third Watch," as a fire department psychiatrist
Family
Companions
