- “I'm an actress, and that's why I'm still here. Anybody who has the illusion that you can have a career as long as I have and be a star is kidding themselves.”
- ―Suzanne Pleshette
Suzanne Pleshette was an American actress and voice actress, known for her distinctive husky voice. For Disney, she starred in The Ugly Dachshund as Fran Garrison, The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin as Arabella Flagg, Blackbeard's Ghost as Professor Jo Anne Baker, and The Shaggy D.A. as Betty Daniels. She and Dean Jones were frequently paired in Disney's gimmick comedies. She also provided both the speaking and singing voices for Zira in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride and Yubaba and Zeniba in the 2001 Disney/Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away.
Pleshette was born on January 31, 1937 in Brooklyn Heights, New York. She graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts and attended Syracuse University for one semester, then transferred to Finch College before later graduated from the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, under the tutelage of renowned acting teacher Sanford Meisner.
She began her career as a stage actress. She made her Broadway debut in Meyer Levin's 1957 play Compulsion before appearing in shows, like The Cold Wind and the Warm, Golden Fleecing, Special Occasions, and replaced Anne Bancroft in The Miracle Worker.
Her notable screen credits included The Geisha Boy, Youngblood Hawke, Nevada Smith, If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium, Mister Buddwing, Support Your Local Gunfighter, Hot Stuff, Oh, God! Book II, but was best known for her role as Annie in Alfred Hitchcock's classic suspense film The Birds. She also appeared in television shows, like Harbormaster, Decoy, Have Gun – Will Travel, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Tab Hunter Show, Naked City, Wagon Train, The Wild Wild West, Dr. Kildare, The Fugitive, Columbo, The Boy Are Back, Nightingales, Good Morning, Miami, 8 Simple Rules, Will & Grace, and as Emily Hartley in The Bob Newhart Show.
In her later years, she suffered from lung cancer which resulted in her death from respiratory failure in 2008, only 12 days before her 71st birthday.
Roles[]
(The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin)
(The Shaggy D.A.)
(Spirited Away, Disney Dub)
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Her role as Zira was taken by Nika Futterman in The Lion Guard.
