BRETT SOMERS Biography - Actors and Actresses

 
 

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BRETT SOMERS

Name: Brett Somers                                                                     
Birth name: Audrey Johnston                                                           
Born: 11 July 1924 New Brunswick, Canada                                               
Died: 15 September 2007 Westport, Connecticut, USA                                     
                                                                                       
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.                                                       
                                                                                       
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. 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. After moving to New York City, Somers             
married and had a daughter, Leslie, before divorcing her first husband. In             
1953, she married actor Jack Klugman; they had two sons: Adam and David. The           
couple separated in 1974, but never divorced.                                         
                                                                                       
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". Her             
Broadway debut, in the play "Maybe Tuesday", was a flop; the show closed after         
five performances. 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 A Rage to Live, Getting There, Bone, Bus Riley's Back       
in Town and The Great American Beauty Pageant.                                         
                                                                                       
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, Blanche, (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.