One of the very first American actress that caught my eye as a youth (and I mean when I was around four or five years old!) was Suzanne Pleshette in her movie debut, The Geisha Boy, a Jerry Lewis comedy that I probably saw on TV dubbed in French. Even as an infant, I was astounded by her eyes, her voice and her perfectly shaped face. A born New-Yorker, Suzanne Pleshette left her mark on television work and the stage, more than on any movie project, even if her fate in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds gave me nightmares. She’ll be principally remembered for her part in The Bob Newhart Show… and of course that amazing husky voice. Another highlight was the replacement of Anne Bancroft in the Broadway version of The Miracle Worker, where Suzanne got great reviews. And she almost got to be the first Catwoman on the Batman TV series, before the part went to Julie Newmar.

It has been known since August 2006 that she was suffering from lung cancer. She arrived in a wheelchair at a Bob Newhart Show cast reunion in September 2007, where she announced that a part of one of her lungs had been removed for treatment. But she finally passed away on January 19, 2008, from respiratory failure.