Before retiring in 2004, Susan Dey was an actress best known for her
portrayal of oldest daughter Laurie on the hit 1970s television series
The Partridge Family. The show was a success thanks to its bright and poppy sensibilities,
but there were actually some dark things occurring behind the scenes. From the
truth about her eating disorder to her unrequited love for costar David Cassidy,
join Facts Verse as Susan Dey reveals secrets from the Partridge Family.
Susan Dey’s Stepmother Got Her Into Acting Susan Dey was born on December 10, 1952,
in the state of Illinois. She was born to a nurse mother and a newspaper-editor father,
the prior of who sadly passed away when the young girl was only in her single
digits. After her mother’s death, Susan’s father transported the girl out to New York. There,
he remarried. Susan was given a new mom, as well as a stepsister. It was Susan’s
stepmom that first got the future star involved in the entertainment industry.
Susan Dey’s stepmother, named Gail, saw potential in her. It was Gail’s belief that
Susan would make a good model, so she started sending photos of her around to different
agencies. This led to some modeling work. In turn, said modeling work led to the young
woman being cast in a little up-and-coming show by the name of The Partridge Family.
The Partridge Family followed its titular family of musicians as they travelled around performing
out of an old school bus. Susan was cast as the oldest daughter of said family, whose name was
Laura. Shirley Jones played the matriarch of the family, and one of the sons was played her
own stepson. That stepson, of course, would be David Cassidy. Though Susan and David portrayed
siblings on the show, the actress developed quite a crush on the actor behind the scenes.
Shirley Jones Warned Susan About David Cassidy According to legend, Shirley Jones warned
Susan Dey when the prior actress became aware of the latter’s crush. Shirley allegedly warned
Susan that her stepson could be emotionally callous and that he was more interested in
pursuing his burgeoning solo music career than he was in starting up a relationship. However,
Susan pressed on in spite of Shirley’s warnings. Sadly,
Shirley ended up being correct about David being a bad choice for Susan.
Despite being a modest hit, The Partridge Family was canceled after only four seasons.
Before those four seasons were over, Susan Dey finally got the chance to hook up
with David Cassidy. However, the hookup didn’t lead to the long-term relationship that she had
been envisioning. According to the late David Cassidy himself, he was reluctant
to finally give into Susan’s romantic advances and join her in bed for what would end up only
being a one-night stand. In fact, David even talked about it in his 1994 tell-all memoir!
Before David Cassidy’s 2017 death, he revealed to the public that he hadn’t communicated with Susan
Dey since the early 1990s. It wasn’t hard for fans to put together that the bad blood between
the two was likely caused by what David revealed about their one-night stand in his aforementioned
memoir. Though things obviously hadn’t panned out between Susan and David romantically,
they were still cordial with each other up until at least 1990. That year, the two graced the stage
together as presenters at the MTV Music Video Awards. It’s unclear what exactly David said
or did to piss Susan off so much, but it may have been the fact that his memoir blatantly
stated that he had never been attracted to her and considered her as simply a sister.
David Cassidy Spilled the Beans in His Memoir According to David Cassidy, he only ended up
hooking up with Susan Dey because he felt guilty. However, he didn’t end up feeling guilty about
spilling the beans about her in his memoir! David feigned ignorance about why Susan had broken off
communication with him up until his death. Not only that, but he publicly derided Susan
regarding her (possibly related) refusal to appear in reunions of The Partridge Family. For her part,
Susan has never commented about why she gave David the silent treatment for so long.
During the time when The Partridge Family was still airing new episodes, there was a tie-in
book published that was called Susan Dey’s Secrets on Boys, Beauty and Popularity. The book might’ve
purported to reveal Susan’s secrets, but it didn’t say anything about the fact that she
was in love with her on-screen sibling! Another thing that the book casually left out was the fact
that Susan was suffering from anorexia during her time performing on the series. According to Susan,
there were a few reasons that she took to anorexia. For one thing, she felt nervous
growing up during the sexual revolution of the 1960s and believed that minimalizing her
growing curves would help her stand out less to boys. For another thing, she admired the popular
fashion model Twiggy, who was famous around that time for her skinny appearance. Thankfully,
Susan managed to overcome the issue of her anorexia before it became a real problem.
Many child stars from over the course of Hollywood history have dealt with
eating disorders as a result of pressure to look a certain
way. Oftentimes, these eating disorders can lead to dire fates. Thankfully,
things seemed to have turned out okay for Susan Dey! Another tragic fate that Susan thankfully
avoided after The Partridge Family came to an end only four seasons in was being pigeonholed
in the role. Susan had an agent that fought tooth and nail to get her client more adult
roles after the hit series ended, and this ended up paying off immensely for the matured star.
Susan Dey Found Luck with L.A. Law When The Partridge Family was still
on the air, Susan Dey had already begun branching off into different projects
in the entertainment industry. In 1972, she appeared on the big
screen alongside Charlton Heston in the film Skyjacked. After The Partridge Family ended,
Susan made a notable appearance on Hawaii Five-O before appearing in the 1977 made-for-television
movie Mary Jane Harper Cried Last Night. Susan was doing well and good in her career
by the time the 1980s came around, but she likely thought that her days of playing a
main character were behind her. Thankfully, she would be proven wrong with L.A. Law!
In 1986, Susan Dey was given the television role that she is second-best known for, with that bing
the role of Grace Van Owen on L.A. Law. Appearing on the show until 1992, the character started out
as a district attorney before working her way up to being a judge. Susan’s work on the series
was beloved by the audience, but she was also critically recognized for her work on the show. In
1988, she won the Golden Globe for Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She was nominated for several
other Golden Globes, as well as some Emmy Awards, during the time that the show was on.
After L.A. Law’s sixth season, Susan Dey threatened to quit the series because she
was dissatisfied with an on-and-off-again romance that her character was repeatedly
being pushed through. The show continued on for two more seasons,
with the writers being given the new guideline that they’d have to come up
with more interesting storylines. In real life, Susan has been married twice. From 1976 to 1981,
she was married to a talent manager by the name of Lenny Hirshan. During the five-year marriage,
the pair had a child, with her name being Sara Dey-Hirshan. In 1988, Susan married for a second
time. This time, the marriage stuck. This second husband is named Bernard Sofronski.
What Has Susan Dey Been Doing Since? After L.A. Law came to an end in 1992,
Susan Dey continued working in the entertainment industry for a little over a decade. The same
year the series ended, Susan showed up to perform hosting duties on Saturday Night
Live. Another thing that happened that year was that Susan was given another television
series. This time, the series was a comedic sitcom by the name of Love & War. Sadly, Susan was deemed
to not have enough chemistry with the male lead. Subsequently, Anne Potts replaced her in the role.
In 1993, Susan Dey received acclaim thanks to her role as a pregnant woman addicted to
cocaine in a made-for-television feature by the name of Lies and Lullabies. More
made-for-television features followed over the course of the rest of the decade. In 2002,
she appeared in a made-for-television reunion feature that was based on L.A
Law. Just two years after that, Susa would officially retire from acting. Her last role
on the big screen was in a 2003 feature by the name of Rain. Her last appearance
on television was in an episode of the series Third Watch, which aired the following year.
Though Susan Dey is no longer acting, she’s still alive and well with her longtime second husband!
Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that Susan Dey had
an unrequited crush on Partridge Family costar David Cassidy and that Partridge
Family matriarch Shirley Jones advised her against pursuing it? Comment down below!