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 A fascinating aura of mystery seemed to surround the characters portrayed by blue-eyed blonde actress Susan Oliver, whose trademark high cheekbones, rosebud lips and heart-shaped face kept audiences intrigued for nearly three decades. She left a fine legacy of work in theater, motion pictures and television.Born Charlotte Gercke on February 13, 1932 in New York City, she was the daughter of well-to-do George Gercke, a political reporter and journalist for the New York World, and his astrology practitioner wife, Ruth Oliver (aka Ruth Hale Oliver), both of whom divorced while Susan was still quite young (age 3). As a privileged adolescent, she went to various public and boarding schools. As a teenager, she lived with her father and traveled with him overseas to Japan, where he maintained a news post. While there (1948-49), she studied at the Tokyo International College and developed an interest in Japan's deep obsession with the American popular culture. Much later in her career (1977), in fact, Susan would write and direct Cowboysan (1978), a short film which told of Japanese actors performing in an American western.In the spring of 1949, Susan briefly rejoined her mother, who was now remarried, residing in Los Angeles, and gaining a solid reputation as Hollywood's astrologer to the stars. However, by that fall, Susan was back East, studying drama at Pennsylvania's Swarthmore College (for four years). She then continued her training at New York City's Neighborhood Playhouse, while finding stage work in both summer stock and regional theaters. Commercials and daytime/prime-time television work started coming Susan's way and, by that time, she had already changed her stage moniker to the more flowing name of Susan Oliver.The year 1957 began with a debut ing��nue role as a Revolutionary War-era daughter in the Broadway comedy "Small War on Murray Hill", which opened and closed at the Ethel Barrymore Theater after only nine days. A far more potent and substantial role fell her way in October of that same year, when she replaced British actress Mary Ure as Allison Porter in the superior kitchen sink drama "Look Back in Anger". Susan continued to find extensive dramatic work in live East coast television plays, with roles on The Kaiser Aluminum Hour (1956), The United States Steel Hour (1953), Studio 57 (1954) and Matinee Theatre (1955). At this juncture, she decided to migrate back to Los Angeles for more on-camera opportunities and attained guest roles on such popular prime-time series as Wagon Train (1957), Father Knows Best (1954), The Millionaire (1955) and The Lineup (1954).Susan made her cinematic debut as the tough yet doomed title role in Warner Bros.' low-budget melodrama The Green-Eyed Blonde (1957). The film was shot in black and white, so it didn't matter that Susan's eyes were blue. Topbilled, she played the rebellious delinquent leader at a girls' reformatory and lent class to the rather exploitative material, which was written by blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo. Two years later, Susan returned to the big screen as another tough cookie in the better-received biopic The Gene Krupa Story (1959), as a jazz singer who lures the renowned drummer (played by Sal Mineo) down the road to drugs and near ruin. A brief return to the Broadway stage, with the comedy "Patate" starring Tom Ewell and Lee Bowman, would last only four days but Susan earned great notices and won New York's Theatre World Award World for her outstanding breakout performance.On early 1960s television, Susan continued to offer a number of striking and often showy, neurotic performances on episodes of Bonanza (1959), Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958), 77 Sunset Strip (1958), Wagon Train (1957), The Virginian (1962), Adventures in Paradise (1959), Route 66 (1960), Dr. Kildare (1961) and The Fugitive (1963). Filmwise, she found a few lead and support roles in the Elizabeth Taylor-starred BUtterfield 8 (1960); as a psychiatric nurse in the all-star hospital melodrama The Caretakers (1963); in the tailored-for-the-teens romp, Looking for Love (1964), as a friend to Connie Francis; and in the hilarious Jerry Lewis slapstick vehicle The Disorderly Orderly (1964), in which she added rather heavy drama as a depressed hospital patient. During this time, her most challenging role was as the ambitious wife of doomed country music legend Hank Williams (George Hamilton, in offbeat casting) in Your Cheatin' Heart (1964).Susan's name remained active particularly on television, where she graced such series as The Andy Griffith Show (1960), The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963), Burke's Law (1963), Dr. Kildare (1961), Ben Casey (1961), Gomer Pyle: USMC (1964), My Three Sons (1960), The Invaders (1967) and Mannix (1967). Classic television showcases includes the episode, People Are Alike All Over (1960), in which she plays the beautiful martian Teenya, who encounters astronaut Roddy McDowall, and the unsold pilot episode The Cage (1966), as Vina, the sole survivor of a crashed spaceship who charms Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter, the captain subsequently replaced by William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk, when the show became a series). Footage from that pilot was later incorporated into the two-part episode "The Menagerie". In 1966, Susan made bittersweet news, when her regular role as Ann Howard in the prime-time soap opera Peyton Place (1964), was pushed off a cliff to her death. Written out after only five months of a year-long planned role, audiences (as well as Susan) were saddened by the loss of a character they had grown to care about. Subsequently, Susan starred in her own pilot for a new series, "Apartment in Rome", but that didn't sell.Unfortunately, Susan's late 1960s work in a variety of film genres and opposite a number of formidable leading men were ultimately too few and did not help to advance her career. These included the LSD-induced drama The Love-Ins (1967) with Richard Todd and James MacArthur; the western A Man Called Gannon (1968) starring Anthony Franciosa; and the sci-fiers Change of Mind (1969) with Raymond St. Jacques and The Monitors (1969) with Guy Stockwell. The 1970s also hardly fared better with standard roles in Ginger in the Morning (1974) (donning a black wig), the Spanish-made drama Nido de viudas (1977), and Hardly Working (1980), in which she reunited with Jerry Lewis in what was supposed to be his comeback attempt. That film was ultimately shelved, before earning scant release a couple of years later.Susan appeared as a regular for one season (1975-76) on Days of Our Lives (1965) and received a "Supporting Actress" Emmy nomination for the made-for-TV movie Amelia Earhart (1976), playing aviatrix Neta "Snookie" Snook, friend and mentor to the title character, played by Emmy-nominated Susan Clark. The role of "Snookie" was tailor-made for Susan, who, by this time, had merited attention as a licensed commercial pilot.Susan's passion for flying had been compromised a decade earlier after a dramatic 1966 commercial plane scare. The near-death experience kept the actress on solid ground for well over a year, before she managed to overcome her paralyzing fear. In 1970, fully recovered, she co-piloted a single-engine Piper Comanche to victory in the Powder Puff Derby racing event, a victory that earned her the name, "Pilot of the Year". [Amelia Mary Earhart was the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean]. However, in her attempt to fly to Moscow, the Soviet government denied her entrance to their air space and she was forced to end her journey in Denmark. Susan would later write about her flying exploits in her autobiography "Odyssey: A Daring Transatlantic Journey" (1983).Susan's last years were focused on the small screen, with roles in the made-for-TV movies Tomorrow's Child (1982) and International Airport (1985), and standard guest-starring on The Love Boat (1977), Murder, She Wrote (1984), Simon & Simon (1981) and Freddy's Nightmares (1988). She also moved behind the camera a few times, directing episodes of M*A*S*H (1972) and Trapper John, M.D. (1979). A longtime smoker, the never-married Susan was diagnosed with lung cancer and died with quiet dignity at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California at age 58 -- an untimely death for such a beautiful lady and strong talent.
Bio:
A fascinating aura of mystery seemed to surround the characters portrayed by blue-eyed blonde actress Susan Oliver, whose trademark high cheekbones, rosebud lips and heart-shaped face kept audiences intrigued for nearly three decades. She left a fine legacy of work in theater, motion pictures and television.Born Charlotte Gercke on February 13, 1932 in New York City, she was the daughter of well-to-do George Gercke, a political reporter and journalist for the New York World, and his astrology practitioner wife, Ruth Oliver (aka Ruth Hale Oliver), both of whom divorced while Susan was still quite young (age 3). As a privileged adolescent, she went to various public and boarding schools. As a teenager, she lived with her father and traveled with him overseas to Japan, where he maintained a news post. While there (1948-49), she studied at the Tokyo International College and developed an interest in Japan's deep obsession with the American popular culture. Much later in her career (1977), in fact, Susan would write and direct Cowboysan (1978), a short film which told of Japanese actors performing in an American western.In the spring of 1949, Susan briefly rejoined her mother, who was now remarried, residing in Los Angeles, and gaining a solid reputation as Hollywood's astrologer to the stars. However, by that fall, Susan was back East, studying drama at Pennsylvania's Swarthmore College (for four years). She then continued her training at New York City's Neighborhood Playhouse, while finding stage work in both summer stock and regional theaters. Commercials and daytime/prime-time television work started coming Susan's way and, by that time, she had already changed her stage moniker to the more flowing name of Susan Oliver.The year 1957 began with a debut ing��nue role as a Revolutionary War-era daughter in the Broadway comedy "Small War on Murray Hill", which opened and closed at the Ethel Barrymore Theater after only nine days. A far more potent and substantial role fell her way in October of that same year, when she replaced British actress Mary Ure as Allison Porter in the superior kitchen sink drama "Look Back in Anger". Susan continued to find extensive dramatic work in live East coast television plays, with roles on The Kaiser Aluminum Hour (1956), The United States Steel Hour (1953), Studio 57 (1954) and Matinee Theatre (1955). At this juncture, she decided to migrate back to Los Angeles for more on-camera opportunities and attained guest roles on such popular prime-time series as Wagon Train (1957), Father Knows Best (1954), The Millionaire (1955) and The Lineup (1954).Susan made her cinematic debut as the tough yet doomed title role in Warner Bros.' low-budget melodrama The Green-Eyed Blonde (1957). The film was shot in black and white, so it didn't matter that Susan's eyes were blue. Topbilled, she played the rebellious delinquent leader at a girls' reformatory and lent class to the rather exploitative material, which was written by blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo. Two years later, Susan returned to the big screen as another tough cookie in the better-received biopic The Gene Krupa Story (1959), as a jazz singer who lures the renowned drummer (played by Sal Mineo) down the road to drugs and near ruin. A brief return to the Broadway stage, with the comedy "Patate" starring Tom Ewell and Lee Bowman, would last only four days but Susan earned great notices and won New York's Theatre World Award World for her outstanding breakout performance.On early 1960s television, Susan continued to offer a number of striking and often showy, neurotic performances on episodes of Bonanza (1959), Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958), 77 Sunset Strip (1958), Wagon Train (1957), The Virginian (1962), Adventures in Paradise (1959), Route 66 (1960), Dr. Kildare (1961) and The Fugitive (1963). Filmwise, she found a few lead and support roles in the Elizabeth Taylor-starred BUtterfield 8 (1960); as a psychiatric nurse in the all-star hospital melodrama The Caretakers (1963); in the tailored-for-the-teens romp, Looking for Love (1964), as a friend to Connie Francis; and in the hilarious Jerry Lewis slapstick vehicle The Disorderly Orderly (1964), in which she added rather heavy drama as a depressed hospital patient. During this time, her most challenging role was as the ambitious wife of doomed country music legend Hank Williams (George Hamilton, in offbeat casting) in Your Cheatin' Heart (1964).Susan's name remained active particularly on television, where she graced such series as The Andy Griffith Show (1960), The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963), Burke's Law (1963), Dr. Kildare (1961), Ben Casey (1961), Gomer Pyle: USMC (1964), My Three Sons (1960), The Invaders (1967) and Mannix (1967). Classic television showcases includes the episode, People Are Alike All Over (1960), in which she plays the beautiful martian Teenya, who encounters astronaut Roddy McDowall, and the unsold pilot episode The Cage (1966), as Vina, the sole survivor of a crashed spaceship who charms Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter, the captain subsequently replaced by William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk, when the show became a series). Footage from that pilot was later incorporated into the two-part episode "The Menagerie". In 1966, Susan made bittersweet news, when her regular role as Ann Howard in the prime-time soap opera Peyton Place (1964), was pushed off a cliff to her death. Written out after only five months of a year-long planned role, audiences (as well as Susan) were saddened by the loss of a character they had grown to care about. Subsequently, Susan starred in her own pilot for a new series, "Apartment in Rome", but that didn't sell.Unfortunately, Susan's late 1960s work in a variety of film genres and opposite a number of formidable leading men were ultimately too few and did not help to advance her career. These included the LSD-induced drama The Love-Ins (1967) with Richard Todd and James MacArthur; the western A Man Called Gannon (1968) starring Anthony Franciosa; and the sci-fiers Change of Mind (1969) with Raymond St. Jacques and The Monitors (1969) with Guy Stockwell. The 1970s also hardly fared better with standard roles in Ginger in the Morning (1974) (donning a black wig), the Spanish-made drama Nido de viudas (1977), and Hardly Working (1980), in which she reunited with Jerry Lewis in what was supposed to be his comeback attempt. That film was ultimately shelved, before earning scant release a couple of years later.Susan appeared as a regular for one season (1975-76) on Days of Our Lives (1965) and received a "Supporting Actress" Emmy nomination for the made-for-TV movie Amelia Earhart (1976), playing aviatrix Neta "Snookie" Snook, friend and mentor to the title character, played by Emmy-nominated Susan Clark. The role of "Snookie" was tailor-made for Susan, who, by this time, had merited attention as a licensed commercial pilot.Susan's passion for flying had been compromised a decade earlier after a dramatic 1966 commercial plane scare. The near-death experience kept the actress on solid ground for well over a year, before she managed to overcome her paralyzing fear. In 1970, fully recovered, she co-piloted a single-engine Piper Comanche to victory in the Powder Puff Derby racing event, a victory that earned her the name, "Pilot of the Year". [Amelia Mary Earhart was the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean]. However, in her attempt to fly to Moscow, the Soviet government denied her entrance to their air space and she was forced to end her journey in Denmark. Susan would later write about her flying exploits in her autobiography "Odyssey: A Daring Transatlantic Journey" (1983).Susan's last years were focused on the small screen, with roles in the made-for-TV movies Tomorrow's Child (1982) and International Airport (1985), and standard guest-starring on The Love Boat (1977), Murder, She Wrote (1984), Simon & Simon (1981) and Freddy's Nightmares (1988). She also moved behind the camera a few times, directing episodes of M*A*S*H (1972) and Trapper John, M.D. (1979). A longtime smoker, the never-married Susan was diagnosed with lung cancer and died with quiet dignity at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California at age 58 -- an untimely death for such a beautiful lady and strong talent.
Tivia:
Attempted to become the first woman to fly a single-engine plane solo from New York to Moscow, but was deterred in Denmark when the Soviet government denied her permission to enter their air space.Experienced an event that belied her later aviation accomplishments. She was a passenger aboard the Clipper Washington, a Boeing 707 on a transatlantic flight from Paris to New York City when it dropped from 35,000 feet to 6000 feet. It happened on 2/3/59, the same day Buddy Holly died in an airplane crash. These events gave her a paralyzing fear of flying and it took extensive hypnosis to overcome it. In July 1964 she was reintroduced to personal flying during an evening flight over Los Angeles in a Cessna 172. The experience motivated her to return the next day to the Santa Monica Airport to begin training for a Private Pilot certificate the next year.Was named Pilot of the Year in 1970.In celebration of Star Trek: The Original Series (1966)'s 30th anniversary, an action figure was released of Susan as her character, Vina, on The Cage (1966).Her memoir "Odyssey" detailed her journeys as a pilot. She once survived the crash of her own Piper Cub plane in 1966.Was a licensed pilot.A scene of her with green skin and dark hair is often seen in the ending credits of Star Trek: The Original Series (1966), and she became an iconic image within the Star Trek universe as the original Orion slave girl.A week after her popular character Ann Howard on Peyton Place (1964) was killed off on the series in 1966, Susan survived the crash of a Piper Cub near Santa Paula, CA, that a friend was piloting.Was a Buddhist and an expert on baseball.Gorgeous blonde of 1960s movies with equally gorgeous cheekbones who tended to play neurotic, troubled types. She attracted major television attention on Peyton Place (1964) when her character, Ann Howard, was killed off, and also has a minor cult following as Vina from the original series pilot The Cage (1966).Was one of the original 19 women admitted to the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women (AFI DWW).Her mother was renowned Hollywood astrologer Ruth Oliver. She passed away on October 3, 1988, two years before Susan. Her father, George Gercke, was a newspaperman.Won the Powder Puff Derby in 1970.Resided with Jim Hutton throughout 1963. They separated when she began focusing on her career as a pilot.Trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre.Twice played a character who shares a prison on another planet with someone who is from Earth, and both with similar names: Teenya on People Are Alike All Over (1960) and Vina on The Cage (1966).Two iconic TV shows of the '60s, Star Trek: The Original Series (1966) and The Fugitive (1963), had only one two-part episode during their entire run. Susan Oliver was the featured guest star both times. |
| Name: |
Susan Oliver |
Type: |
Actress,Director,Writer (IMDB) |
| Area: |
All World |
Platform: |
IMDB |
| Category: |
|
Business scope: |
Actress,Director,Writer |
| Products for sale: |
Actress,Director,Writer |
| Model rank: |
1590 |
| Last update: |
2024-07-01 04:19:09 |
| Height: |
5' 5' (1.65 m) |
| Biography: |
A fascinating aura of mystery seemed to surround the characters portrayed by blue-eyed blonde actress Susan Oliver, whose trademark high cheekbones, rosebud lips and heart-shaped face kept audiences intrigued for nearly three decades. She left a fine |
| Trivia: |
Attempted to become the first woman to fly a single-engine plane solo from New York to Moscow, but was deterred in Denmark when the Soviet government denied her permission to enter their air space.Experienced an event that belied her later aviation accomplishments. She was a passenger aboard the Clipper Washington, a Boeing 707 on a transatlantic flight from Paris to New York City when it dropped from 35,000 feet to 6000 feet. It happened on 2/3/59, the same day Buddy Holly died in an airplane crash. These events gave her a paralyzing fear of flying and it took extensive hypnosis to overcome it. In July 1964 she was reintroduced to personal flying during an evening flight over Los Angeles in a Cessna 172. The experience motivated her to return the next day to the Santa Monica Airport to begin training for a Private Pilot certificate the next year.Was named Pilot of the Year in 1970.In celebration of Star Trek: The Original Series (1966)'s 30th anniversary, an action figure was released of Susan as her character, Vina, on The Cage (1966).Her memoir "Odyssey" detailed her journeys as a pilot. She once survived the crash of her own Piper Cub plane in 1966.Was a licensed pilot.A scene of her with green skin and dark hair is often seen in the ending credits of Star Trek: The Original Series (1966), and she became an iconic image within the Star Trek universe as the original Orion slave girl.A week after her popular character Ann Howard on Peyton Place (1964) was killed off on the series in 1966, Susan survived the crash of a Piper Cub near Santa Paula, CA, that a friend was piloting.Was a Buddhist and an expert on baseball.Gorgeous blonde of 1960s movies with equally gorgeous cheekbones who tended to play neurotic, troubled types. She attracted major television attention on Peyton Place (1964) when her character, Ann Howard, was killed off, and also has a minor cult following as Vina from the original series pilot The Cage (1966).Was one of the original 19 women admitted to the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women (AFI DWW).Her mother was renowned Hollywood astrologer Ruth Oliver. She passed away on October 3, 1988, two years before Susan. Her father, George Gercke, was a newspaperman.Won the Powder Puff Derby in 1970.Resided with Jim Hutton throughout 1963. They separated when she began focusing on her career as a pilot.Trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre.Twice played a character who shares a prison on another planet with someone who is from Earth, and both with similar names: Teenya on People Are Alike All Over (1960) and Vina on The Cage (1966).Two iconic TV shows of the '60s, Star Trek: The Original Series (1966) and The Fugitive (1963), had only one two-part episode during their entire run. Susan Oliver was the featured guest star both times. |
| Trademarks: |
Platinum blonde hair
Sparkling blue eyes
High cheekbones |
| Quotes: |
[in 1988 interview] Any actor who is a professional picks up so much information from years of experience that they bring extra insights into directing. Not every actor will be a good director, you must have a good visual sense, a good story sense. I feel very deeply that I want to tell stories of value on film.
<br />
<hr>
I want to be the best actress I can. But most of all, I want to be myself. |
| Job title: |
Actress,Director,Writer |
| Others works: |
(1957) Stage: Appeared (as "Abigail Torpen"; Broadway debut) in "Small War on Murray Hill" on Broadway. Comedy. Written by Robert E. Sherwood. Scenic Design by Boris Aronson. Costume Design by Irene Sharaff. Directed by Garson Kanin. E |
| Parents: |
George Gercke
Ruth Oliver |
|
