Suzanne Pleshette Dead

Actress Suzanne Pleshette, best known for her role as a sardonic wife in the long-running hit TV series “The Bob Newhart Show,” died today at her home in Los Angeles, AP reports. She was 70, and had been treated for lung cancer. The arresting, intelligent actress  with the husky voice enjoyed a storied film career, from her beginnings in teen flicks like Fate is the Hunter to mature roles in films including Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.

But it was her role as Bob Newhart’s wife, and the creative reprisal of that role at the end of the follow-up “Newhart” series that made her an American fixture. Pleshette remained down to earth throughout, noting in a 1999 interview that the enduring rewards of acting trumped the fleeting status of stardom: "I'm an actress, and that's why I'm still here," she said. (More Suzanne Pleshette stories.)