Susan Blakely (born September 7, 1948)^[1] is an American actress. She is best known for her leading role in the 1976ABC miniseriesRich Man, Poor Man, for which she received aGolden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama and anEmmy nomination for Best Actress. Blakely also has appeared in films includingThe Towering Inferno (1974),Report to the Commissioner (1975),Capone (1975),The Concorde ... Airport '79 (1979) andOver the Top (1987).(1988) Jake and the Fatman.

Susan Blakely
Born	(1948-09-07)September 7, 1948 (age 76) Frankfurt,Germany
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1972–present
Spouses	Todd Merer ​ ​ (m. 1969;div. 1981)​ Steve Jaffe ​ (m. 1982)​

Susan Blakely was born on September 7, 1948, inFrankfurt, Germany, the daughter of anArmy colonel.^[2] After she attendedUniversity of Texas at El Paso, she moved to New York and studied acting with Warren Robertson,Lee Strasberg andSanford Meisner^[3] at theNeighborhood Playhouse^[4] and later studied withCharles Conrad and Warner Loughlin in Los Angeles. She began a professional modeling career in 1967 at the prestigiousFord Modeling Agency appearing in hundreds of commercials.^[5]

Blakely arrived in Hollywood in the early 1970s, and began appearing in supporting roles in films includingSavages,The Way We Were, andThe Lords of Flatbush. Her first major role was as Patty Simmons in the 1974 disaster filmThe Towering Inferno. The following year, she played the female lead roles in filmsReport to the Commissioner alongsideMichael Moriarty, andCapone oppositeBen Gazzara.

Blakely gained wide critical acclaim with her leading role in the 1976ABC television miniseriesRich Man, Poor Man, based on the1969 novel of the same name byIrwin Shaw. For her performance, Blakely won that year'sGolden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama and earned a nomination for thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie.^[6] She earned a second Emmy Award nomination the following year when she reprised her role inRich Man, Poor Man Book II.^[6] After her television success, she played leading roles in two movies in 1979: the disaster filmThe Concorde ... Airport '79 oppositeAlain Delon, and the sport dramaDreamer withTim Matheson.

During 1980s and 1990s, Blakely played leading roles in many made-for-television movies. She portrayedFrances Farmer in the 1982 film based on Farmer's autobiography,Will There Really Be a Morning?, for which she was nominated for aGolden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film. She playedEva Braun oppositeAnthony Hopkins in theAdolf Hitler biographical filmThe Bunker (1981), andJoan Kennedy inThe Ted Kennedy Jr. Story (1986). She appeared in such feature films asOver the Top (1987),My Mom's a Werewolf (1989), andHate Crime (2005). She recently guest-starred onThis Is Us andNCIS and in past years onHotel,The Twilight Zone,Stingray,Falcon Crest,Murder, She Wrote,Nip/Tuck,Brothers & Sisters,Southland,Two and a Half Men,In the Heat of the Night (1988 TV series), andCougar Town.^[7]

In 1969, Blakely married a lawyer, Todd Merer. They divorced in 1981. Then in 1982, Blakely married media expert, public relations consultant and filmmaker Steve Jaffe. They reside inBeverly Hills, California.^[8]

• Susan Blakely atIMDb