Susan Anton

Susan Ellen Anton (born October 12, 1950) is an American actress and singer.

Susan Anton
Anton in 2001
Born	October 12, 1950 Oak Glen, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Alma mater	San Bernardino Valley College
Occupation	Actress, singer
Years active	1969–present
Spouse(s)	Jack Stein ​ ​ (m. 1975; div. 1980)​ Jeff Lester ​ ​ (m. after 1992)​
Website	http://www.susananton.com

Susan Anton
Born	Susan Ellen Anton October 12, 1950 Yucaipa, California, U.S.
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Title	Miss California 1969
Beauty pageant titleholder
Hair color	Auburn
Eye color	Hazel
Major competition(s)	Miss America (2nd runner-up)

Life and career

Youth

Anton attended Yucaipa High School in Yucaipa, California, and graduated in 1968. After high school, Anton attended San Bernardino Valley College. She first experienced fame by winning the nearby Miss Redlands and later the Miss California beauty contests in 1969[1][2] and tied as second runner-up in the 1969 Miss America Scholarship Pageant held September 6 that year.[3]

Career

Starting in 1976, Anton developed a following for her Muriel Cigar commercials[4][5] where she sang, "Let Muriel turn you on / That is my desire / Muriel lights a flame in me / Where there's Muriel smoke, there's fire". Later in the 1970s, Anton appeared approximately 30 times on Merv Griffin's TV show.[6] She was frequently seen and heard in television, print and radio ads for the Perfect Sleeper mattress by Serta. In these ads, she announced her name and sang the company's jingle.

In 1978, ABC gave her and country singer Mel Tillis a summertime variety series, Mel and Susan Together, produced by the Osmond Brothers. The pairing of Anton and Tillis was an unlikely one: he was popular in country music circles but hardly a national household name while Susan was barely known at all. The show disappeared after four weeks;[7] nevertheless, she was later chosen as one of Time Magazine's "Most Promising Faces of 1979."

She later starred in her own variety show, Presenting Susan Anton, Stop Susan Williams (one of three serials in the Cliffhangers series), and in the films Goldengirl,[8] Spring Fever,[9] and Cannonball Run II. She also recorded music, her biggest hit being "Killin' Time" in 1980, a duet with country singer Fred Knoblock. The record made Top 10 on the country charts and hit #28 on Billboard's Hot 100. In 1990, Anton appeared on the TV comedy series Night Court in an episode called "The Talk Show" where she played talk show producer Margo Hunter.

Anton is on the cover of the mass trade paperback edition of Goldengirl, written by Peter Lovesey (using the pen name Peter Lear). She had appeared as the title character in the film version which starred James Coburn[10] and was directed by Joseph Sargent.

Anton was the host of the successful "Great Radio City Music Hall Spectacular" show at the Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas for over 5,000 performances until July 31, 2000. She also appeared in the Las Vegas company of the musical Hairspray and on Broadway in The Will Rogers Follies, Hurlyburly, and All Shook Up.[11][12]

She had a recurring role on the TV series Baywatch from 1992 to 1994[13] and has appeared as herself on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (2006), The Larry Sanders Show (1993) and It’s Garry Shandling's Show (1987), as well as in several films.

Anton appeared in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit which aired on March 31, 2010.[14]

She was scheduled to reprise her role as Velma Von Tussle in Hairspray at the Hollywood Bowl production slated to run from August 5 to August 7, 2011.[15]

Personal life

Anton was involved in a much publicized relationship with English film and TV star Dudley Moore in the early 1980s, with much being made of their height difference: Moore being 5 feet 2.5 inches (1.588 m) and Anton 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m). Anton married television actor Jeff Lester on August 15, 1992, her second marriage. She lives in Las Vegas.

Filmography

Susan Anton film work

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	Wizards	Princess Elinore / The Balladeer	singing voice (uncredited)
1979	Goldengirl	Goldine Serafin
1982	Spring Fever	Stevie Castle
1984	Cannonball Run II	Jill, Lamborghini Babe
1987	Making Mr. Right	Soap Opera Actress	(uncredited)
1989	Options	Princess Nicole (in telefilm epilogue)
1991	Lena's Holiday	Sara
1999	New Jersey Turnpikes
2004	Whistlin' Dixie	Dixie Dawson	(short)
2008	Playing with Fire	Sandra Nevell

Susan Anton television work

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1973	The Great American Beauty Contest	Betty Sue Allen – Last Year's Queen	TV Movie
1976	Serpico	Model	Episode: "Strike!" (1.5)
1976	Police Story	Party Girl #2	Episode: "Monster Manor" (4.8)
1977	Hunter	Cissy	Episode: "The Costa Rican Connection" (1.5)
1977	Switch	Marcy	Episode: "Go for Broke" (3.7)
1978	Hollywood Squares	Guest Appearance	3 episodes
1978	The Mike Douglas Show	Herself – Vocalist	(17.33)
1979	American Music Awards of 1979	Herself – Presenter
1979	The Mike Douglas Show	Herself – Vocalist	(17.90)
1979	Stop Susan Williams	Susan Williams	10 episodes
1979	Presenting Susan Anton	Herself – Host	4 episodes
1979	The Girls Who Saved the World	Susan Williams	TV Movie
1980	American Movie Awards	Herself – Performer	TV Special
1982	American Music Awards of 1982	Herself
1982	Golden Globe Award	Herself
1982	Academy Awards	Herself
1983	The Love Boat	Leslie Webb	Episode: "The Pledge/East Meets West/Dear Roberta/My Dumplings: Part 1" (7.1)
1983	The Love Boat	Leslie Webb	Episode: "The Pledge/East Meets West/Dear Roberta/My Dumplings: Part 2" (7.2)
1984	The Boy Who Loved Trolls	Kalotte	TV Movie
1984	Mike Hammer	Noelle Roberts	Episode: "The Deadly Prey" (2.8)
1985	Placido Domingo: Stepping Out with the Ladies	Herself	TV Special
1985	39th Tony Awards	Herself – Presenter & Performer	TV Special
1986	40th Tony Awards	Herself – Performer & Presenter: Best Book of a Musical	TV Special
1986	Super Password	Herself	5 episodes
1986	Hardesty House	Charlotte Montgomery	TV Movie
1986	Murder, She Wrote	Christine Clifford	Episode: "Corned Beef and Carnage" (3.5)
1987	Making Mr. Right	Soap Opera Actress	(uncredited)
1987	Mr. Belvedere	Herself	Episode: "Separation" (3.20)
1987	Hotel	Linda Davis	Episode: "All the King's Horses" (4.22)
1987	Jonathan Winters: On the Ledge		TV Movie
1987	It's Garry Shandling's Show	Herself	Episode: "No Baby, No Show" (2.2)
1988	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Diane Lewis	Episode: "Animal Lovers" (3.2)
1988	My Secret Identity	Susan Anderson	Episode: "Memories" (1.5)
1989	The Pat Sajak Show	Herself	(1.66)
1989	The Home Show	Herself – Co-Host
1989	Murder, She Wrote	Celia James	Episode: "Jack and Bill" (6.5)
1989	The Famous Teddy Z	Esther Luna	Episode: "Baking with Esther Luna" (1.7)
1990	Night Court	Margo Hunter	Episode: "The Talk Show" (7.17)
1990	Quantum Leap	Helen Le Baron	Episode: "One Strobe Over the Line – June 15, 1965" (3.4)
1990	Out of This World	Sandy Martin	Episode: "Best Friends" (4.6)
1991	Blossom	Suzy	Episode: "Expectations" (2.10)
1992	Dangerous Curves	Ellen Tarbuck	Episode: "Deadlier Than the Male" (1.8)
1992	The Ben Stiller Show	Susan Anton	Episode: "With Dennis Miller" (1.10)
1993	Civil Wars	Cassie Strait	Episode: "Dances with Sharks" (2.13)
1993	The Larry Sanders Show	Susan Anton	Episode: "The Breakdown: Part 2" (2.2)
1992–1994	Baywatch	Jackie Quinn	13 episodes
1997	City Guys	Mrs. Anderson	Episode: "For the Love of Mother" (1.2)
1997	City Guys	Mrs. Anderson	Episode: "Red Ferrari" (1.7)
2002	Hollywood Squares	Guest Appearance
2002	TVography: Suzanne Somers – Mastering Success	Herself	TV Movie Documentary
2006	CMT: Greatest Miss America Moments	Herself	TV Special
2006	Queer Eye for the Straight Guy	Herself	Episode: "Turn a Poker Dud Into a Five Card Stud: Ed M" (4.3)
2009	Sex in '69: The Sexual Revolution in America	Herself	TV Special
2010	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Jenny Coswold	Episode: "Bedtime" (11.18)
2016	Sharknado: The 4th Awakens	Betty	Television film

Discography

Susan Anton albums

Year	Album	Label
2001	One Night	Varese Sarabande

Susan Anton singles

Year	Single
1980	"Killin' Time" (with Fred Knoblock)

References

1. "Community shares happiness as Susan Anton wins crown". Redlands Daily Facts. June 23, 1969. p. 3.
2. "Miss California History". Miss California. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
3. "Michigan Girl Chosen Miss America". The New York Times. 1969-09-07.
4. Reilly, Sue (April 14, 1980). "It's More Than a Vegas Act When Susan Anton Sings Lost-Love Blues Over Sly Stallone". People. Retrieved 9 January 2019. Then in 1976 she got her shot, replacing Edie Adams as the Muriel cigar girl.
5. Kleinschmidt, Janice (November 30, 2009). "Forever Young: Susan Anton comes home for Christmas to perform with The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies". Arts & Entertainment. Palm Springs Life. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
6. "Susan Anton Hopes To Hit Record Charts". St. Petersburg Times. 1980-12-26. p. 20D.
7. Associated Press (1980-12-26). "Susan Anton Hopes To Hit Record Charts". St. Petersburg Times. p. 20D.
8. Canby, Vincent (June 15, 1979). "Goldengirl (1979) Screen: A Witty 'Goldengirl':Nurtured to Win". The New York Times.
9. Maslin, Janet (January 15, 1983). "The Last American Virgin (1982) FROLICS IN FLORIDA AND OTHER ANTICS". The New York Times.
10. Associated Press (1981-01-06). "Anton Now Tries Recording Career". The Sumpter Daily Item. p. 8.
11. Associated Press (1993-11-19). "Get Your Kicks". Sarasota Herald Tribune.
12. New York Times News Service (1985-03-04). "Anton strives for solid image". Winnipeg Free Press. p. 26.
13. "Susan Anton". Internet Movie Database.
14. "Exclusive: Ann-Margret to Guest on SVU". TVGuide.com.
15. Susan Anton Joins Hairspray at the Hollywood Bowl Archived 2012-10-21 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Official website
• Susan Anton at IMDb
• Susan Anton at AllMovie