Career
Dey was a model before starring as Laurie Partridge in the television series The Partridge Family from 1970–1974. She was 17 years old when she won the part and had no previous acting experience.
In a 1977 made-for-television movie, Mary Jane Harper Cried Last Night, Dey portrayed a disturbed young mother with serious psychological problems, who begins to take them out on her toddler daughter. Also in 1977, Dey starred opposite William Katt in a romance film, First Love, directed by Joan Darling. The movie is based upon the story, Sentimental Education, by Harold Brodkey.
Dey co-starred with Albert Finney in a 1981 science-fiction film, Looker, written and directed by Michael Crichton. She had a leading role in 1986's Echo Park as a struggling waitress/actress who takes a job as a stripper who delivers singing telegrams.
Dey starred on the television series L.A. Law as Grace Van Owen and earned a Golden Globe Award as "Actress in a Leading Role – Drama Series" for the role in 1987. Dey was nominated four more times the following four years. She was also nominated for the Emmy Award for "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series" for this role in 1987, 1988, and 1989.
She hosted a 1992 episode of Saturday Night Live. Later that year, she co-starred in the Diane English/CBS sitcom, Love & War, with Jay Thomas. Although the show ran until 1995, Dey was replaced in 1993 by Annie Potts. In 1993, she produced and starred in the ABC Movie of the Week Lies & Lullabies (later released on DVD as Sad Inheritance), where she played a pregnant cocaine addict.
Read more about this topic: Susan Dey
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“The 19-year-old Diana ... decided to make her career that of wife. Today that can be a very, very iffy line of work.... And what sometimes happens to the women who pursue it is the best argument imaginable for teaching girls that they should always be able to take care of themselves.”
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