Susan Cummings obit

Actress Susan Cummings has died 

She was not on the list.

Susan Cummings was born on July 10, 1930 in Bavaria, Germany. She was an actress, known for Swamp Women (1956), Soldiers of Fortune (1955) and Utah Blaine (1957). She was previously married to Robert Edward Strasser, Charles Pawley and Keith Larsen. She died on December 3, 2016 in Chandler, Arizona, USA.

Cummings (billed as Suzanne Tafel) was a teenager when she was a regular on the American television variety series At Home, which aired on pioneering New York City television station WCBW (now WCBS-TV) from 1944 to 1945, in the earliest years of commercial television. She first appeared in Broadway theatre in 1945, portraying Susan Peters in Carousel

During the 1958–59 season, Cummings portrayed Georgia, proprietress of the Golden Nugget Saloon, in the syndicated Western television series Union Pacific.

She made two guest appearances on Perry Mason — one as Lois Fenton in the title role in the 1957 episode, "The Case of the Fan Dancer's Horse", and as Margaret Swaine in the 1959 episode, "The Case of the Lame Canary".

In 1960, she appeared as Stella Carney, a love interest of Marshall Dillon's, in the TV Western series Gunsmoke in "The Peace Officer". She later appeared as Patty in the iconic 1962 episode of The Twilight Zone, "To Serve Man". Her final line in that episode was the climactic "It's a cookbook!"

In February of 1964, she appeared in the TV series, McHale's Navy, in the episode, "The Big Impersonation", as the character, Renee.

In the late 1940s, Cummings was married to rodeo performer Wayne Dunafon. She married actor Keith Larsen on December 28, 1953, in Ensenada, Mexico. She was also married to actor Charles T. Pawley and accountant Robert E. Strasser.

According to Cummings, she was a registered Republican, and that growing up, she was raised Lutheran, but converted to Mormonism upon her marriage to Larsen

Filmography

 

Film

Year     Title            Role            Notes

1946    Merrily We Sing            Suzanne          Short

1951    An American in Paris     Patron at Flodair Café            Uncredited

1954            Security Risk   Joan Cochran          

1955            Headline Hunters            Elsa - Receptionist            Uncredited

1956    Swamp Women            Marie  

1956    Secret of Treasure Mountain            Tawana           

1957    Utah Blaine   Angie Kinyon

1957            Tomahawk Trail            Ellen Carter 

1958    Man from God's Country            Mary Jo Ellis 

1959            Verboten!       Helga Schiller / Brent 

1966    The Street Is My Beat     Cora   

1974    A Time For Love            Woman            (final film role)

2003    Images of Indians: How Hollywood Stereotyped the Native American            Herself / Ellen Carter            TV movie documentary

 

Television

Year     Title            Role            Notes

1944-45            At Home   herself            early variety show

1955-57            Soldiers of Fortune            Simone LeBeau / Pilar            2 episodes

1955-60            The Millionaire            Virginia 'Ginny' Hendricks / Claire   2 episodes

1956    Science Fiction Theater            Ellen Barton / Peggy Kendler            2 episodes

1957    The Frank Sinatra Show   Miss Douglas            1 episode

1957-59            Perry Mason            Margaret Swaine / Lois Fenton            2 episodes

1958-59            Union Pacific  Georgia            33 episodes

1958-60            Bat Masterson            Rona Glyn / Lili Napoleon / Valorie Mitchell            3 episodes

1959    Man with a Camera            Monique Thaxter            Episode: "The Positive Negative"

1959    The Dennis O'Keefe Show            Babette Benoit            Episode: "The Marriage of Babette Benoit"

1960    The Untouchables            Hazel Stanley            Episode: "Little Egypt"

1960            Gunsmoke      Stella Carney            Episode: "The Peace Offer"

1960    Peter Gunn    Paula Garrett            Episode: "The Long Green Kill"

1961            Laramie          Holly Matthews            Episode: "Rimrock"

1961            Cheyenne         Helen Ransom            Episode: "Winchester Quarantine"

1961            Riverboat         Tekla Kronen            Episode: "End of a Dream"

1962    The Twilight Zone            Patty            Episode: "To Serve Man"

1964            McHale's Navy            Renee            Episode: "The Big Impersonation"