Susan Dey, 72, Left Hollywood for a Life Outside the Spotlight: See What the ‘Partridge Family’ Star Is Doing Now
The actress went from '70s sweetheart to '80s power player, but she's kept a low profile in recent years
No TV show captured the hearts of early ’70s audiences quite like The Partridge Family. The sitcom, which centered on a family band, featured catchy songs (we bet you have the theme song in your head right now!), lovable antics and colorful style that perfectly embodied the era. During the show’s four-year run from 1970 to 1974, the young cast became teen idols. While countless girls had crushes on David Cassidy, who played Keith Partridge, Susan Dey, who played his sister, Laurie Partridge, was who we all wanted to be best friends with.
The Partridge Family may have made Dey a star, but the actress ultimately became much more than just a musical teen. Read on to learn about her rise to fame and what she’s been up to since her role in the classic ’70s show.
From teen model to ’70s TV star
Susan Dey was born in 1972 and started out as a young model. With her winsome expression, bright blue eyes and long, center-parted hair, she had a girl-next-door look that landed her in many teen magazines, and she was such a down-to-earth avatar for teen girlhood that she even appeared in tampon ads aimed at the demographic. It was this rare combination of beauty and approachability that won her the role as Laurie Partridge at just 17 years old (and with no prior acting experience!) in 1970.
While Laurie played keyboards and organ on the show and provided harmonies to the sunny songs, Dey wasn’t actually a musician and her musical contributions (as well as those from most of the other Partridge Family members) were the work of session players. What Dey lacked in musical talent, she made up for in charm and good humor.
Susan Dey’s teen star struggles
Growing up in public isn’t easy, and while Dey and her onscreen siblings projected positivity, she told The Washington Post that the strange dynamic of “feel[ing] like an adult but you are not an adult” was a challenge. The pressures of appearing onscreen sadly led to her developing an eating disorder during the show, and once The Partridge Family ended in 1974, she ran into the post-teen star issue of trying to avoid typecasting and underestimation of her abilities as a performer.
Long after the show went off the air, Dey severed ties with David Cassidy, her onscreen brother, when he crudely revealed that the two had a fling back in the day in his 1994 memoir. Not long before that, Dey’s struggles with alcoholism were exposed by tabloids without her consent. These events led her to be intensely protective of her personal life, and when addressing her alcoholism, she said, “I usually don’t talk about it because I feel it’s my business and nobody else’s.”
What Susan Dey did after ‘The Partridge Family’
Laurie Partridge inspired a generation of girls, so it was only fitting that Dey would play an iconic girl of an earlier era, and in 1978 she starred as Jo March in a Little Women TV miniseries. Eve Plumb, best-known as Jan from The Brady Bunch, played Beth March, making it a true showcase for fans of ’70s sitcom sisters.
Dey made her film debut in the 1972 disaster movie Skyjacked and continued to act in films after The Partridge Family went off the air, but never fully broke out as a movie star. Though she starred in movies like First Love (a 1977 coming-of-age tale), Looker (a sexy 1981 thriller written and directed by Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton) and Echo Park (a 1986 comedy in which she played an aspiring actress), none of them had as big a cultural footprint as The Partridge Family.
A legal drama comeback with ‘L.A. Law’
In the ’80s, Susan Dey returned to the small screen in a big way, starring as district attorney Grace Van Owen on the popular legal drama L.A. Law. The show ran from 1986 to 1994, and Dey appeared in 126 episodes (more than The Partridge Family, which had 96 episodes) and a 2002 reunion TV movie. Grace was glamorous and powerful, and Dey was nominated for multiple Emmy awards and won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series in 1989. Prior to that, she was in the short-lived prime time soap Emerald Point N.A.S from 1983 to 1984.
As Grace on L.A. Law, Dey got to flex her dramatic chops and have onscreen romances with hunky stars Harry Hamlin and Jimmy Smits. She relished the opportunity to challenge herself in the role, and only decided to leave the show in 1992 once she felt there were “no new surprises.”
What is Susan Dey doing now?
After L.A. Law, Dey continued to act in TV movies and starred in the first season of the sitcom Love & War from 1992 to 1993. In 2004, she acted in two episodes of the crime drama Third Watch. This would be her final onscreen appearance to date, as she’s since been happily retired from acting. Dey married producer Bernard Sofronski in 1988, and had a daughter from her first marriage to Lenny Hirshan in 1978.
Not much is known about what Dey’s been up to lately, and while reruns and ongoing ’70s nostalgia have solidified The Partridge Family‘s iconic status, Dey has no interest in being part of any reunions. Her onscreen mom, Shirley Jones, expressed disappointment that she was the only member of the fictional family who refused to reunite, but we appreciate Dey’s willingness to stick to her guns and embrace a private life—something that’s all too rare in Hollywood.
In a one of her few recent press appearances, Dey did a 2013 interview in which she spoke of helping to organize a battle of the bands in Andes, New York with the goal of promoting local musicians, and she expressed her pride with being involved in her community’s creative scene. The former actress has lived a quiet life in the small town since 2007.
Susan Dey has been famous for well over 50 years now, yet she’s managed to keep an admirably low profile, while her TV work has impressively defined not one but two decades. We hope she’s been doing well in the 20 years since she appeared onscreen, and in her 2013 interview, she spoke about leaving the entertainment industry, saying that with the immense changes in film and TV she’s unlikely to return unless she finds the perfect role. Dey may not be acting anytime soon, but she admitted , “I miss acting as much as I miss my mom, as much as I miss my little girl, as much as I miss my first home. I do miss acting, but I’m really happy with what’s going on in my life right now. It’s full. It’s so full.”
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