R.I.P. Brett Somers

Post Reply New Topic

Looks like Charles Nelson Reilly and Gene Rayburn now have their friend with them up in Heaven.

'Match Game' Panelist Brett Somers Dies
Sept. 17, 2007, 1:49 PM EST
The Associated Press

WESTPORT, Conn. -- Actress and comedian Brett Somers, who amused game show fans with her quips on the "Match Game" in the 1970s, has died, her son said. She was 83.

Somers died Saturday at her home in Westport of stomach and colon cancer, Adam Klugman said Monday.

Hosted by Gene Rayburn, "Match Game" was the top game show during much of the 1970s. Contestants would try to match answers to nonsense questions with a panel of celebrities; much of the humor came from the racy quips and putdowns.

Shows from the 1973-79 run, featuring regulars like Somers, Richard Dawson and Charles Nelson Reilly, are still seen on cable TV's GSN (formerly Game Show Network.)

Somers married actor Jack Klugman, the future star of the television shows "Quincy" and "The Odd Couple," in 1953. The two separated in 1974, but never divorced.

They made many television appearances as a couple. Somers appeared on several episodes of "The Odd Couple," playing the ex-wife of Klugman's character.

In the summer of 2003, she appeared in a one-woman cabaret show, "An Evening with Brett Somers," which she wrote and co-produced. She continued to perform after being diagnosed with cancer.

She was born Audrey Johnston in New Brunswick, Canada, and grew up in Portland, Maine. She ran away from home at age 17 and headed for New York City, where she settled in Greenwich Village. She changed her first name to Brett after the lead female character in the Ernest Hemingway novel "The Sun Also Rises." Somers was her mother's maiden name.

Her son said she was caustic, irreverent and a self-declared bohemian.

"She maintained her independence till the end, and her irreverence," Adam Klugman said.
"She died very much at peace."

In addition to Adam Klugman, Somers is survived by another son, David, and a daughter, Leslie.

That was one of my favorite game shows. That generation of performers are almost all gone now. Their likes won't be seen again.
I had such a crush on Bobby Vans wife Elaine Joyce.
Don't get me started on the Fannie Flagg stories. Read Rita Mae Browns autobio for some deuses.

I love Match Game and Brett was one of my favorites.

I remember Match Game from when I was growing up. Classic game show with some great talent, alot of which like has been said, is gone now. Today's entertainers just aren't up to snuff with the performers of the past.

Jeez, first they take Charles Nelson Reilly away from us, and now they take Brett? Richard Dawson had better watch his back...

Seriously, I'll miss her as well. She was such a sport, and a great opposite to Charles.

I still watch the old Match Game programs. So many of the old favorites are gone now.