Why won Susan Dey be at the Partridge family reunion to give life updates?”
I loved The Partridge Family. Yes, it was highly improbable that a widowed mom and her five children could make a living singing in local venues, while traveling in a hippie’s dream of a psychedelic bus, but I was a pre-teen, so anything is possible at that age. I even wrote a Mother’s Day tribute last year to my favorite TV mom, Shirley Partridge, played by the fabulous actress Shirley Jones: Happy Mother’s Day: Shout-Out to My Favorite TV Mom, Shirley Partridge… ‘Thank You’ to All the Moms of Our Brave Troops. I adored Susan Dey, who played sensitive daughter Laurie… especially her hair. Gorgeous face and figure, but sigh… her hair was the envy of every girl I knew. She beat the odds of so many other has-been child/teen actors, and went to bigger things on LA Law as Judge Grace Van Owen — not becoming yet another pitiful, problems-plagued, out-of-work adult actor. So, when Dey didn’t appear today on The Today Show’s “Great TV Families reunited” series, I was curious. From Daily Posta
“The Partridge Family” star David Cassidy has issued a public plea for his former TV sister Susan Dey to get in touch, following years of estrangement from the actress. The pair starred together in the beloved 1970s sitcom, where Dey played eldest daughter Laurie Partridge – but she was noticeably absent when the cast reunited on the “Today” show on Tuesday morning. When asked about Dey’s absence, former child star Danny Bonaduce joked, “The only way you can reach Susan Dey is by teleprompter.” But Cassidy took a more heartfelt approach and turned to the camera to reach out to his former close pal and co-star. He added, “I don’t know (where she is). I loved Susan. I haven’t seen her in years. She became a very close friend of mine. I felt like she was a sister – she was two years younger than I.
The “Partridge Family” cast was one member short when they reunited on television Tuesday morning. The cast of the popular ’70s sitcom appeared on the “Today Show” as part of their “Great TV Families Reunited” series, but actress Susan Dey, who played eldest daughter Laurie Partridge, was not in attendance. She has kept her life after being a child hood star very private and she would like it to remain that way. Danny Bonaduce, who in the years after his child stardom faced drug addiction and legal troubles, was present for the reunion. The show, which centered around a widow and her five children who embark on a music career, aired from 1970-1974.
