Susan Cummings (actress)
Susan Cummings (born Gerda Susanne Tafel; July 10, 1930 – December 3, 2016) was a German-American actress active from the 1940s to 1960s, who started as a teenager in the earliest days of commercial television and appeared in several television shows, feature films and on Broadway. Her Tafel birth surname was sometimes printed as Ta Fel.[1]
Susan Cummings | |
|---|---|
 Susan Cummings with Craig Stevens on Peter Gunn (1960) | |
| Born | Gerda Susanne Tafel July 10, 1930 |
| Died | December 3, 2016 (aged 86) Chandler, Arizona, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1946-1974 |
| Spouse(s) | Wayne Dunafon (m. 194?; div. 19??) Charles T. Pawley
(m. 1962; died 1975)Robert E. Strasser
(m. 1976) |
| Children | 1 |
Early years
Born Gerda Susanne Tafel in Bavaria, Germany, she immigrated to the United States at age 7 on March 12, 1938, shortly before the outbreak of World War II. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Ta Fel,[1] she grew up in Newark, New Jersey, where her father ran a bakery.
Career
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.[2] She first appeared in Broadway theatre in 1945, portraying Susan Peters in Carousel.[3]
During the 1958–59 season, Cummings portrayed Georgia, proprietress of the Golden Nugget Saloon, in the syndicated Western television series Union Pacific.[4]
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." She 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!"[5]
Personal life
In the late 1940s, Cummings was married to rodeo performer Wayne Dunafon.[2] She married actor Keith Larsen[6] on December 28, 1953, in Ensenada, Mexico. She was also married to Charles T. Pawley and Robert E. Strasser.[1][7]
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 | 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" |
References
- "Keith Larsen's Marriage to Actress Told". The Los Angeles Times. California, Los Angeles. February 1, 1954. p. Part II, P 8. Retrieved January 2, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Article Tells Of Early Television". The Manhattan, Kansas, Republic. Kansas, Manhattan. June 22, 1949. p. 3. Retrieved January 2, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Suzanne Tafel". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on January 1, 2019. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
- Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 1130. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7.
- Emily VanDerWerff (May 11, 2013). "The Twilight Zone: "The Last Rites Of Jeff Myrtlebank"/"To Serve Man"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
- Carroll, Harrison (January 9, 1954). "Glenn Ford Turns Down Millions". The News-Messenger. Ohio, Fremont. p. 4. Retrieved January 1, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Susan Cummings - The Private Life and Times of Susan Cummings. Susan Cummings Pictures". www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com.
