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 and feature films, and on Broadway. Her Tafel birth surname was sometimes printed as Ta Fel.

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.''An Interview With Susan Cummings'', Skip E. Lowe, 1990 The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Tafel, she grew up in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.

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 WCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–licensed independent station WL ...

) from 1944 to 1945, in the earliest years of commercial television. She first appeared in

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

in 1945, portraying Susan Peters in ''

Carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (List of sovereign states, international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in South Australia, SA) is a type of amusement ...

''. During the 1958–59 season, Cummings portrayed Georgia, proprietress of the Golden Nugget Saloon, in the syndicated

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

''. She made two guest appearances on ''

Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a cli ...

'' — 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 ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central character ...

'' in "The Peace Officer". She later appeared as Patty in the iconic 1962 episode of ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...

'', "

To Serve Man "To Serve Man" is a science fiction short story by American writer Damon Knight. It first appeared in the November 1950 issue of ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' and has been reprinted a number of times, including in ''Frontiers in Space'' (1955), '' ...

". 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.

Personal life

In the late 1940s, Cummings was married to rodeo performer Wayne Dunafon. She married actor

Keith Larsen Keith Larsen (born Keith Larsen Burt, June 17, 1924 – December 13, 2006) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer who starred in three short-lived television series between 1955 and 1961. Background Larsen was born in Salt ...

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 Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, and that growing up, she was raised

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

, but converted to

Mormonism Mormonism is the religious tradition and theology of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to various aspects of t ...

upon her marriage to Larsen. Cummings died December 3, 2016. Dennis Weaver Chester Gunsmoke 1960

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cummings, Susan 1930 births 2016 deaths American film actresses American television actresses American stage actresses German emigrants to the United States German film actresses German television actresses German stage actresses American Latter Day Saints Converts to Mormonism Former Lutherans 20th-century American actresses 20th-century German actresses Arizona Republicans California Republicans 21st-century American women