Suzanne Charny is an American actress, dancer, and sculptor.

Early years

Charny was raised in Brooklyn and attended the High School for the Performing Arts in New York City.

Career

When she was 15, Charny skipped school to go to an audition, gaining a role as a "Shark" girl in a production of ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid-1 ...

'' that toured Australia. Her first big break came in early 1965, when she was cast as one of the featured dancers in the weekly

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

musical variety series '' Hullabaloo'', which aired until spring of 1966. In 1967, she guest starred on ''

That Girl ''That Girl'' is an American sitcom that ran on ABC from September 8, 1966 to March 19, 1971. It starred Marlo Thomas as the title character Ann Marie, an aspiring (but only sporadically employed) actress, who moves from her hometown of Brewster ...

'' as Donald’s computer-match "date". She was the lead female dancer in "The Rich Man's Frug" sequence in the original Broadway production of ''

Sweet Charity ''Sweet Charity'' is a musical with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and book by Neil Simon. It was directed and choreographed for Broadway by Bob Fosse starring his wife and muse Gwen Verdon alongside John McMartin. It is based on ...

'' and reprised the role in the movie version (1969). From 1970 to 1986, she frequently appeared on television shows including '' The Night Stalker'', ''

Kojak ''Kojak'' is an American action crime drama television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theodopolis "Theo" Kojak. Taking the time slot of the popular ''Cannon'' series, it ...

'', ''

The Rockford Files ''The Rockford Files'' is an American detective drama television series starring James Garner that aired on the NBC network from September 13, 1974 to January 10, 1980, and remains in syndication. Garner portrays Los Angeles private investigator ...

'', ''

Starsky & Hutch ''Starsky & Hutch'' is an American action television series, which consisted of a 72-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a ''Movie of the Week'' entry) and 92 episodes of 50 minutes each. The show was created by William Blinn (inspired by th ...

'', ''

The Incredible Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of '' The Incredible Hulk'' (May 1962). In his comic book a ...

'' and others. In 1969, Charny danced in productions for military personnel as part of Bob Hope's annual tour to entertain U. S. troops overseas. Charny is also a sculptor. Her figural work is based on her career as a dancer and includes representations of dancers in motion. She notes that growing up in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, she was inspired to model the human form by watching her father build larger-than-life nude sand sculptures at

Brighton Beach Brighton Beach is a List of Brooklyn neighborhoods, neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, within the greater Coney Island area along the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Brighton Beach i ...

Awards and honors

Charny was a 2004 recipient of the Professional Dancers Society's

Gypsy Robe The Legacy Robe is a tradition begun in 1950 in which an ensemble member with the most Broadway credits receives a robe on the opening night of a Broadway musical. The original title of the robe, Gypsy Robe, was changed in July 2018.

in honor of her contributions to the field of dance.

Filmography

Television

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Charny, Suzanne Living people American female dancers American dancers American stage actresses American television actresses American film actresses 21st-century American women Year of birth missing (living people)