Hometown stars - Susan Blakely

On the previous Hometown stars post Anne submitted this comment:

"Keep up the good work with the stories about famous El Pasoans! Make people realize we have a rich history that includes people born here who moved away (some alive, some not). People like Gene Roddenberry, Debbie Reynolds, F. Murray Abraham, Chase Masterson,Vikki Carr, Ronn Lucas, Jerry Bailey, Willie Shoemaker, to name a few."

The article that I am working off includes the names of Irene Ryan, Susan Blakely, Sharon Tate, Phil Ochs, Gilbert Roland, Vikki Carr and Debbie Reynolds. Let's try to come up with a more comprehensive list. Here are the names so far:

Irene Ryan
Sharon Tate
Susan Blakely
Phil Ochs
Gilbert Roland
Vikki Carr
Debbie Reynolds
Gene Roddenberry
F. Murray Abraham
Chase Masterson
Ronn Lucas
Jerry Bailey
Willie Shoemaker

Actress Susan Blakely also came to town courtesy of Fort Bliss

While her father was stationed in El Paso, she attended the University of Texas at El Paso in 1966-67 as an art major, stumbling into modeling as a sideline.

In 1967, the Mannequin Manor modeling school graduate was a runner-up in the Miss El Paso competition, third runner-up in a German beauty contest and chosen El Burro Girl of the Month to grace the UTEP humor magazine's cover.

Later that year she won the American Model of 1967 competition in New York City and promptly signed with Eileen Ford Modeling Agency.

She moved to New York and became a popular model before studying acting in the early 1970s. Soon her career was changing and she became a successful television and feature film actress.

Here is another article from September 5, 1974:

Susie Blakely Is Adding Acting To Successful Modeling Career

Comments

[No better city]

This story is El Paso in a nutshell. A woman so beautiful she becomes a world famous model/actress. But in El Paso, she was only runner-up in several beauty contests.

There are so many beautiful women in El Paso, it makes my head spin.

[Nick]

Great Job! Now here are my three favorite El Pasoans:
Sandra Day O'Connor Supreme Court Justice.. Sam Donaldson ABC news.. and star of Sideways.. Thomas Haden Church..
keep rolling.
Nick
Formerly of El Paso

[tod]

Don't forget about Ed Hochuli. Famous UTEP Alumni. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Hochuli

[Rodrigo Rosa]

Great article!
I like Susan Blakely - she is so beautiful; and seems to be nice, cool...
I watched some films where she acted, but one that touched me - THE TOWERING INFERNO - so many tears, and sadness! It was on TV last week, in my country; well, the dubbed version - much more "touchable"!

Thanks,
Rodrigo Rosa (Porto Alegre - Brazil)

[computer screen]

it's a great thing to know about some people that still cares of us the readers, i mean, some people only wants to write about some stupid sh*t and treat the readers like we have nothing but air in our heads, i'm glad to see you're one of the others, the people who cares about a good substance content in their blogs, very nice of your part, thanks!!!!

F.Thompson

[Kent McGregor]

I knew Susie before she won the modeling awards and most of us at UTEP felt that we had proven that we had girls that could compete with NYC. I was someone that was fairly irrelevant in her world, but I remember that she and Elanor Duke, Ph.D. a biology faculty member that enjoyed supporting her students, was close with Susie and would relay stories of the price that she was paying for her success.