FLASHBACK: Susan's Very Handy Around the House 1968

Susan's Very Handy Around the House

Chicago Tribune
May 5, 1968

One of the more practical types among TV actresses undoubtedly is Susan Flannery. She portrays Dr. Laura Spencer, the psychiatrist in DAYS OF OUR LIVES, daytime series on the NBC-TV network and channel 5 at 1 p.m. each week day.

Blonde Susan, who wanted at one time to take a pre-med course but acted on the advice of a college counselor and went into acting instead, includes among her many outside interests, wallpapering and general house fixing-up.

"I just moved and I'm doing all my own wallpapering - kitchen, bathroom, bedroom," she reported. "I go in for very cheerful, sunny flowers. I like pastel colors."

She has also bought a home for her family.

"I did all the electrical wiring," she said. "When I was seven years old, I had a cousin who had a woodworking class. He made a lamp and I watched him wire it. That's how I learned about wiring."

She's fascinated by auto engines, can change an auto tire, enjoys browsing in hardware stores, likes putting up additions to houses.

She also like to paint flowers, especially daisies. Recently she added some new activities to her interests.

"I went SCUBA diving in Nassau," she explained. "There was no danger of sharks. I lookeed at the fish and the coral."

"I've taken up golf," she said. "I never thought I'd enjoy chasing a little ball around. It's a real challenge to try and hit it and see it sail so far into the blue."

She has also taken up tennis. Since Macdonald Carey, Tom of DAYS OF OUR LIVES, and others in the cast are tennis buffs, "it was a matter of self-defense," Susan said.

There's one thing against which she finds no defense - the professional practical joke.

"We were doing a dinner scene on the show recently," she said. "We were supposed to be ad libbing background conversation. Mac began telling us with a perfectly straight face that he had just read a very interesting book titled: "Thin Rats Eat Fat Rats.'"

Someone suggested the need for "mice insurance."

This led to a consideration of actuary tables for rats and mice.

Susan Flannery, alias Dr. Laura Spencer, did the only thing possible under the circumstances - she stared hard into her tomato soup to keep from cracking up.

Susan was born in New York City, where she attended Cathedral High school. She received a scholarship to Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and enrolled later at Stephens college in Columbia, Mo., where she produced and directed TV and film documentaries.

Declining a graduate school scholarship to Yale university, she joined a repertory group. She then went to the Phoenix Little Theater where she won the Best Actress award for her performance in "Country Girl." She got a master's degree in theater from Arizona State university.

Her TV credits include TIME TUNNEL, FELONY SQUAD, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, BURKE'S LAW, HAZEL, BEN CASEY, and SLATTERY'S PEOPLE among others.

Susan is in her twenties. She has big blue eyes, honey-blonde hair, and a lithe, 118-pound, five-foot-seven figure.