Dey was a model before starring as Laurie Partridge in the television series The Partridge Family from 1970 to 1974. She was 17 years old when she won the part and had no previous acting experience. Dey's first modeling break was the cover photo for a booklet by Pursettes tampons on first facts of menstruation for young girls called "Getting to Know Yourself". She returned to weekly network television in 1977 as the co-star of the short-lived sitcom Loves Me, Loves Me Not. Dey's first film role was as a passenger in the 1972 airline hijack movie Skyjacked, starring Charlton Heston. In a 1977 made-for-television movie, Mary Jane Harper Cried Last Night, Dey portrayed a disturbed young mother with serious psychological problems, who begins to take them out on her toddler daughter. Also in 1977, Dey starred opposite William Katt in First Love, directed by Joan Darling. Dey also appeared in Barnaby Jones; episode titled,” Testament of Power”. Dey co-starred with Albert Finney in the 1981 science-fiction film Looker, written and directed by Michael Crichton. She had a leading role in 1986's Echo Park as a struggling waitress-actress who takes a job as a stripper who delivers singing telegrams. She starred on L.A. Law from 1986 through 1992 as Los Angeles County deputy district attorney Grace Van Owen, who later became a judge. Dey won a Golden Globe Award as Actress in a Leading Role – Drama Series for the role in 1988. She was also nominated in each of the following four years. Dey was also nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1987, 1988, and 1989. She hosted a 1992 episode of Saturday Night Live. Later that year, Dey co-starred in the sitcom Love & War. Although the show ran until 1995, Dey was replaced in 1993 by Annie Potts because producers reportedly felt she had "no chemistry" with co-star Jay Thomas. In 1993, she produced and starred in Lies & Lullabies, where she played a pregnant cocaine addict. Dey was mentioned in Shirley Jones's memoir as the only cast member who "consistently refused" to take part in Partridge Family reunions. In 1972, Dey was credited as the author of a book titled Susan Dey's Secrets on Boys, Beauty and Popularity.
Personal life
During the production of The Partridge Family, Dey held romantic feelings for co-star David Cassidy. Dey and Cassidy eventually pursued a relationship when production on the show finished, but Cassidy broke it off as he did not reciprocate her feelings. In 1994, Cassidy disclosed details on his relationship with Dey in his autobiography, C'mon, Get Happy... Fear and Loathing on the Partridge Family Bus, and he presumed this led to her severing contact with him. Dey was married to Leonard "Lenny" Hirshan from 1976 to 1981. They have one daughter, Sara, who was born in 1978. Dey has been married to her second husband, television producer Bernard Sofronski, since 1988. She serves as a board member of the Rape Treatment Center at UCLA Medical Center and co-narrated a documentary on campus rape with her former L.A. Law co-star Corbin Bernsen. She suffered with the eating disorderanorexia during the run of The Partridge Family.
