- Susan Dey, The Patridge Family, TV, 1970-1974. Oh, so the lovely Dey was Plan B… ? Exactly! Plan A was a real family bubblegum music unit of six squabblers – The Cowsills. Until the suits preferred Shirley (an Oscar-winning actress, after all) to Barbara Cowsill, matriarch and singer. Then, the patriarch and manger, Bud Cowsill, ordered his guys back home to Newport, Rhode Island. The Cowsills self-destructed by 1971 – three years before the Partridges. The little Susan became the most successful Cowsill in various bands (her own, included) leading to her first solo album in 2005.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 1