STEP BY STEP Cast Remembers Suzanne Somers: ‘A Bright Light’
By Movieguide® Contributor
The STEP BY STEP cast got together last Sunday and remembered their co-star, Suzanne Somers, five months after her death.
“At 90s Con on Sunday, stars Patrick Duffy, Staci Keanan, Angela Watson, Christine Lakin, Christopher Castile, Jason Marsden and Sasha Mitchell reunited for the first time since Somers died in October, just shy of age 77,” PEOPLE reported. “While at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, Connecticut, the actors took the opportunity to honor Somers and her legacy.”
Somers died on Oct. 15, 2023, after a long struggle with breast cancer.
Movieguide® reported on Somers last August, when she spoke of her husband’s, Alan Hamel’s, love and support through her cancer battle:
“As you know, I had breast cancer two decades ago, and every now and then it pops up again, and I continue to bat it down. I have used the best alternative and conventional treatments to combat it. This is not new territory for me. I know how to put on my battle gear and I’m a fighter,” Somers wrote.
“Alan has been by my side every step of the way,” the actress added. “I can’t even explain how much he has done for me. If it’s even possible, we are even closer than ever. My incredible family has been so supportive.”
“Thank you for the continued love and support. It’s only about who you love and who loves you – and I love you!”
The STEP BY STEP cast shared their fond memories of Somers.
“Suzanne gave the most beautiful, thoughtful gifts and she was a person of immense style and glamour in her real life, and I will never forget [that] and I still have them. One Christmas, she gave me a pair of Prada, cashmere tights,” Keanan said.
“Okay, so it’s Prada. You know, fancy and everything. But beyond that, she was like, ‘These will keep you warm. And even if you have a long skirt, you could just wear these underneath to keep you warm.’ [It was] so sweet. She will be missed,” she continued.
Lakin shared that she grew up admiring her on TV.
“Growing up with her and watching her as a woman, as a businesswoman, as someone who was a huge star who had a bright light, who was so gorgeous, who was also so down to Earth and someone I just really admired,” she said. “She was someone that made me think as a young female in Hollywood, you can be kind and you can be generous and you can be successful and all of those things don’t have to be mutually exclusive.”
“She was so sweet and loving,” she continued. “Her heart was so big, and we really miss her.”
Watson added that “the highlight” of her career was when she performed a tap-dance duet scene with Somers in one of the show’s episodes.
PEOPLE said, “Marsden, 49, recalled a moment where he once got to ‘smooch’ Somers in a blooper reel, calling her a ‘lovely, amazing, human being.’”
Duffy honored her on Instagram the day after her death. He said:
As with everyone who knew her, I was stunned yesterday by the news that my dear and deep friend Suzanne had passed. For that brief moment it was unbelievable. But indeed she has passed. She beautifully passed through my life on this leg of her endless journey. My task now is to remain on the roadside as she continues on.
Of course I will miss the phone calls ,the emails, the visits, and the meals and laughter. But the dialogue of deep and thoughtful, and silly and frivolous continues. My conversations with her now will be held solely through my daily Buddhist practice.
I am not alone in wishing I had one more face-to-face with her and Alan, but had we had that meeting last Friday I would still be yearning for just one more today. It is the painful beauty of our present human reality.
What strength and support I can muster I send to Alan and Bruce and her family and to her I say;
When the stone of your life dropped in this pond you made quite a ripple my friend. Thank you.
Fox News reported that Somers’ husband gave her a poem that he wrote the day that she passed.
His poem read:
“Love. There is no version of the word love that is applicable to Suzanne. The closest version in words isn’t even close. It’s not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction. Unconditional love does not do it. I’ll take a bullet for you doesn’t do it. I weep when I think about my feelings for you. Feelings… that’s getting close, but not all the way.”
55 years together, 46 married and not even one hour apart for 42 of those years. Even that doesn’t do it.”
“Even going to bed at 6 o’clock and holding hands while we sleep doesn’t do it. Staring at your beautiful face while you sleep doesn’t do it. I’m back to feelings. There are no words. There are no actions. No promises. No declarations. We are one.”
“I am in love with you, my beautiful Suzanne, for all of eternity.”
According to Hamel, the TV show star departed peacefully a few hours after she heard the poem.
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