Susan Silo

Active - 1961 - 2009  |   Born - Jan 1, 1943   |   Genres - Drama, Adventure, Action

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Biography by AllMovie

Dark-haired, diminutive Susan Silo -- 5' 3" and 105 pounds -- has had a multifaceted career. She began as a teenage recording artist in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In the decades that followed, she grew into a stage, screen and television actress, eventually establishing herself as a voice artist in movies and television. Born in New York City in 1942 to a family of theatrical performers, she made her professional debut at age 4 and worked steadily on radio, television and the stage during her pre-teen years. She attended Performing Arts High School of Music And Art (now the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School) in NYC. At age 15, she took over the role of Rosalita in the Broadway production of West Side Story. At the end of the 1950s, she moved to California to pursue opportunities on the small screen.

Silo's television career began with appearances in episodes of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Sea Hunt, The Ann Sothern Show, Ripcord, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Her short stature and youth made her an ideal portrayer of wholesome American teenagers, while her dark good looks allowed her to take on more exotic roles as well. She also revealed a natural flair for comedy that manifested itself on series such as Burke's Law and McHale's Navy. The latter show paired her with Tim Conway in an extended physical comedy sequence involving a runaway PT boat that was almost worthy of Buster Keaton and Marion Mack in The General (1927). And it led to her big-screen debut, also paired with Conway, in McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force (1965). Silo continued to work in series television for the rest of the decade, appearing on shows such as Dr. Kildare, Bonanza, Batman, Gunsmoke, My Three Sons, and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.. After the late 1970s, Silo began specializing in voice work, in animated series such as The Smurfs, and later moved into feature films in the same capacity. Her sole credited on-screen acting appearance of the 1980s was in an episode of L.A. Law. Since then, apart from the occasional on-camera role in vehicles such as Kiss Toledo Goodbye, Silo has remained an extremely busy voice artist.

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