Susan Florence Anspach was an Americanstage, film and television actress, who was best known for her roles in films during the 1970s and 1980s such as Five Easy Pieces, Play It Again, Sam, Blume in Love, Montenegro, Blue Monkey, and Blood Red.
Early life
Anspach was born and raised in Queens, New York City, the daughter of Gertrude, a secretary and singer, and Renald Anspach, a World War IIArmy veteran and later factory worker. The couple met at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Anspach's grandfather had disapproved of the marriage because he thought that Gertrude, in his view, had married down. He disowned his daughter. Anspach was raised by her great aunt until Anspach was six, when her aunt had died. She went back to live with her parents. Because of neglect and physical abuse, she left her parents at age 15. With the help of a Roman Catholic organization, she was with a family in Harlem. Anspach graduated from William Cullen Bryant High School in Long Island City in 1960. She received a full scholarship to the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. She studied music and drama. Anspach made her professional debut in Thornton Wilder’s one-act playPullman Car Hiawatha at a summer theater in Maryland. After college, she moved back to New York City.
Career
Anspach starred in several Broadway and off-Broadway shows, including as the female lead in the musical Hair, which shocked some audiences with its antiwar messages, celebration of nonmarital sex, and an all-nude scene. The musical ran for 45 performances at the Cheetah Theatre. She was in a play with Al Pacino while at the Actors Studio. Anspach first came to prominence in the 1970 film Five Easy Pieces, directed by Bob Rafelson and starring Jack Nicholson. Vincent Canby of The New York Times called her "one of America's most charming and talented actresses". She followed this with a supporting role in Woody Allen's Play It Again, Sam and a more prominent role in Paul Mazursky's romantic comedyBlume in Love, alongside George Segal and Kris Kristofferson. Anspach originally was cast in the role of country singer Barbara Jean in the 1975 film Nashville, but her salary request exceeded the ensemble film's budget; she was replaced by Ronee Blakley. She starred off-Broadway in 1965 in A View from the Bridge with Robert Duvall, Jon Voight, and Dustin Hoffman. In her film career, Anspach starred in 19 features and eight television movies and also was featured in two series, The Yellow Rose and The Slap Maxwell Story. She guest-starred in the episode "All My Tomorrows" of the NBC romantic anthology series Love Story in 1973.
Anspach was Roman Catholic. She said that the church and her psychoanalyst were her "parents" for close to 10 years of her youth. Anspach had a daughter, Catherine Goddard with fellow Hair cast member Steve Curry, according to his October 6, 2014, obituary in The New York Times. She had a son, Caleb Goddard, in 1970, whom she claims was fathered by actor Jack Nicholson. She married actor Mark Goddard in 1970 and divorced him in 1978. Goddard adopted both children. Anspach married musician Sherwood Ball in 1982 and divorced him in 1988.
Death
Anspach died from heart failure on April 2, 2018, aged 75, in her Los Angeles home.
