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Susan Anton is an American actress and singer with a career spanning over 35 years in various entertainment fields, including television, film, theater, and concert venues. Her debut film, "Goldengirl," earned her a Golden Globe nomination, leading to a contract with NBC for her variety show, "Presenting Susan Anton." Later, ABC signed her for the drama series "Cliffhangers."
Based in Las Vegas for over 20 years with her husband, director Jeff Lester, they founded Big Picture Studios in 1997. Through their company, Anton has executive produced projects like "The Last Real Cowboys" with Billy Bob Thornton and the documentary "Speed of Life" featuring Amy Purdy.
Starting in 1976, Anton developed a following for her Muriel Cigars commercials[4][5] where she sang, "Let Muriel turn you on / That is my desire / Muriel lights a flame in me / Where there's Muriel smoke, there's fire". Later in the 1970s, Anton appeared approximately 30 times on Merv Griffin's TV show.[6] She was frequently seen and heard in television, print and radio ads for the Perfect Sleeper mattress by Serta. In these ads, she announced her name and sang the company's jingle.
In 1978, ABC gave her and country singer Mel Tillis a summertime variety series, Mel and Susan Together, produced by the Osmond Brothers. The pairing of Anton and Tillis was an unlikely one: he was popular in country music circles but hardly a national household name while Susan was barely known at all. The show disappeared after four weeks;[7] nevertheless, she was later chosen as one of Time Magazine's "Most Promising Faces of 1979".[citation needed]
She later starred in her own variety show, Presenting Susan Anton, in Stop Susan Williams (one of three serials in the Cliffhangers series), and in the films Goldengirl,[8]Spring Fever,[9] and Cannonball Run II. She also recorded music, her biggest hit being "Killin' Time" in 1980, a duet with country singer Fred Knoblock. The record made Top 10 on the country charts and hit #28 on Billboard's Hot 100. In 1990, Anton appeared on the TV comedy series Night Court in an episode called "The Talk Show" where she played talk show producer Margo Hunter.
Anton is on the cover of the mass trade paperback edition of Goldengirl, written by Peter Lovesey (using the pen name Peter Lear). She had appeared as the title character in the film version which starred James Coburn[10] and was directed by Joseph Sargent.
