Susan Stafford

Susan Stafford (born Susan Gail Carney on October 13, 1945) was the original letter-turner on Wheel of Fortune from its 1974 pilots through October 22, 1982.

Prior to Wheel, Susan helmed her own nationally-syndicated radio talk show for three years; among those she interviewed were Senator Barry Goldwater. She had ambitions of becoming a female Johnny Carson, possibly even taking over The Tonight Show.

Stafford left Wheel because she wanted to pursue charity work, and eventually devoted her life to that field; after her departure, several women filled in until Vanna White was chosen as her successor on December 13. She briefly returned to the daytime show for the week of June 16, 1986 to fill in for Vanna, and served as hostess on a special game show-themed week of Hollywood Squares in late 2003.

Susan had a longtime relationship with Dan Enright of Barry-Enright Productions (creators of Tic-Tac-Dough and The Joker's Wild), and was the company's Vice President of Public Relations. Beginning in 1991, the company was renamed Stafford-Enright Productions, however no projects really got off the ground prior to Enright's death on May 22, 1992.

In November 2010, Susan published a book on her Wheel tenure called Stop the Wheel, I Want to Get Off!

Hosting Style
Susan was far more "physical" in her work than Vanna, gesturing at the board, players, and Used Letter Board; cheering for contestants; and rooting for Chuck to hit top dollar in the Final Spin. She also frequently danced to the puzzle solve and commercial break cues.

Stafford is known to have minutely adjusted trilons and letter slides to line up with the others, placed her hand on the leftmost trilon of the third row in a sort of "patient waiting" pose, turned letters two at a time once a puzzle was solved (on several occasions, the letter slides came partway off the trilons when she turned them), and frequently turned letters and punctuation marks quicker than the "correct letter" bells could sound and the respective lights activated.

It was further revealed in a March 1982 episode that Susan had an odd habit of moving audience members around during commercial breaks.

Absences
Susan is known to have been absent on at least two occasions.


 * The first, in late 1977 for at least four weeks, occurred after she fractured several vertebrae while rehearsing for Circus of the Stars. Summer Bartholomew filled in for at least part of this time, as did Arte Johnson for at least one episode (mostly to promote his NBC game Knockout).


 * The second was from May 24 to June 8, 1979, following a car accident in which Stafford dislocated her shoulder. Summer filled in until the 1st, while Cynthia Washington did the week of June 4.