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; following 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 (who was mourning the death of her then-boyfriend at the time), and served as hostess for the last three shows of Game Show Week Part 2 on Hollywood Squares in late 2003 (replacing Ruta Lee of the 1974-76 High Rollers).

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. The company was renamed Stafford-Enright Productions in 1991, but there is no known record of any projects between then and 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, which were composed by Alan Thicke.

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; her practice of "jumping the gun" was a problem on early episodes, as Susan would sometimes end up turning the wrong letter, causing the round to be replaced.

Susan would also drive cars that contestants purchased, even after her accident in 1979 (see below); according to one recollection, there was an episode where she repeatedly hit the car horn while Charlie O'Donnell attempted to read its prize copy.

Susan had an odd habit during at least 1982, and almost certainly earlier, of moving audience members around during commercial breaks. This was mentioned by Pat Sajak at the end of a March 1982 episode.

Absences

Susan is known to have been absent from Wheel on at least two occasions:

• The first, in September 1977 for at least four weeks, occurred after she fractured several vertebrae while rehearsing for Circus of the Stars. Summer Bartholomew filled in for most of this time, and Arte Johnson did 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.

External Links

• Susan's official website