Brett Somers (July 11, 1924 – September 15, 2007) was a Canadian-American actress, singer, and game show personality who was born in Canada and raised in Maine. She was best known as a panelist on the 1970s game show Match Game and for her recurring role as Blanche Madison opposite her real-life husband, Jack Klugman, on The Odd Couple.

Biography

Born Audrey Johnston in Saint John, New Brunswick, Somers grew up near Portland, Maine. She ran away from home at age 18 to New York City to pursue a career in acting; she settled in Greenwich Village. She changed her first name to "Brett" after the lead female character in Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, and "Somers" was her mother's maiden name. She became a U.S. citizen late in life. After moving to New York, she married and had a daughter, Leslie, before divorcing her first husband. In 1953, she married actor Jack Klugman; they had two sons: Adam (who shared a July 11 birthday with Brett) and David. The couple separated in 1974 but reportedly never divorced.