Susan Ross

Susan Biddle Ross is a fictional character on the situation comedy "Seinfeld" played by Heidi Swedberg.

Character

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Susan, an executive at NBC, first appeared in season 4 when Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza began pitching the idea for their sitcom to NBC executives, in the episodes "The Pitch", "The Ticket", "The Wallet" and "The Watch". Over the course of the fourth season, Susan began dating George. During this time, she had an acrimonious relationship with Kramer after he first vomited on her, and later burned down her father's cabin in "The Bubble Boy". Susan and George broke up after she was fired by NBC when George absent-mindedly kissed her during a meeting, in "The Virgin".

They briefly got back together in "The Pick", but George decided he did not want to be in a relationship with her after all, and deliberately picked his nose so she would dump him. The next time he saw her, she was in a lesbian relationship, and George presumed he had driven her to lesbianism. Susan's lover was then seduced by Kramer in "The Smelly Car". After an airing of George and Jerry's show received negative reviews and a power change at NBC that left Susan out of work, she left George's life ("The Pilot"). Susan was shown as easygoing and relaxed, in contrast to George's constant neuroses.

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Susan and George met up in the season 7 premiere, "The Engagement", and on a whim, George proposed to her. (Her lesbianism, as George put it, "didn't take"). George soon regretted the decision, and began to panic about the wedding, convincing her to postpone the date after he broke into tears in "The Postponement". Susan's career is not mentioned during her season 7 appearances on the show. It should be noted that when George asks Susan for a prenuptial agreement, Susan laughs at him saying she makes more money than George.

Although George engaged in frequent other attempts to escape his upcoming marriage, including taking up smoking, none of them foil Susan. In "The Cadillac", George even goes on a date with Marisa Tomei, leaving Susan suspicious and in a series of odd events lead her to believe he's actually having an affair with Elaine.

At one point, Susan tries to be friends with Jerry and Elaine, which lead George to angrily believe that his "worlds" are going to collide (in "The Pool Guy"). But her friendship with Jerry and Elaine is short-lived after she "shushes" them in a movie theater and complains about how much time they spend chatting in the coffee shop.

Finally, Susan dies in the season finale after licking the cheap wedding invitation envelopes chosen by the miserly George. In the aftermath of her death, Susan's parents organize a foundation in her honor and appoint George to be on the board, much to his dismay. George's anguish is heightened when, during his time with the foundation, he realizes the extent of the Ross family's wealth, and how much he would have inherited had he and Susan married. The Rosses reappeared occasionally during the rest of the show's run, up to "The Finale" when, during the court case against George, Kramer, Jerry and Elaine they learned that he was the one who chose the invitations, and about his relief at her death.

Susan reappeared in a flashback in the season nine episode "The Betrayal" (the backwards episode), when in a brief appearance at the end, she proves to be the source of George's favorite new saying, "You can stuff your sorries in a sack, mister".

George appears at Susan's gravesite in the first episode of the eighth season, "The Foundation". Her tombstone says that she was born on June 8, 1964 and died on May 16, 1996, meaning she died a few weeks shy of her 32nd birthday. The latter is the date that the episode in which she died was originally aired.

Family

Susan's parents were played by former "Twin Peaks" cast members Warren Frost and Grace Zabriskie. Timothy Omundson played Susan's brother Ricky Ross in the episode The Cheever Letters. In that same episode Patricia Lee Wilson played Susan and Ricky's aunt Sara Ross. James Noah played Susan's uncle Ned Ross in the episode The Maestro in which Ned owned the Ross Department Store chain (a fact made up for the show). Shannon Holt played Susan's first cousin Carrie in the episode The Seven, Ken Hudson Campbell played her husband Ken. Carrie and Ken steal George's idea for a baby name and name their newborn child Seven. It was revealed that Susan's father had an ongoing affair with John Cheever.

Susan's middle name implies that she is related to America's distinguished Biddle family.

Appearances

In both cameo and major parts, Susan appears in 28 episodes. Making her the seventh most recurring character in the show.

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*"The Pitch"
*"The Ticket"
*"The Wallet"
*"The Watch"
*" The Bubble Boy"
*"The Cheever Letters"
*"The Opera"
*"The Virgin"
*"The Pick"
*"The Smelly Car"
*"The Pilot, Part 2"

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*"The Engagement"
*"The Postponement"
*"The Soup Nazi"
*"The Secret Code"
*"The Pool Guy"
*"The Sponge"
*"The Rye"
*"The Caddy"
*"The Seven"
*"The Cadillac, Part 1"
*"The Cadillac, Part 2"
*"The Doll"
*"The Friars Club"
*"The Wig Master"
*"The Wait Out"
*"The Invitations"

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*"The Betrayal" (in a flashback)

See also

* List of Seinfeld minor characters