October 12: Actress and singer, Susan Anton is 61-years-old today.

Susan Ellen Anton attended high school in Yucaipa, California, and San Bernardino Valley College. She won the Miss Redlands and Miss California contests in 1969 and tied as second runner-up in the 1970 Miss America Scholarship Pageant that same year.

In the mid-1970s, Anton developed a following for her Muriel Cigar commercials where she provocatively sang, "Let Muriel turn you on; That is my desire; Muriel lights a flame in me; Where there's Muriel smoke, there's fire."

She was also 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." The show lasted four weeks. Still, she was chosen as one of Time magazine's "Most Promising Faces of 1979."

Susan, who is 5 feet 11 inches tall, later starred in her own variety show, "Presenting Susan Anton," one of three serials in the Cliffhangers series, and in the films Goldengirl, Spring Fever 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.

Anton was the host of the successful "Great Radio City Music Hall Spectacular" show at the Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas for over 5,000 performances until July 31, 2000. She also appeared in the Las Vegas company of the musical Hairspray and on Broadway in The Will Rogers Follies, Hurlyburly and All Shook Up.

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