I’m sure Priscilla Barnes was not unaware of the irony of being replaced on She’s the Sheriff by Suzanne Somers. She played the lead role in the pilot, and for whatever reason—I’m spitballing, but probably fame—Barnes was replaced. It’s sometimes a change in pilots. I might even have watched her in the role; I remember watching an episode or two when the show initially aired, but that was a very long time ago and I haven’t since then.
Barnes was discovered by Bob Hope, who saw her in a local fashion show and brought her into his USO troupe. She then went to Hollywood to develop her career. (This must have made her role as a struggling actress on an episode of The Rockford Files method acting!) She was cast in any number of minor roles in her early years, including having one line on the George Hamilton/Leslie Ann Warren Columbo and being someone Jim had to protect on The Rockford Files. She was definitely in the Standard TV Career phase.
Her big break came after Suzanne Somers left Three’s Company. She was the third actress to play the Blonde Roommate. Apparently, if she’d had her way, there would have been a fourth; she’s since said that her time on the show was the worst of her career. There was near-constant conflict between various of the other people on the show, and she wanted off almost as soon as she got the job. However, she couldn’t get out of her contract. It was steady work, and that must have been nice, but apparently not nice enough.
On the other hand, there was a different contract that she was able to win out on. In her early Struggling Actress days, she’d done nude pictures for Penthouse under the name Joann Witty. When she joined the cast of Three’s Company, Penthouse decided to reprint the pictures under her real name, and she sued, claiming they didn’t have the right to do so under the contract she’d signed. There was, it seems, a handwritten addendum that was directly relevant, and while my research doesn’t show what was in it, it sealed the deal and let Barnes win the case.
In the post-Three’s Company years, Barnes has done more acting. Murder, She Wrote, of course. But 41 episodes of Jane the Virgin is probably the most noteworthy. She played a grandmother in a 2020 movie, which kind of ties in to how she said of her original Three’s Company audition—she’d auditioned for the Suzanne Somers role—that she was too old and twenty-five is over the hill in Hollywood. She’s been cast in any number of movies and TV shows, and she’s played opposite any number of fine performers. Even if you don’t know her name or face, she’s still had quite the career.
No one’s going to replace me, but it would still be nice if you’d support my Patreon or Ko-fi!
