On Thursday, September 27, Yvonne Suhor died due to complications with pancreatic cancer.
She was an actor and teacher, having founded the Art’s Sake Film Acting Studio in Winter Park, Florida.
Yvonne was not someone I’ve found most people knew. She was never superstar famous like Josh Brolin (Cable from Deadpool), her co-star from The Young Riders. That’s how I came to know her. I loved that show and watched every single episode. Yvonne’s character, Louise McCloud, pretended to be a boy, Lou, and rode for the Pony Express. When the show ended, her character married her love interest, The Kid, and I was sad.
Because I absolutely had a massive crush on Yvonne.
History Making
And I’m not bringing this up just because she was my crush. Yvonne is on LezWatch.TV because she played an important TV lesbian in the 1990s. Even if most people didn’t realize it at the time.
There was a popular show that my college roommate loved, called Northern Exposure. The plot was a New York Jewish doctor was sent to Alaska, and he was a fish out of water in the town named Cicely. One episode, he finally learned about the name of the town.
You see, the town was founded by two free-thinking lesbians. Roslyn and Cicely. The latter of whom was played by Yvonne. Her character was dying of an illness and sacrificed her life to save Roslyn’s. In doing so, she caused the town to come together peacefully.
I’d never seen a show that had the lesbians be revered like that. Yes, it’s a dead lesbian, and today I’d probably rant about how it’s stupid and we don’t need to be sacrificial lesbians. But in 1992? This was shocking and wonderful.
From Actor to Teacher
At some point, she gave up on acting and decided to teach. By all reports, she was a well loved instructor. I’m thankful for the three seasons of TV I got to enjoy, and for her being such a nice person. I feel incredibly lucky to know that she knew I had a crush on her, and my heart goes out to her family.
I leave you with her advice for life:
I’ve learned not to take things so seriously. My spiritual views break down to how I deal with relationships: Give to self; share with others. Play a part in humanity. Heal your inner child and help to heal others. You can’t fix anyone, but you can be a role model. All the adversity that one goes through was God’s gift, and there for a reason, so embrace it.
She was also a crush for me. RIP Yvonne