Jacqueline Beer


Jacqueline Beer is a French film and television actress who was Miss France in the 1954 Miss Universe Pageant. She is Chair of the Board of Directors of the Thor Heyerdahl Institute, located in Larvik, Norway. Her second husband was scientist Thor Heyerdahl. She was sometimes credited as Jacqueline Baer.

Early years

Beer's father was "a well-known writer and owner of a large horse farm." Her formal education came at a convent near Paris.

Film and TV

Soon after competing in the Miss Universe contest, Beer signed a contract with Paramount Pictures. Her American film debut came in 1956 when she had an uncredited role as a model in That Certain Feeling. She was also in Screaming Eagles and The Prize.
She is best remembered today for her five-year role as Suzanne Fabray, nicknamed "Frenchy," the charming and efficient switchboard operator on the classic private eye TV series 77 Sunset Strip.

Personal life

Beer married Jean Antoine Garcia Roady, an accountant, on November 26, 1955. They had two sons, Serge and Laurent, and a daughter, Sabine.
In 1991, Beer married ethnographer and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl, whom she met in Güímar, on the Spanish island of Tenerife. She became part of his work, using her skills as an amateur photographer. Since his death in 2002, she has remained active in the Thor Heyerdahl Research Centre in Aylesbury, UK, and is Chair of the Board of Directors.

Television appearances