{{Short description|Canadian entertainer, producer and television host}} {{Infobox person | name = Alan Hamel | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1936|06|30}} | birth_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada | death_date = | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = {{flatlist| *Producer *writer *actor *television host }} | years_active = 1960–2012 | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Marilyn Shapiro|1958|1971|reason=divorced}} * {{marriage|Suzanne Somers|1977|2023|reason=died}} }} | partner = Joanna Cassidy (2025–present) | children = 2 | website = }}
'''Alan Hamel''' (born June 30, 1936) is a Canadian entertainer, producer, and television host.
== Early life == Hamel was born in Toronto of Jewish descent. He was in the television arts program at Ryerson Institute of Technology in 1954 but did not graduate.
==Career== Hamel co-hosted the Canadian children's television series ''Razzle Dazzle'' (1961–64). The show featured a talking turtle, Howard. In the late 1960s he hosted two syndicated game shows which aired on all the ABC owned and operated TV stations as well as others: ''Wedding Party'' (1968) and ''Anniversary Game'' (1969), where he first met Suzanne Somers, whom he later married in 1977.<ref name=fire /> From 1971 to 1973, Hamel hosted ''Mantrap'', a weekday daytime panel show, from BCTV in Vancouver for CTV Television Network stations in Canada, and syndicated in the U.S.A.<ref name=hCB-mantrap>[https://broadcasting-history.ca/mantrap/ Mantrap] The History of Canadian Broadcasting</ref> In the late 1970s, he hosted ''The Alan Hamel Show'', a popular daytime talk show on CTV. ''People'' magazine considered him "Canada's leading TV talk show host".<ref name="windeler">{{cite web |last=Windeler |first=Robert |date=7 November 1977 |title=She's Three's Company |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20069476,00.html |accessdate=9 January 2015 |work=People}}</ref> During that time, he hosted the ill-fated People television series on CBS for a few months in 1978.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Shepard |first=Richard F. |date=1978-05-03 |title=CBS-TV Adds 8, Drops |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/05/03/archives/cbstv-adds-8-drops-7-people-with-phylls-george.html |access-date=2023-09-14 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Shepard |first=Richard F. |date=1978-11-09 |title=2 CBS-TV Shows Are Off |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/11/09/archives/2-cbstv-shows-are-off.html |access-date=2023-09-14 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> After Hamel stepped down as host in 1980, fellow Canadian Alan Thicke took over and the show was retitled ''The Alan Thicke Show'' and, later, Don Harron continued the franchise as host of his own eponymous talk show that aired in the same time slot.
For several years during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Hamel was a commercial pitchman for American Stores, a coast-to-coast chain of supermarkets. Specifically, he did advertisements for Alpha Beta stores in the western United States, and also appeared in occasional spots for Acme Markets in the northeastern United States.
Hamel eventually became a producer, often working on projects involving his wife.<ref name=fire /> He occasionally performed as an actor as well, also sometimes on Somers' shows.<ref name=imdb>{{IMDb name|0357520}}</ref>
==Personal life== Hamel has two children, a son Stephen and a daughter Leslie, from his first marriage to Marilyn Hamel.<ref name=back>{{cite news| url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20111250,00.html| work=People| date=November 11, 1991 |volume= 36 |number= 18 |title= Back in Step |first= Elizabeth |last= Sporkin| accessdate= March 3, 2016}}</ref> He met his second wife, actress and author Suzanne Somers while she worked as a prize model on ''The Anniversary Game'', a game show he hosted.<ref name=windeler /> Although he was already married, they began a relationship which led to an abortion.<ref name=fought>{{Cite news | url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1992/05/15/somers-first-fought-her-own-fright/ | title=Somers first fought her own fright|newspaper=Tampa Bay Times|last=Plaskin|first=Glenn|date= May 15, 1992|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231017043816/https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1992/05/15/somers-first-fought-her-own-fright/|archive-date=October 17, 2023}}</ref> Hamel and Somers lived together for about nine years before finally marrying on November 19, 1977.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Suzanne Somers 2002 Biography|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=IZPoihG7m3Y&T=1191s|access-date=January 5, 2025|via=YouTube }}</ref><ref name=back /><ref name=nytobit>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/15/obituaries/suzanne-somers-dead.html | title=Suzanne Somers, Star of 'Three's Company,' Is Dead at 76 | first=Alex | last=Traub | work=The New York Times | date=October 15, 2023 | url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/pictures/suzanne-somers-and-husband-alan-hamels-relationship-timeline/ | title=Suzanne Somers and Husband Alan Hamel's Relationship Timeline | first=Nicole | last=Massabrook | work=Us Weekly | date=October 15, 2023}}</ref> A rabbi and a Catholic priest officiated at their wedding.<ref name=windeler /> Hamel is stepfather to Bruce Somers Jr., Suzanne Somers' son from a previous teen marriage.<ref name=windeler /> Suzanne Somers died on October 15, 2023.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Richards |first=Bailey |date=October 15, 2023 |title=Suzanne Somers, ''Three's Company'' and ''Step by Step'' Actress, Dead at 76 |work=People |url=https://people.com/suzanne-somers-dead-at-76-8358227 |access-date=October 15, 2023}}</ref> In June 2025, it was reported that he is in a relationship with Somers' former co-star Joanna Cassidy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gray |first=Mark |date=June 26, 2025 |title=Suzanne Somers' Widower Alan Hamel Confirms 'Wonderful' New Romance with Her Former Costar (Exclusive) |url=https://people.com/alan-hamel-is-dating-suzanne-somers-former-costar-joanna-cassidy-exclusive-11761972 |access-date=June 27, 2025 |website=People |language=en}}</ref>
Somers and Hamel bought a house in Palm Springs, California, in 1977, and they sold it in 2021 for $8.5 million.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://people.com/home/suzanne-somers-lists-palm-springs-home/ | title=Suzanne Somers Has Found a Buyer for Her 'Legendary' $8.5M Palm Springs Compound - See Inside! | first=Eric | last=Todisco | work=People | date=May 14, 2021}}</ref> In January 2007, a wildfire in Southern California destroyed their home in Malibu, California.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/suzanne-somers-73-staying-in-shape |title=Malibu Fire Destroys Four Mansions, Including Suzanne Somers' Home | work=Fox News |date=January 10, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102063957/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,242519,00.html |archive-date=November 2, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=fire>{{cite news|url=http://www.canada.com/topics/entertainment/story.html?id=c9ac8316-ea0e-4679-8ddf-397c060e5f64&k=49142 |accessdate=2007-09-14 |date=9 January 2007 |title=Suzanne Somers and Canadian husband lose home to fire |publisher=CanWest News Service |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102195756/http://www.canada.com/topics/entertainment/story.html?id=c9ac8316-ea0e-4679-8ddf-397c060e5f64&k=49142 |archivedate=2012-11-02 }}</ref>
==Filmography== * 1960: ''Midnight Zone'' (CBC) * 1961: ''Junior Roundup'' - Host * 1961–64: ''Razzle Dazzle'' (CBC Television) * 1962: ''A Summer Night'' - Host * 1963: ''Nightcap'' (TV series) * 1965: ''Vacation Time'' - Co-host * 1968: ''Wedding Party'' (ABC/syndicated) * 1969: ''Anniversary Game'' (ABC/syndicated) * 1971–72: ''Mantrap'' - Host * 1972–73: ''Alan Hamel's Comedy Bag'' (CBC) * 1976–80: ''The Alan Hamel Show'' (CTV)<ref>[http://www.tvarchive.ca/database/16207/alan_hamel_show,_the/details/ ''The Alan Hamel Show''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170720181301/http://www.tvarchive.ca/database/16207/alan_hamel_show,_the/details/ |date=2017-07-20 }} at TVArchive.ca</ref> * 1977: ''Tattletales'' (CBS) * 1977: ''Lou Grant'' in Scoop as Councilman Garbers * 1977: ''The Last Hurrah'' (TV movie) as George Sherrard * 1978: ''All in the Family'' in The Commercial as Ricky Buffano * 1979: ''Look Magazine Gala Party'' (TV movie) * 1988: ''She's the Sheriff'' in All Alone (1988) as Horton
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0357520}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamel, Alan}} Category:1936 births Category:Canadian children's television personalities Category:Canadian game show hosts Category:Living people Category:Entertainers from Toronto Category:Toronto Metropolitan University alumni