Sue Thomas, deaf FBI lipreader who inspired TV series, dies at 72
Sue Thomas, who was a deaf and oral woman who worked in the FBI and helped to fight crime through her special ability to lipread, and inspired a TV series starring Deanne Bray, passed away on December 13. She was 72.
The TV series is titled, “Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye.” It first aired 20 years ago in 2002 on Pax TV. It ran for three years until 2005.
[Clip of F.B. Eye’s intro reel] Credit: YouTube/EncourageTV]
The official Facebook page for the TV series announced last week that “the real Sue Thomas” passed away.
[Full-screen image showing FB post] Credit: FB/Sue Thomas FBI
FB/Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye: “Last night, the real Sue Thomas - the amazing woman who inspired our show - went home to heaven. We will miss her so on this earth but rejoice she is in the arms of Jesus. #OurLoss #HeavensGain”
Sue Thomas’ obituary said she worked at the FBI in Washington. D.C. doing surveillance work as an undercover lip reader. She wrote a book titled, “Silent Night” that describes her life experiences. The book inspired the TV series.
I reached out to Deanne Bray and asked her questions about her experience with Sue Thomas. Here it is.
Alex: Can you explain what motivated you to audition for the role of Sue Thomas?
Deanne Bray: At that time, I didn’t want to play a lip-reading character. At that time, I didn’t know Sue was a real person. I thought it was a fictional character. I was a teacher and a language advocate. I was a teacher who believed in the philosophy of reading and writing in print English and using ASL, not focusing on the mouth or the ears. I didn’t want to promote that. So I was quickly not interested (in the role). Linda Bove — I remember having a conversation about that character. She told me it was important to not judge the character. She said a good actress will dive into the character’s life story, although the actress might have existing beliefs. The actress should put that aside and just focus on the character. To be fair to that character’s story. So that was an important message from an actress to me. Her name sign is Sue Thomas (shows name sign). So I auditioned and I was chosen. It went from a TV movie concept to a TV series. There were 56 episodes in total. My favorites are the first two episodes. Because many scenes were based on actual events — it was her story. The rest of the episodes saw the show becoming its own. Sue was with us during the shooting. She sat right there and she would remark, “Yes! That’s what it looked like!” She said one scene looked exactly like the real thing, the one on how I met Levi, the dog. There were various moments in which she could share that twinkle in her eyes. There was excitement. Her love for life. Her memories. I really enjoyed the first two episodes, working with her.
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Alex: I know you are a signing deaf person, while Sue seems to be more of an oral person. How did you two work together and what was it like to learn about her experiences as an FBI agent? Can you describe that?
Deanne Bray: Before I met her, we exchanged messages via email. That was way before social media! There were no videophones. We typed messages back and forth. I would ask her about her experiences with the FBI. She shared various stories. I asked her whether she felt like she fit in more with the deaf world or the hearing world. I thought in my mind that the answer might be the hearing world because she grew up oral. I had not met her yet and I didn’t know how well she could sign. She replied that she didn’t feel that she fit in either world. She said she walked a lonely path. She said she didn’t feel she fit in with the hearing world because she didn’t fully understand what others were saying. In the deaf world, she didn’t fit in because she didn’t sign on a deep level and did not really interact with the deaf community. I remember when I read that, I felt touched because there was no “or.” She wasn’t in either world. That was just her journey. She really shifted my perspective about how a deaf person can make a choice on how they want to navigate this world. She chose that. When I finally met her in person, the first thing she said — she was short in stature and had glimmering blue eyes — she looked at me and said, “The new and improved Sue Thomas!” I was taken aback. We hit it off. The rest is history.
Alex: Thank you, Deanne, for sharing your experiences. She is the wife of Troy Kotsur, the Oscar-winning actor from the “CODA” film.
Sue’s obituary says she will be buried in Vermont on Wednesday. She leaves behind a brother, a personal assistant and caregiver of 19 years, Deborah Shofstahl, and her service dog, Rodney.
https://www.facebook.com/SueThomasFBEye
https://suethomasfbeye.com/?fbclid=IwAR03GPM1PKdLWShARpEGFBRs30A_yRfnfE96F1WkCCX-8QS_Ylo-gTZYrDc