Susan Dee Robbins is best known as the final wife of Western film and television star Dale Robertson, but that description only tells part of the story. Unlike many people connected to Hollywood celebrities, she largely stayed outside the entertainment spotlight, then later became an important firsthand source on Robertson’s life by writing Bucking Hollywood, a full-length biography published in 2019.
That distinction matters. Search results about Robbins often repeat unsupported claims about her age, birthplace, wealth, parents, or current location. A more useful profile separates what can be documented from what has simply been copied across celebrity-biography websites.
Who Is Susan Dee Robbins?
Susan Dee Robbins is an American woman publicly associated with actor and horseman Dale Robertson, one of television’s familiar Western stars of the 1950s and 1960s. Major contemporary obituaries identify Susan as Robertson’s surviving wife and state that they married in 1980, remaining together until his death in February 2013.
She was not an actress, producer, or regular Hollywood personality. Her public significance comes mainly from her long marriage to Robertson, their life around horses and ranching, and her later decision to document his story in her own words.
Susan Dee Robbins Quick Facts
- Full name: Susan Robbins, publicly known after marriage as Susan Robertson
- Known for: Marriage to Dale Robertson and authorship of Bucking Hollywood
- Marriage: 1980 until Dale Robertson’s death in 2013
- Spouse: Dayle Lymoine “Dale” Robertson
- Associated residence: Yukon, Oklahoma, during the couple’s ranch years
- Later documented residence: San Diego, California, according to her book’s 2019 publisher information
- Publicly documented profession after Robertson’s death: Author
- Book: Bucking Hollywood, published by Page Publishing in 2019
One of the most important facts about Robbins is also one of the least discussed: she became a published biographer. That gives her a more substantial place in the historical record than the usual label of “celebrity wife” suggests.
What Is Actually Known About Susan Dee Robbins’ Early Life?
Reliable public sources reveal surprisingly little about Susan before her relationship with Dale Robertson. That is not unusual for someone who was not a public figure in her own right and who appears to have valued privacy.
Numerous modern biography websites claim she was born in California in 1954, with some even supplying an exact February birth date. However, Robertson’s major obituaries and the publisher information connected to Susan’s own book do not independently establish those details, so they should not be presented as unquestionably verified facts.
The same caution applies to claims about her parents, siblings, education, exact age, height, and personal net worth. Those details appear frequently on celebrity-profile websites, but repetition across low-authority pages is not the same thing as independent verification.
Was Susan Dee Robbins a Flight Attendant?
A commonly repeated story says Susan worked as a flight attendant before marrying Dale Robertson. Multiple secondary biography sites report that she was working in aviation when the two met, although versions of the story vary regarding the airline and circumstances.
The sourcing deserves caution, however. Stronger contemporary obituary and institutional sources confirm the marriage but do not provide enough evidence to treat every detail of the flight-attendant story as proven beyond doubt, so the most accurate description is that it is widely reported rather than conclusively documented.
That distinction is important for E-E-A-T. Responsible biographical content should not transform repeated internet claims into certainty merely because many websites have copied the same information.
Susan Dee Robbins and Dale Robertson’s Marriage
The best-supported part of her public biography is her marriage to Dale Robertson. Major sources agree that Robertson married Susan Dee Robbins in 1980 and that she remained his wife for approximately 33 years, until his death.
IMDb lists the wedding date as February 2, 1980. Major newspaper and Associated Press obituaries generally give only the year, however, so the precise day is better understood as a database-reported detail rather than one independently confirmed across multiple contemporary records.
Their marriage was notably long compared with Robertson’s earlier marriages. Susan became his final spouse and shared the period when his life increasingly moved away from Hollywood production and toward something he had loved since childhood: horses, ranching, and Oklahoma.
Who Was Dale Robertson?
Understanding Susan Dee Robbins requires some context about the man whose life became intertwined with hers. Dale Robertson, born Dayle Lymoine Robertson in Harrah, Oklahoma, built a Hollywood career around an unusually authentic Western image because riding and working with horses were genuine parts of his background.
He became particularly associated with Tales of Wells Fargo, where he played investigator Jim Hardie, and later starred in Iron Horse and hosted Death Valley Days. His later television appearances included Dynasty, Dallas, Murder, She Wrote, J.J. Starbuck, and Harts of the West.
Robertson’s life before Hollywood was equally remarkable. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army, was wounded twice, and received decorations including the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart, according to the Los Angeles Times.
His entry into entertainment was unconventional too. Accounts of his career say movie representatives noticed a photograph of him displayed by a California photography studio while he was serving in the military, helping open the door to Hollywood.
Ranch Life: The Side of Their Marriage Hollywood Profiles Often Miss
Susan did not simply share a celebrity household. She shared a life closely tied to Robertson’s long-standing passion for horses, something that existed decades before his final acting roles.
After his major Hollywood years, Robertson devoted increasing attention to his Oklahoma ranch and equestrian interests. The Oklahoma Quarter Horse Association documents his extensive involvement with horses, while other accounts place Dale and Susan together at his ranch near Yukon, Oklahoma, during his later years.
At one stage, Robertson reportedly accumulated around 235 horses. This was not simply a wealthy actor collecting animals after retirement; horse breeding, training, competition, and bloodlines were serious interests that shaped much of his life away from cameras.
That context changes the way their marriage should be understood. Their later years were considerably more connected to ranch life and horses than to the red-carpet version of Hollywood typically associated with a famous actor and his spouse.
Haymaker Farms and Robertson’s Horse Legacy
Robertson and his brother Chet were associated with Haymaker Farms, where they raised and trained Quarter Horses and thoroughbreds. INSP reports that their breeding program produced more than 20 stakes winners and several champions before that chapter of the operation eventually ended.
Dale and Susan later lived on his Yukon ranch, giving Susan Dee Robbins a front-row view of the side of Robertson that was arguably most authentic to him. The cowboy persona audiences saw on television was not entirely a Hollywood construction; Robertson genuinely had deep equestrian experience.
The Oklahoma Quarter Horse Association even records Robertson’s pride in horses such as Jubilee and details the bloodlines connected with his breeding activities. That history provides valuable context that many short celebrity profiles completely miss.
Susan Dee Robbins as the Author of Bucking Hollywood
The biggest piece of information missing from many short online profiles is that Susan Dee Robbins wrote a substantial biography of Dale Robertson. Bucking Hollywood was published by Page Publishing in 2019, with Google Books listing the edition at 396 pages.
The publisher described the work as Robertson’s life story told by the person who knew him best: his wife. Its scope includes his childhood, personal experiences, military background, Hollywood years, and extensive career in movies and television.
Susan explained that Robertson had repeatedly resisted the idea of an autobiography while alive. According to her publisher, he joked that it was not time to write one because he did not yet know how the story ended; after his death, Susan decided to complete the project herself to preserve his legacy.
That gives Robbins a distinct role in Western-film history. She is not simply someone historians encounter in a list of Dale Robertson’s spouses; she created a lengthy first-person-connected source about his life.
Why Bucking Hollywood Matters
Celebrity biographies commonly depend on studio publicity, newspaper archives, interviews, databases, and retrospective journalism. A book written by a spouse brings something different: long-term personal observation, private memories, and context inaccessible to many outside researchers.
That does not mean every recollection in a spouse-written biography should automatically be interpreted as neutral historical fact. Memoirs and family biographies necessarily carry the writer’s perspective, which is why serious researchers compare them with independent records.
For researchers looking into Dale Robertson, Susan’s book is therefore a particularly valuable source when used alongside archival documentation. Its existence is also one of the strongest reasons Susan Dee Robbins merits a biography that goes beyond her marital status.
Dale Robertson’s Final Years and Death
During the final stage of Robertson’s life, his health declined and he moved away from Oklahoma. The Los Angeles Times reported that he had lived at his Yukon ranch before relocating to the San Diego area in the months preceding his death.
Dale Robertson died at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California, on February 26, 2013, at age 89. The Television Academy, Associated Press reporting, and a published obituary support February 26, although a number of databases and retrospective sources incorrectly or inconsistently use February 27.
The reported cause was complications from lung cancer and pneumonia. Susan survived him after approximately 33 years of marriage, and the Associated Press specifically identified her as his surviving wife.
For Susan, that loss also created the circumstances that eventually led to Bucking Hollywood. Six years later, the biography appeared as an attempt to preserve not only Robertson’s career history but also the character, choices, and values she believed defined him.
Did Susan Dee Robbins and Dale Robertson Have Children Together?
This is another subject where online profiles regularly become confusing. Major obituaries identify Dale Robertson as being survived by Susan and children from previous relationships, but they do not identify Susan as the biological mother of those children.
Several secondary profiles state that Susan Dee Robbins and Dale Robertson did not have biological children together and describe her as a stepmother. That interpretation fits the broad public record, but the strongest contemporary sources provide relatively little detail about private family arrangements.
There are also inconsistencies among published sources about the number and exact status of Robertson’s children. That is a useful reminder that a biography presenting a perfectly detailed family tree without citing records may be providing greater certainty than the available evidence actually supports.
Where Is Susan Dee Robbins Now?
Interest in Robbins grew after Robertson’s death, and numerous websites subsequently began making claims about where she lives. Some pages identify California, while others mention completely different cities, frequently without explaining the source of their information.
The clearest dated statement comes from the publishing material for Bucking Hollywood. Google Books and the publisher stated that Susan was living in San Diego, California, in 2019 to be closer to family.
That does not establish her current residence in 2026. Location information changes, and there is no responsible basis for turning a seven-year-old author biography into a claim about where Susan Dee Robbins lives today.
The same caution applies to claims regarding her current activities. She has maintained a relatively private profile, and there is no strong evidence suggesting that she pursued the kind of sustained entertainment or celebrity career that would make her private life continuously documented.
Susan Dee Robbins’ Net Worth: Why Online Figures Are Unreliable
Celebrity-search websites routinely attach estimated net-worth figures to famous people and their relatives. In Susan’s case, however, there is no transparent, authoritative financial record supporting a precise personal fortune.
This is a widespread SEO problem. One page publishes a guessed number, later pages repeat it, and eventually searchers encounter the same figure so often that it begins to look like documented information.
A more accurate answer is simple: Susan Dee Robbins’ personal net worth is not publicly verified. Dale Robertson undoubtedly had earnings from a lengthy entertainment career and extensive horse-related activities, but that does not provide a legitimate method for calculating his widow’s present-day wealth.
Claims involving exact property holdings, inheritance amounts, investment portfolios, or current assets should therefore be treated skeptically unless they are linked to reliable financial, probate, business, or property records.
Common Myths and Unverified Claims About Susan Dee Robbins
Limited primary-source information has created an environment in which unusually specific claims are repeated without much scrutiny. When researching Susan Dee Robbins, readers should be particularly cautious about the following:
- An exact birth date or current age presented without an authoritative record
- Detailed claims about her parents, siblings, or childhood
- Precise height, weight, and body measurements
- A specific personal net worth
- Current residence claims that provide no publication date or source
- Social-media profiles that have not been authenticated
- Detailed descriptions of private family relationships with no supporting documentation
This does not automatically make every such claim false. It simply means the available evidence does not justify presenting each one as a proven biographical fact.
That difference is important because information gain is not achieved by adding more trivia. Sometimes the most valuable contribution is identifying what the evidence cannot reliably establish.
Why Susan Dee Robbins Still Attracts Search Interest
The continued interest in Robbins is closely connected to the durability of classic American Western television. Tales of Wells Fargo and Robertson’s other productions continue to be remembered by Western-film enthusiasts, rerun audiences, collectors, and viewers discovering older television for the first time.
When viewers become interested in Dale Robertson, they naturally begin asking about the person behind Jim Hardie and his other screen characters. That curiosity leads to questions about his marriages, ranch, horses, retirement years, and Susan Dee Robbins, the woman who shared the final three decades of his life.
Her authorship adds another layer. Someone discovering Bucking Hollywood learns that Robertson’s widow did more than preserve memories privately; she assembled hundreds of pages about his life for future readers.
This creates a different kind of legacy from celebrity exposure. Susan’s lasting public contribution is essentially archival and biographical rather than performative.
Susan Dee Robbins and the Preservation of Dale Robertson’s Legacy
The most meaningful way to understand Susan Dee Robbins is through preservation. Her public contribution is less about becoming famous herself and more about maintaining the historical memory of a man whose life crossed Hollywood, television Westerns, World War II service, and American horse culture.
Robertson’s professional legacy is already supported by major institutions and industry records. He received the Golden Boot Award, and industry sources recognize his place among important Western performers; the Television Academy also maintains a biographical record of his career.
Susan contributed something those institutions could not: the perspective of a spouse who knew Robertson for more than three decades. By writing Bucking Hollywood, she connected the well-documented public actor with memories of the private individual she knew personally.
That may ultimately be the most important fact about Susan Dee Robbins. Privacy characterized much of her public life, yet when she chose to contribute to Robertson’s historical record, she did it through a substantial biography rather than a stream of celebrity interviews.
FAQ About Susan Dee Robbins
Who is Susan Dee Robbins?
Susan Dee Robbins is best known as the final wife of American Western star Dale Robertson. They married in 1980 and remained together until Robertson died in 2013; she subsequently wrote the 2019 biography Bucking Hollywood about his life and career.
She should therefore be described as more than simply Robertson’s widow. Her role as the author of one of the most substantial personal accounts of his life gives her independent relevance to researchers and fans of classic Western entertainment.
When did Susan Dee Robbins marry Dale Robertson?
Reliable obituary sources state that Susan Dee Robbins married Dale Robertson in 1980. IMDb lists February 2, 1980, as the exact date, and their marriage continued until his death in February 2013.
That means they spent approximately 33 years together. Their relationship covered Robertson’s later acting career, his increasing focus on Oklahoma ranch life, his retirement, and his final years.
Did Susan Dee Robbins have children with Dale Robertson?
The strongest public records reviewed do not identify Susan and Dale as having biological children together. Obituaries name Robertson’s surviving family members separately from Susan, while secondary biographies commonly describe her relationship to his children as that of a stepmother.
Because published sources vary on some details of Robertson’s family structure, excessively specific claims should be treated cautiously. The best-supported answer is that no biological children of Susan and Dale together are documented in the reliable sources reviewed.
What book did Susan Dee Robbins write?
Susan Dee Robbins wrote Bucking Hollywood, a biography of Dale Robertson released by Page Publishing in 2019. Google Books lists the work at roughly 396 pages and identifies Susan Robertson as its author.
The book explores Robertson’s childhood, military background, acting career, personal experiences, and extensive involvement with horses. Susan said she undertook the project partly because Robertson had never completed an autobiography himself.
Is Susan Dee Robbins still alive, and where does she live?
There is no sufficiently strong, recent public source reviewed here that establishes Susan Dee Robbins’ exact current status or residence in 2026. Claims circulating on biography websites should not be treated as confirmed merely because they appear repeatedly.
What can be documented is that publisher information for Bucking Hollywood stated that Susan was living in San Diego in 2019 to be closer to family. That dated information is useful historical context, but it should not be misrepresented as a real-time location.
Conclusion
Susan Dee Robbins deserves a more accurate profile than the recycled celebrity-biography summaries that dominate many search results. The strongest evidence reveals a private woman who spent roughly three decades with Dale Robertson, shared his later ranch-centered years, remained with him through the end of his life, and subsequently became an author committed to preserving his story.
Her most important publicly documented achievement after Robertson’s death is Bucking Hollywood. Rather than relying on questionable age estimates, invented net-worth figures, or unsupported personal details, readers who genuinely want to understand Susan Dee Robbins should begin with Robertson’s contemporary obituaries, established industry and equestrian records, and Susan’s own published biography.
That evidence-based approach provides something far more useful than celebrity trivia. It shows Susan as a participant in Robertson’s later life, a witness to his private world, and ultimately a preserver of the legacy of one of classic television’s recognizable Western stars.
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