Jean Stapleton - #53

Jean Stapleton, best known for playing Edith Bunker in 'All in the Family,' dies at 90

She was number 53 on the list.

Jean Stapleton, the stage-trained character actress who played Archie Bunker's far better half, the sweetly naive Edith, in TV's groundbreaking 1970s comedy "All in the Family," has died. She was 90.
Stapleton died Friday of natural causes at her New York City home surrounded by friends and family, her children said Saturday.
Little known to the public before "All In the Family," she co-starred with Carroll O'Connor in the top-rated CBS sitcom about an unrepentant bigot, the wife he churlishly but fondly called "Dingbat," their daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers) and liberal son-in-law Mike, aka Meathead (Rob Reiner).
Stapleton received eight Emmy nominations and won three times during her eight-year tenure with "All in the Family." Produced by Norman Lear, the series broke through the timidity of U.S. TV with social and political jabs and ranked as the No. 1-rated program for an unprecedented five years in a row. Lear would go on to create a run of socially conscious sitcoms.
Stapleton also earned Emmy nominations for playing Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1982 film "Eleanor, First Lady of the World" and for a guest appearance in 1995 on "Grace Under Fire."
Her big-screen films included a pair directed by Nora Ephron: the 1998 Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan romance "You've Got Mail" and 1996's "Michael" starring John Travolta. She also turned down the chance to star in another popular sitcom, "Murder, She Wrote," which became a showcase for Angela Lansbury.
The theater was Stapleton's first love and she compiled a rich resume, starting in 1941 as a New England stock player and moving to Broadway in the 1950s and `60s. In 1964, she originated the role of Mrs. Strakosh in "Funny Girl" with Barbra Streisand. Others musicals and plays included "Bells Are Ringing," "Rhinoceros" and Damn Yankees," in which her performance -- and the nasal tone she used in "All in the Family" -- attracted Lear's attention and led to his auditioning her for the role of Archie's wife.
"I wasn't a leading lady type," she once told The Associated Press. "I knew where I belonged. And actually, I found character work much more interesting than leading ladies." Edith, of the dithery manner, cheerfully high-pitched voice and family loyalty, charmed viewers but was viewed by Stapleton as "submissive" and, she hoped, removed from reality. In a 1972 New York Times interview, she said she didn't think Edith was a typical American housewife -- "at least I hope she's not."
"What Edith represents is the housewife who is still in bondage to the male figure, very submissive and restricted to the home. She is very naive, and she kind of thinks through a mist, and she lacks the education to expand her world. I would hope that most housewives are not like that," said Stapleton, whose character regularly obeyed her husband's demand to "stifle yourself."
But Edith was honest and compassionate, and "in most situations she says the truth and pricks Archie's inflated ego," she added.
She confounded Archie with her malapropos -- "You know what they say, misery is the best company" -- and open-hearted acceptance of others, including her beleaguered son-in-law and African-Americans and other minorities that Archie disdained.
As the series progressed, Stapleton had the chance to offer a deeper take on Edith as the character faced milestones including a breast cancer scare and menopause. She was proud of the show's political edge, citing an episode about a draft dodger who clashes with Archie as a personal favorite.
But Stapleton worried about typecasting, rejecting any roles, commercials or sketches on variety shows that called for a character similar to Edith. Despite pleas from Lear not to let Edith die, Stapleton left the show, re-titled "Archie's Place," in 1980, leaving Archie to carry on as a widower.
"My decision is to go out into the world and do something else. I'm not constituted as an actress to remain in the same role.... My identity as an actress is in jeopardy if I invested my entire career in Edith Bunker," she told the AP in 1979.
She had no trouble shaking off Edith -- "when you finish a role, you're done with it. There's no deep, spooky connection with the parts you play," she told the AP in 2002 -- but after O'Connor's 2001 death she got condolence letters from people who thought they were really married. When people spotted her in public and called her "Edith," she would politely remind them that her name was Jean.
Stapleton proved her own toughness when her husband of 26 years, William Putch, suffered a fatal heart attack in 1983 at age 60 while the couple was touring with a play directed by Putch.
Stapleton went on stage in Syracuse, N.Y., that night and continued on with the tour. "That's what he would have wanted," she told People magazine in 1984. "I realized it was a refuge to have that play, rather than to sit and wallow. And it was his show."
Stapleton was born in New York City to Joseph Murray and his wife, Marie Stapleton Murray, a singer. She attended Hunter College, leaving for a secretarial stint before embarking on acting studies with the American Theatre Wing and others.
Stapleton had a long working relationship with playwright Horton Foote, starting with one of his first full-length plays in 1944, "People in the Show," and continuing with six other works through the 2000s.
"I was very impressed with her. She has a wonderful sense of character. Her sense of coming to life on stage -- I never get tired of watching," Foote told the AP in 2002. He died in 2009.
Her early TV career included guest appearances on series including "Lux Video Theatre," "Dr. Kildare" and "The Defenders."
She and Putch had two children, John and Pamela, who followed their parents into the entertainment industry.
Her post-"All in the Family" career included a one-woman stage show, "Eleanor," in which she portrayed the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Stapleton spent summers working at the Totem Pole Playhouse near Harrisburg, Pa., operated by her husband, William. She made guest appearances on "Murphy Brown" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" and even provided the title character's voice for a children's video game, "Grandma Ollie's Morphabet Soup."
For years, she rarely watched "All In the Family," but had softened by 2000, when she told the Archive of American Television that enough time had passed.
"I can watch totally objectively," she said. "I love it. And I laugh. I think, `Oh,' and I think, `Gee, that's good."'

Films

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1958      Damn Yankees Sister Miller        Film debut

1960      Bells Are Ringing               Sue        

1961      Something Wild                Shirley Johnson                

1967      Up the Down Staircase   Sadie Finch        

1971      Cold Turkey        Mrs. Wappler    

1971      Klute      Goldfarb's Secretary      

1984      The Buddy System           Mrs. Price           

1993      The Trial               Landlady              Uncredited

1996      Michael                Pansy Milbank  

1998      Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World   Mrs. Jenkins (voice)         Direct-to-video

1998      You've Got Mail                Birdie Conrad    

2001      Pursuit of Happiness       Lorraine               Final film role

Television

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1951      Starlight Theatre              Woman                TV series; "The Come-Back"

1952      Robert Montgomery Presents                    TV series; "Storm"

1953      Lux Video Theatre            Teacher                TV series; "A Time for Heroes"

1954-1956          Omnibus                              TV series; 2 episodes

1954      Woman with a Past         Gwen    TV series

1955      Repertory Theatre           Bus Girl                 TV series; "A Business Proposition"

1960      The Robert Herridge Theater                       TV series; "The End of the Beginning"

1961-1963          Naked City          Various                 TV series; 3 episodes

1961      Dr. Kildare           Nurse Whitney TV series; "The Patient"

1962      Dennis the Menace         Mrs. Flora Davis                TV series; "Mr. Wilson's Housekeeper"

1962      The Nurses         Mrs. Montgomery           TV series; "The Barbara Bowers Story"

1962      Jackie Gleason: American Scene Magazine            Nagging Wife     TV series; Episode #1.5

1962      The Defenders Mrs. Larsen         TV series; "The Hidden Jungle"

1962      Car 54, Where Are You?                Mrs. Duggan       TV series; "Je T'Adore Muldoon"; uncredited

1963      The Eleventh Hour           Rosa Criley          TV series; "The Bride Wore Pink"

1963      Route 66              Mrs. Snyder        TV series; "93 Percent in Smiling"

1964      My Three Sons Molly Dunbar     TV series; "The People's House"

1965      The Patty Duke Show      Mrs. Pollack        TV series; "The Raffle"

1971-1979          All in the Family                Edith Bunker      TV series; 205 episodes

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (1971-1972, 1978)

Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy (1973-1974)

Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (1973-1975, 1977, 1979)

Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy (1972, 1975, 1978-1980)

1973      Acts of Love and Other Comedies              Gina's Mother   TV movie

1977      Tail Gunner Joe Mrs. DeCamp     TV movie

1979      You Can't Take it With You           Penny Sycamore               TV movie

1979      Aunt Mary           Mary Dobkin      TV movie

1979      Archie Bunker's Place     Edith Bunker      TV series; 5 episodes

1981      Angel Dusted     Betty Eaton         TV movie

1981      Captain Kangaroo             Freddie's Mom TV series; "The Captain Kangaroo's 25th Anniversary Special"

1981      Isabel's Choice   Isabel Cooper     TV movie

1982      Eleanor, First Lady of the World Eleanor Roosevelt            TV movie

Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film

1982      Something's Afoot           Miss Tweed        TV movie

1983-1985          Faerie Tale Theatre          Various                 TV series; 2 episodes

1984      A Matter of Sex                 Irene     TV movie

1984      Scarecrow and Mrs. King               Lady Emily Farnsworth   TV series; 2 episodes

1985      Great Performances       Helen    TV series, "Grown-Ups"

1986      Dead Man's Folly              Ariadne Oliver   TV movie

1986      The Love Boat    Helen Branigan TV series; 2 episodes

1987      Tender Places    Sam       TV movie

1989      Trying Times       Edna      TV series; "The Boss"

1990      The American Playwrights Theater: The One Acts               Helen    TV series; "Let Me Hear You Whisper"

1990      Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme    Mother Goose   TV movie

1990-1991          Bagdad Cafe       Jasmine Zweibel               TV series; 15 episodes

1991      Fire in the Dark Henny   TV movie

Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film

1992      Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories                Narrator (voice)                TV series; "Elizabeth and Larry/Bill and Pete"

1992      The Habitation of Dragons            Lenora Tolliver TV movie

1992      The Ray Bradbury Theater            Grandma             TV series; "Fee Fie Foe Fum"

1993      The General Motors Playwrights Theater                               TV series; "The Parallax Garden"

1993      Ghost Mom        Mildred                TV movie

1994      Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle           Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle           TV series; 5 episodes

1994      Grace Under Fire              Aunt Vivian         TV series; "The Road to Paris, Texas"

Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series

1995      Caroline in the City          Aunt Mary Kosky              TV series; "Caroline and the Opera"

1996      Murphy Brown Nana Silverberg                TV series; "All in the Family"

1996      Lily Dale               Mrs. Coons         TV movie

1996      Everybody Loves Raymond          Aunt Alda            TV series; "I Wish I Were Gus"

1996      Beakman's World             Beakman's Mom               TV series; "Elephants, Beakmania and X-Rays"

1996      1914-1918          Edith Wilson (voice)        TV miniseries documentary; "War Without End"

1998      Style & Substance            Gloria    TV series; "A Recipe for Disaster"

1998      Chance of a Lifetime       Mrs. Dunbar       TV movie

2000      Touched by an Angel      Emma   TV series; "Mother's Day"

2000      Baby      Byrd       TV movie

2001      Like Mother Like Son: The Strange Story of Sante and Kenny Kimes            Irene Silverman                 TV movie Final acting role