Jean Stapleton 1923-2013

[Zoneboy]

Jean Stapleton, Who Played Archie’s Better Angel, Dies at 90

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Jean Stapleton, an actress whose portrayal of a slow-witted, big-hearted and submissive — up to a point — housewife on the groundbreaking series “All in the Family” made her, along with Mary Tyler Moore and Bea Arthur, one of the foremost women in television comedy in the 1970s and a symbol of emergent feminism in American popular culture, died Friday at her home in New York City. She was 90.
Her death was confirmed by her agent, David Shaul.

Ms. Stapleton, though never an ingénue or a leading lady, was an accomplished theater actress with a few television credits when the producer Norman Lear, who had seen her in the musical “Damn Yankees” on Broadway, asked her to audition for a series. The audition, for a character named Edith Bunker, changed her life.

The show, initially called “Those Were the Days,” was Mr. Lear’s adaptation, for an American audience, of an English series called “Till Death Us Do Part,” about a working-class couple in east London who had reactionary and racist views.

It took shape slowly. The producers filmed three different pilots, the show changed networks to CBS from ABC, and Ms. Stapleton acted in a film directed by Mr. Lear, “Cold Turkey,” before “All in the Family”, as it came to be known, was broadcast in January 1971. Then, for three or four months, hampered by mixed reviews, the show struggled to find an audience, but when it did, it became one of television’s most popular programs, finishing first in the Nielsen ratings for five consecutive seasons and winning four consecutive Emmy awards for outstanding comedy series. Ms. Stapleton won three Emmys of her own, in 1971, 1972 and 1978.

“All in the Family” was set in Queens, where most of the action took place in the well-worn but comfortable living room of the Bunker family, led by an irascible loading-dock worker named Archie whose attitudes toward anyone not exactly like him – that is, white, male, conservative and rabidly patriotic – were condescending, smug and demonstrably foolish. Memorably played by Carroll O’Connor, Archie bullied his wife, patronized his daughter, Gloria (played by Sally Struthers), and infuriated and was infuriated by his live-in son-in-law, a liberal student, Michael Stivic (played by Rob Reiner), whom he not-so-affectionately called Meathead.

Jeanne Murray was born in Manhattan on January 19, 1923. Her father, Joseph, was an advertising salesman; her mother, Marie Stapleton, was a concert and opera singer, and music was very much a part of her young life. Young Jeanne was a singer as well, which might be surprising to those who knew Ms. Stapleton only from “All in the Family,” which opened every week with Edith and Archie singing the song “Those Were the Days.” Ms. Stapleton’s screechy half of the duet was all Edith; the actress herself had a long history of charming musical performances. She was in the original casts of “Bells are Ringing” and “Damn Yankees” on Broadway in the 1950’s, and “Funny Girl,” with Barbra Streisand, in the 1960’s, in which she sang “If A Girl Isn’t Pretty,” and “Find Yourself a Man.” Off Broadway in 1991, she played Julia Child, singing the recipe for chocolate cake in the mini-musical “Bon Appétit.” On television, she sang with the Muppets.

“All in the Family” was Ms. Stapleton’s first television series, but before that she appeared as a guest on several shows, including “Dr. Kildare,” with Richard Chamberlain, “My Three Sons,” “Car 54, Where Are You?”, and the courtroom drama, “The Defenders,” starring E.G. Marshall, in which she played the owner of a boarding house who accused one of her tenants — played by Mr. O’Connor — of murder.

Ms. Stapleton bowed out of “All in the Family” as a series regular in 1979, but she appeared in several episodes the next year, after the title of the show had been changed to “Archie Bunker’s Place.” The opening episode of the second season of “Archie Bunker’s Place” dealt with the aftermath of Edith’s death.

After “All in the Family,” Ms. Stapleton purposely sought out roles that would separate her from Edith, and in so doing she led a busy and varied, if less celebrated, performing life. She turned down a chance to star as Jessica Fletcher, the middle aged mystery writer at the center of “Murder, She Wrote,” that became a long-running hit with Angela Lansbury. But she did appear as a guest on numerous television series, including “Caroline in the City” and “Murphy Brown,” starred with Whoopi Goldberg in a short-lived series, “Bagdad Café,” did character turns in Hollywood films (“You’ve Got Mail”, “Michael”) and made several television movies, including “Eleanor: First Lady of the World” (1982) in which she starred as Eleanor Roosevelt, a film that led to a one-woman show that toured the country.

Perhaps the most significant work of her later life, however, was Off Broadway, where she performed to sterling reviews in challenging works by Horton Foote (“The Carpetbagger’s Children”), John Osborne (“The Entertainer”) and Harold Pinter (“Mountain Language,” “The Birthday Party.”)

“She brings supreme comic obtuseness to Meg, the pathetic proprietor of a shabby seaside boarding house,” Frank Rich of The New York Times wrote of Ms. Stapleton’s performance in “The Birthday Party.” Contrasting her role with that of her “broadly drawn Edith Bunker,” Mr. Rich concluded, “Ms. Stapleton’s Meg is the kind of spiritually bankrupt modern survivor who makes one question the value of survival.”

After “All in the Family,” that was always Ms. Stapleton’s lot, to live in Edith’s wake. In 1977, she was one of 45 International Women’s Year commissioners who convened the National Women’s Conference in Houston, a federally financed gathering of 2000 delegates from the 50 states, for the purpose of helping to formulate national policy on women’s issues. On the third day of the conference, Ms. Stapleton left the commissioners’ seating area and wandered onto the conference floor among the delegates, and according to a news report at the time, she was besieged:

“Look it’s Edith,” delegates and photographers shouted. “Look, it’s Edith!”

[HuntingtonM15]

Sad news. Such a great talent.

RIP Jean

[afijamesy2k]

R.I.P. Jean Stapleton

R.I.P. Edith Bunker

[1970sTVFan]

R.I.P. Edith Bunker A.K.A Jean Stapleton. You will be miss but will live on in Reruns. Thanks for the Laughts!

Norman Lear has now outlived another Srar of one of his shows! Redd, Esther, Carroll, Isabel, Bea, Sherman, Bonnie and now Jean

[Mr. Television]

Very sad news. Jean Stapleton created one of the most beloved sitcom characters of all time. She was a big part of my childhood and she'll never be forgotten. Thanks for the memories Jean and R.I.P.

[comedyfreak]

She had a rich full life, RIP Jean and thanks for playing Edith Bunker.

[Schmoopie]

It's a shame to hear this because I really liked her. Loved her in "You've Got Mail", even more so than on "All in the Family"!

[DVDLover]

Terrible news! I really thought she would live to over 100 years old!

She lived a long blessed life!

Very sad day!

Rest in peace and have fun with Carroll O' Conner up there!

[Zoneboy]

Originally Posted by DVDLover

Terrible news! I really thought she would live to over 100 years old!

I wish she had lived that long as well but living to 100 is an accomplishment that not many actors/actresses have done and I can only think of 4 who made it to the century mark:

George Burns
Bob Hope
Charles Lane
Estelle Winwood

[robyrob]

[Johnny be good!]

She was so awesome. I'm going to miss her so much!

[Kasey]

Since we all know her as Edith, I thought I'd post this hilarious pre-AITF clip of Jean from 1971's "Cold Turkey".

Jean in COLD TURKEY

[Mr. Television]

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertain...icle-1.1360798


Jean Stapleton of ‘All in the Family’ leaves legacy of comedic genius
The Emmy-winning actress, who played Edith Bunker on the sitcom opposite Carroll O'Connor's 'unbearable' Archie Bunker, died on Friday of natural causes. She was 90.

By David Hinckley / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Saturday, June 1, 2013, 9:02 PM
Updated: Saturday, June 1, 2013, 9:38 PM


Jean Stapleton, best known for her role as Edith Bunker on TV's 'All in the Family,' died on Friday at age 90.



Jean Stapleton, who parlayed a cantankerous husband, a spacey demeanor, a nail-scraping Queens accent and a good heart into the beloved TV character Edith Bunker, died Saturday of natural causes at her New York home.

She was 90.

She was a lifelong actress and gifted singer who rocketed to stardom in 1971, at the age of 48, when she was cast as Edith opposite Carroll O’Connor’s Archie Bunker in Norman Lear’s CBS sitcom “All in the Family.”



She won three Emmys for playing Edith before finally asking that the character be written out of the sequel show, “Archie Bunker’s Place,” in 1980.

It wasn’t an easy role being married to Archie, a bigoted loudmouth constantly spouting insults and malaprops.

Stapleton did not, however, play Edith as put-upon and long-suffering. Edith let Archie’s ridiculous comments wash off her back, even when he addressed her as “dingbat” and repeatedly told her to “stifle it.”



She was nonjudgmental, the precise opposite of Archie, concentrating on keeping life upbeat and pleasant for the Bunker family.

That included daughter Gloria and her husband Mike, better known to Archie as “Meathead.” Edith, more a supporting character in the original outline for the show, soon became the central voice that kept it believable the family didn’t splinter apart.

O’Connor and Stapleton remained good friends off-camera until his death in 2001.



In his 1998 autobiography, he wrote, “The benign, compassionate presence she developed made my egregious churl bearable.”

Stapleton had a long history of comic roles, though she said she took it up a few notches for Edith, who called her husband “Awchie” and did have a ditzy side.

Edith owed to Lucille Ball’s fluttery Lucy Ricardo in the same tilted way that Archie owed to Jackie Gleason’s blustering Ralph Kramden.




As “All in the Family” went on, Edith also became more than one of Archie's targets.

In an October 1977 episode, Edith is sexually assaulted and nearly raped at her 50th birthday party. The story, sobering for a sitcom, then progresses to her family's response and attempts to bring the assailant to justice.

Born in New York, the daughter of a salesman and a singer, Stapleton attended Hunter College and began her acting career in summer stock at the age of 18. She got her first major role in 1949 in a touring company of “Harvey.” She played a waitress in the 1953 Broadway production "In a Summer House" and had a supporting role as Sister in "Damn Yankees," where she sang the hit song "You've Gotta Have Heart."




She was regarded as a fine singer, though most fans know her for her deliberately screechy duet with O’Connor on “Those Were the Days,” the “All in the Family” theme song.

She had guest roles in numerous early TV shows, including "Dr. Kildare" and "Route 66." She also had supporting roles in films that included "Up the Down Staircase" and "Klute."

After "All in the Family," she starred in several TV movies, including "Aunt Mary" and "Eleanor: Woman of the World," about the young Eleanor Roosevelt.




She also had roles in several TV shows and films, notably including the ABC series "Grace Under Fire," where she played Aunt Vivian.

She played in "Caroline in the City," a "Murphy Brown" episode titled "All in the Family," and the Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks film "You've Got Mail."

In that movie, she played the bookkeeper for Ryan's bookstore. When Ryan has to close the store, Stapleton tells her not to feel bad for her, because "I bought Intel at 6."


She appeared in "Arsenic and Old Lace" on Broadway and won an Obie for "The Birthday Party."

She was married for 30 years to William Putch, producer/director of the Totem Pole Playhouse in Fayetteville, Pa. They met in 1956 while she was touring in another production of “Harvey.”

He died in 1993. They had two children, John and Pamela, both of whom survive.

[Mr. Television]

http://communities.washingtontimes.c...del-young-wom/

Jean Stapleton, iconic actress, role model to 70s young women


WASHINGTON, June 1, 2013 — For Chicago teens in the mid-70s, All In The Family was a weekly appointment. We watched, we laughed, we cried and we groaned.

But what this impressionable girl remembers is the love of Archie Bunker (Carol O’Connor), who was difficult to like at times, for his wife, Edith. In one episode, Edith is in tears as she asks Archie how he can love her now that she is old, and wrinkled, and not a young girl anymore.

Archie responds that life is funny, and as she is getting older, so is his eyesight. And she is as beautiful to him now as she ever was. Confronting her personal fears, she provided millions of women a guide in an emerging feminist environment.

While best known as Edith Bunker, Jean Stapleton enjoyed an accomplished career that included television, film and Broadway stage roles, including her role in Arsenic and Old Lace.

Stapleton’s roles in theater reach back to 1941, where she began in New England summer stock before landing roles on Broadway. In 1964, she starred as Mrs. Strakosh, a character she originated for Barbara Streisand’s Funny Girl. Other Broadway appearances included roles in Bells Are Ringing, Rhinoceros, and Damn Yankees.

Her film career included Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail, with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan (1998), and working with actor John Travolta in Michael (1996).

For her work on All In The Family, Stapleton won three Emmy awards, in 1971, 1972 and 1978. She received five other nominations for the show, as well as one for her 1982 role as Eleanor Roosevelt in Eleanor, First Lady of the World for CBS, and another for her guest role in the 1995 ABC comedy, Grace Under Fire.

“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.”

Jean Stapleton was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2002.

Stapleton’s son, John Putch, says that his mother, age 90, passed away peacefully from natural causes on Friday. The actress was in her New York City home surrounded by friends and her immediate family.

All In The Family worked because of Stapleton. She was Archie’s moral compass, a wise guide for daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers), accepting mother-in-law of Michael (Rob Reiner), and the personification of love when it came to her husband.

“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 ****** Archie’s inflated ego,” Stapleton added.

While Archie called Edith a ‘dingbat’ (and she could easily be mistaken for one), she was anything but. Stapleton gave the character an intelligence and depth of understanding that allowed us to accept the show’s edgy story lines of racial tolerance and women’s rights, and that allowed us to grow as did the bigoted Archie.

Whom we learned to accept because if she could love him, so could we.

[liane49]

Originally Posted by Stuck In The '70's

http://communities.washingtontimes.c...del-young-wom/

Jean Stapleton, iconic actress, role model to 70s young women


WASHINGTON, June 1, 2013 — For Chicago teens in the mid-70s, All In The Family was a weekly appointment. We watched, we laughed, we cried and we groaned.

But what this impressionable girl remembers is the love of Archie Bunker (Carol O’Connor), who was difficult to like at times, for his wife, Edith. In one episode, Edith is in tears as she asks Archie how he can love her now that she is old, and wrinkled, and not a young girl anymore.

Archie responds that life is funny, and as she is getting older, so is his eyesight. And she is as beautiful to him now as she ever was. Confronting her personal fears, she provided millions of women a guide in an emerging feminist environment.

While best known as Edith Bunker, Jean Stapleton enjoyed an accomplished career that included television, film and Broadway stage roles, including her role in Arsenic and Old Lace.

Stapleton’s roles in theater reach back to 1941, where she began in New England summer stock before landing roles on Broadway. In 1964, she starred as Mrs. Strakosh, a character she originated for Barbara Streisand’s Funny Girl. Other Broadway appearances included roles in Bells Are Ringing, Rhinoceros, and Damn Yankees.

Her film career included Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail, with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan (1998), and working with actor John Travolta in Michael (1996).

For her work on All In The Family, Stapleton won three Emmy awards, in 1971, 1972 and 1978. She received five other nominations for the show, as well as one for her 1982 role as Eleanor Roosevelt in Eleanor, First Lady of the World for CBS, and another for her guest role in the 1995 ABC comedy, Grace Under Fire.

“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.”

Jean Stapleton was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2002.

Stapleton’s son, John Putch, says that his mother, age 90, passed away peacefully from natural causes on Friday. The actress was in her New York City home surrounded by friends and her immediate family.

All In The Family worked because of Stapleton. She was Archie’s moral compass, a wise guide for daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers), accepting mother-in-law of Michael (Rob Reiner), and the personification of love when it came to her husband.

“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 ****** Archie’s inflated ego,” Stapleton added.

While Archie called Edith a ‘dingbat’ (and she could easily be mistaken for one), she was anything but. Stapleton gave the character an intelligence and depth of understanding that allowed us to accept the show’s edgy story lines of racial tolerance and women’s rights, and that allowed us to grow as did the bigoted Archie.

Whom we learned to accept because if she could love him, so could we.

She had alot of talent and was very nice, I shed a tear as I write this.