Jean Stapleton, the character actress who played Archie Bunker’s better half, Edith, in TV’s groundbreaking 1970s comedy All In The Family, has died. She was 90.
She died of natural causes at her New York City home surrounded by friends and family, her children said.
“It is with great love and heavy hearts that we say farewell to our collective Mother, with a capital M,” said her son and daughter, John Putch and Pamela Putch, in a statement.
“Her devotion to her craft and her family taught us all great life lessons.”
Little known to the public before All In The Family, she co-starred with Carroll O’Connor in the top-rated CBS comedy about an unrepentant bigot, the wife he churlishly but fondly called Dingbat, their daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers) and liberal son-in-law Mike, also known as Meathead (Rob Reiner).
Stapleton received eight Emmy nominations and won three times during her eight years in the show.
Produced by Norman Lear, the series broke through the timidity of US TV with social and political jabs and ranked as the No. 1-rated programme for an unprecedented five years in a row.
She 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 Murder, She Wrote.
The theatre was Stapleton’s first love and she compiled a rich resume, starting in 1941 in New England and moving to Broadway in the 1950s and 60s.
In 1964, she originated the role of Mrs Strakosh in Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand.
She proved her toughness when her husband of 26 years, William Putch, suffered a fatal heart attack in 1983 aged 60 while the couple was touring with a play directed by him.
Stapleton went on stage in Syracuse that night and continued on with the tour.