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Jean Stapleton (born Jeanne Murray; January 19, 1923 - May 31, 2013) was an American character actress of stage, television and film. Stapleton portrayed Edith Bunker, the perpetually optimistic and devoted wife of Archie Bunker, on the 1970s sitcom All in the Family,[1] a role that earned her three Emmys and two Golden Globes for Best Actress in a comedy series. She also made occasional appearances on the All in the Family follow-up series Archie Bunker's Place, but asked to be written out of the show during the first season due to becoming tired of the role.[1][2]
Early life[edit]
Stapleton was born on January 19, 1923,[3] in Manhattan, the daughter of Marie A. Stapleton, an opera singer, and Joseph E. Murray, a billboard advertising salesman.[4] She had an elder brother, Jack.[3] Her uncle was a vaudevillian performer, and her brother was a stage actor who inspired her to pursue acting as well.[5]
Early career[edit]
Stapleton began her career in 1941 aged 18 in summer stock theatre and made her New York debut in the Off-Broadway play American Gothic. She was featured on Broadway in several hit musicals, such as Funny Girl, Juno, Damn Yankees and Bells Are Ringing, recreating her parts from the latter two musicals in the film versions of Damn Yankees (1958) (her film debut) and Bells Are Ringing (1960).[6]
Stapleton's early television roles included parts in Starlight Theatre, Robert Montgomery Presents, Lux Video Theater, Woman with a Past, The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse, The Patty Duke Show, Dr. Kildare,[4] My Three Sons,[4] Dennis the Menace, Naked City, and as Rosa Criley in a 1963 episode of NBC's medical drama about psychiatry, The Eleventh Hour, entitled "The Bride Wore Pink". In 1962, Stapleton guest-starred as Mrs. Larsen in "The Hidden Jungle", an episode of the TV series The Defenders (broadcast on December 1 that year), alongside her future All in the Family co-star Carroll O'Connor.[4]
Stapleton also appeared in the feature films Something Wild (1961), Up the Down Staircase (1967), Klute (1971) and the Norman Lear comedy Cold Turkey (also 1971).
Stapleton bested both Mary Tyler Moore and Marlo Thomas for the "Best Actress in a Comedy" Primetime Emmy award on May 9, 1971. She was offered a role in the feature film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) as Mrs. Teevee, but declined because it coincided with the production of the All in the Family pilot (the role went to Nora Denney).[7]
All in the Family (1971-1979)[edit]
Stapleton's best known role, as Edith in All in the Family, began in 1971.[6] The show was originally broadcast on the CBS network for nine seasons from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979, for a total of 205 episodes. The role earned her three Emmys[8] and two Golden Globes.[9]
Stapleton (left) beside Carroll O'Connor on the set of All in the Family
Feeling her character had run its course, Stapleton continued the role of Edith for only five more episodes in the follow-up series Archie Bunker's Place to help the transition, and then Edith was written out via stroke, offscreen, in the 1st episode of season two.[6]
Later career[edit]
Stapleton appeared in the Emmy Award-winning TV movie Tail Gunner Joe (1977), dramatizing the life of U.S. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, and later guest-starred in the sixth episode of the third season of The Muppet Show (broadcast on September 30, 1978).
Personal life[edit]
Stapleton was married to William Putch from 1957 until his death in 1983. The couple had two children: actor/writer/director John Putch and television producer Pamela Putch.[23] .[4]
Stapleton supported Walter Mondale's campaign in the 1984 presidential election,[26] was a vocal supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment, and took an active role in the 1977 National Women's Conference.[27]
Stapleton rarely appeared on talk shows, but reunited on-camera with Carroll O'Connor on Donny and Marie Osmond's show on April 24, 2000, a little over a year before O'Connor's death. When the Osmonds asked her to perform in Edith Bunker's voice, she jokingly told them that she only does so "for pay".[28] Stapleton admitted that she seldom watched All in the Family, but by 2000 she reconsidered,[29] she told the Archive of American Television.[12]
Death and reaction[edit]
Stapleton died at her apartment in Manhattan on May 31, 2013, at age 90.[4]
The marquee lights on Broadway were dimmed for two minute on June 5, 2013, at 8 p.m. EDT, to honor the memory of Stapleton.[32] She is buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. [33]