‘All In The Family’ Star Jean Stapleton Dies At 90

Jean Stapleton, who played Edith Bunker on the hit CBS television comedy All in the Family, died yesterday at age 90 in New York City.

Stapleton portrayed the long-suffering and good-hearted wife of Archie Bunker (the late Carroll O’Connor) on the show from 1971 through 1979, which also starred Sally Struthers as the couple’s daughter and Rob Reiner as their son-in-law. In the process, Stapleton won three Emmys and two Golden Globe awards.

With 70 IMDB entries, Stapleton enjoyed a distinguished career on on Broadway, in film, and on TV, the screetchy voiced Edith Bunker role made her a household name: “Despite a lifetime career in acting, Stapleton didn’t attain stardom until she was nearly 50 years old, when All in the Family became a huge hit.”

Producer Norman Lear was impressed with Stapletons’ work in the film Damn Yankees and cast her opposite O’Connor for the series pilot for ABC, which was then called Those Were the Days after the show’s theme song (see embed below). IT was one of the first US shows if not the first — with many to follow since then — that was based on a successful UK program. ABC passed on the show, but Lear managed to sell it to CBS.

Stapleton continued the role of Edith Bunker on the series’ spinoff Archie Bunker’s Place for one season. A far more successful spinoff, The Jeffersons, starring Isabel Sanford and Sherman Hemsley, was on the air for an amazing 11 seasons.

Stapleton’s last major movie role was in You’ve Got Mail in 1998, in which portrayed Birdie Conrad, the Meg Ryan character’s bookkeeper.

Jean Stapleton’s Edith Bunker portrayal turned out to be much more than just a “dingbat” who need to “stifle” herself to use Archie Bunker’s terminology: “The Edith character was meant to be the naive voice of truth to husband Archie, the bigoted loading-dock worker who railed against the political and social upheavals of the 1960s and ‘70s. With her high-pitched voice, addled enthusiasm and big heart, Edith became a more important character than Lear had imagined. She brought lovability to the role, and audiences embraced Edith for her well-meaning, decent ways.”