NEW YORK — 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, a.k.a 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 American television with social and political jabs and ranked as the No. 1-rated program for an unprecedented five years in a row.
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.
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,” Stapleton said.
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 blacks and other minorities that Archie disdained.
As the series progressed, Stapleton offered 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 as a personal favorite an episode about a draft dodger who clashes with Archie.
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 said in 1979.
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 was born in New York City to Joseph Murray and his wife, Marie Stapleton Murray, a singer.
She and Putch had two children, John and Pamela, who followed their parents into the entertainment industry.
