Shortly before the first episode of “All in the Family” aired on Jan. 12, 1971, Sally Struthers and her cast mates — Carroll O’ Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner and others — were visited on the set by a CBS staffer.

“We were toiling away in rehearsal,” Struthers recalls. “He said, ‘I just want to forewarn you that CBS has manned the affiliates all over the country with extra operators to take the angry calls. If there are too many of those, we won’t have a job tomorrow.’

“The next day we were told affiliates all over the country had received a lot of calls,” says Struthers, who stars in “Hello, Dolly!” on Saturday Nov. 30 at Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach. “But they were happy, excited calls: ‘What’s that? Is that going to be on again next week? We loved it. It was so funny!’ ”

“All in the Family” went on to become one of television’s most ground-breaking, acclaimed, popular and controversial series, thanks mostly to O’Connor’s Archie Bunker character — a bigoted, loud-mouth New York dock worker who tossed out racial slurs like clowns throwing candy at a parade.

But before and after her time portraying Archie Bunker’s daughter, Gloria, Struthers worked in theater and film.

She won her first award back in grade school — a plaque for “Best Actress in the 7th Grade Class Play.”

She went on to play in the movies “Five Easy Pieces” with Jack Nicholson and “The Getaway” with Steve McQueen.

After winning two Emmy Awards for portraying Gloria on “All in the Family,” Struthers starred in such TV series as “9 to 5,” “Still Standing” and “Gilmore Girls.”

On Broadway she’s starred with Rita Moreno in “Wally’s Cafe,” with Brenda Vaccaro in the female version of Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” and in the Tommy Tune production of “Grease.”

She’s currently playing the title role in the Broadway touring production of “Hello, Dolly!,” that Tony Award-winning 1964 musical about a strong-willed matchmaker.

In the following phone interview from a tour stop in Greensboro, N.C., Struthers speaks about her love of theater and Hollywood’s male chauvinism.

Congrats on winning Best Actress in the 7th Grade Class Play. What do you remember from that time?

I was fearless (laughs). I never knew acting was a profession. It didn’t connect in my head. It’s like little kids eat bacon and they don’t know they’re eating pig. I watched television but it didn’t occur to me that those people, that was their job.

I was never afraid since I was 2 years old to get up in front of any group of people and perform.

When did you begin working in theater after your 7th grade triumph?

It was college. Theater was what I did first and it’s always going to be my first love and I’m always going to go back to it. It’s honestly the most difficult to do, and I take satisfaction in knowing I do it well.

There are a lot of other people who have starred in major motion pictures who would not dare set foot on stage because they don’t know how to do a sustained performance for two and half hours without somebody yelling “cut.” I did theater all throughout “All in the Family,” on every hiatus. I’ve never not done theater.

I imagine you have a number of favorite episodes from “All in the Family.” What’s one of them?

I loved the episode with Edith Bunker (Archie’s wife, played by Jean Stapleton) when she was attacked by a would-be rapist in the house. I thought she was brilliant.

I loved any episode where Mike (Gloria’s husband, play by Rob Reiner) and Archie had serious discussions about “You need to do this my way — No you need to do this my way.” One was whether to put on a sock and a sock and then a shoe and a shoe, or a sock and a shoe and a sock and a shoe. Those just killed me.

And of course the Sammy Davis Jr. episode was a killer. It was so good. It was just such a big build up to that end when he kissed Archie on the cheek when the picture was being taken.

I did a lot of years of saying three lines. I said, “I’ll help you set the table, Ma.” “Michael, where are you going?” and “Oh Daddy, stop it.”

And on the fifth or sixth year the writers finally caught on to the fact they could write some episodes where Rob and I had more to do, specifically me. Rob always had more to do than I did because he fought with Archie.

So those last three seasons were more satisfying for me than the first five.

I assume Gloria is one of your favorite roles. Where is Dolly on that list?

Well, Dolly is for a mature woman to play. Hollywood is a chauvinistic industry in general, and has remained the same even with the women’s movement really. Most women are made to feel they should hang it up at 40. You’re no longer pretty. You’re no longer sexy. They’re not going to write very many parts for you.

And so for me to be playing the leading lady, to star in a title role in a big musical that has become an American theater classic, and I have the most phenomenal monologues and they’re touching and some people even say they cry, and in the next scene I’m able to do something insanely funny, and I get to wear these gorgeous, made-just-for-me costumes, and I’m surrounded with 25 other people on stage who have such sublime talent that I have to do my best to keep up with them, and then there’s Jerry Herman’s music and lyrics which are lovely — it’s like 57 wins: win win win win win win win win.

And to be 66 years old and get to be a leading lady — how often is that going to happen to anybody? I’m very well aware of the fact that, with the age that I am, this tour will probably be the last time I play the lead in anything, so I’m going to taste every bite.

WHAT: “Hello, Dolly!” starring Sally Struthers WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday Nov. 30 WHERE: Peabody Auditorium, 600 Auditorium Blvd., Daytona Beach TICKETS: $39, $49 and $55 plus service fee, available at the Peabody box office and Ticketmaster INFORMATION: 386-671-3462 or peabodyauditorium.org