Posted on 06/02/2013 11:48:11 AM PDT by Borges
Its not easy playing dumb. But Jean Stapleton, who died on Friday in Manhattan at 90, did it spectacularly for more than 200 episodes of All in the Family, a watershed television show that never would have worked without her daft, poignant portrayal of Edith Bunker.
The role, wife to the bigoted Archie of Carroll OConnor, could easily have been rendered as a mere middle-aged bimbo. But Ms. Stapleton didnt just toss it off; she put everything she had into it, and what she had was a lot of stage training.
Her résumé when the series began in 1971 included Broadway musical comedies like Damn Yankees and Bells Are Ringing and plays like Eugene Ionescos Rhinoceros. The tics with which she invested Edith the shuffling walk, the zinger delivered without realizing its zinginess are stage techniques translated expertly to television, delivered with the comic timing and commitment of a theatrical performance.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Terrific article.
I never found her convincing, there were a lot of great character actors on the old westerns like Rawhide and Gunsmoke, and other shows, charectors that looked real and that you could see meeting in real life and them being part of a group, but Edith never seemed real to me, there were many moments where she could be convincing, but there were moments where you could see the actress, and many moments where you wondered about the character itself.
There’s always a level of caricature that goes along with a sitcom. I couldn’t imagine meeting anyone like Lucy Ricardo or Ralph Kramden either.
Yes, she was really excellent in that show. Her acting, like her character, reallly was the center that held it all together.
Although I can’t say I remember that episode where she said “damn” (For sure I saw it), even now I can get how shocking it would be.
She imbued Edith with great dignity, a dignity that was never damaged even by her rather verbally abusive husband or somewhat condescending daughter. But she was never “hard”, like Alice Cramden was.
And I may be wrong about this, but my impression is that Meathead Mike was the sweetest of them all to Edith.
I like harsh. Are there videos of this?
I like that she turned down the request to ‘do’ Edith’s voice. Artists aren’t performing monkeys.
Both of them were, (both articles,) She was very special, Pure class that could put just enough twist on it to be roll on the floor funny.
Thanks for posting this. It really was a very good article. I’ve noticed a lot has been said about what excellent actors Carroll O’Connor & Jean Stapleton were. I haven’t seen as much about the dynamic between them. They really did seem to play off each other to a rare degree. Each of them gave the other an extra spark, so that together they were inimitable.
Yep. Mike and Gloria could have probably have been played by anyone. Apparently Richard Dreyfuss sought the part of Meathead.
Wow, Jackie Gleason is skinny in that shot.
I love Alice, of course (and she was very good looking I always thought), but Edith was a real mush, in the best sense of the term.
I just watched a clip of The Ring Salesman. She was just fantastic, that perfect hardboiled New York girl. Miles better than Audrey Meadows.
Omc! Dreyfus wd have been hilarious as Meathead. Do you recall that movie where there was a play w’in the film, & a young Dreyfus had to play Richard III as if he was ‘flamboyant’? It may have been Close Encounters. That scene was riotously funny. I can only imagine the spin Dreyfus wd have put on Meathead. I wonder why they turned him down?
“Ive noticed a lot has been said about what excellent actors Carroll OConnor & Jean Stapleton were.”
Another couple that were really good were Ed O’Neil and Katy Sagal in “Married with Children”. Now that show was awful in a lot of ways, but if you watch it you see how good these two did, they really played their parts to the hilt and yet never crossed that very, very fine line where it would have become just burlesque and been not believable at all.
I realize this about them one day and I must say I am gratified to see the success they’ve had since. Ed O’Neil on Modern Family pretty much makes it believable that Sofia Vergara would marry him; and he’s excellent as the dad of the 2 adult kids and step-dad of the little weisenheimer; and Katy Sagal can do anything. She rocks it in “Sons of Anarchy”.
If I ever hit mega-lotta my dream would be to put her on Broadway as Lady MacBeth. Hubby laughs at me, but I’d be looking for some Tonys right there.
That film you were talking about was The Goodbye Girl. Norman Lear wanted Rob Reiner and that was that. Reiner and Dreyfus were good friends at the time. Reiner cast Dreufus as the adult writer in Stand by Me.
Oops; confusing Close Encounters & Good bye Girl is a pretty big blunder. I doubt Dreyfus regretted his Stand by Me consolation prize. It was pretty iconic.
Lucy and Ralph Kramden worked, and the comedy was more slapstick and goofy.
All in the Family was a political show using humor as a sugar coating, the family was supposed to be closer to real life, Edith just wasn’t that credible, but then Archie wasn’t either.
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