Posted on 04/27/2026 2:20:57 PM PDT by Morgana
Hollywood actress Mariclare Costello has died at the age of 90.
She passed away on the morning of April 17, in Brooklyn, New York, according to the Peoria Journal Star.
The star was best known for starring on the family TV show The Waltons. She played Rosemary Hunter Fordwick from 1972 to 1977.
And she went on to make several other shows like The Fitzpatricks in 1977 with Helen Hunt and Jimmy McNichol where she played matriarch Maggie Fitzpatrick.
The actress then starred in movies such as After The Fall in 1974 with Faye Dunaway and Christopher Plummer as well as Indecent Proposal in 1993 with Demi Moore and Robert Redford.
Her gift was rare,' her family wrote in an obituary.
'She knew how to get people out of their own heads, focused on a task rather than on themselves, and in doing so helped them access their own creative voices.'
The thespian was also 'a wonderful cook' who rescued stray animals and had a knack for decorating homes.
'She was also, in every dimension of her life, someone who paid attention,' her family wrote. 'She could talk to anyone, was interested in everything, and was a relentless asker of questions.'
She is survived by her daughter Arin and her partner, Ethan; granddaughter Bird; stepdaughters Amy and Doon; and several nieces and a nephew.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.com ...
When I was a boy, every Thursday.at 8pm ET, my family and a neighbor girl would watch the show. I always thought Mariclare was beautiful. R.I.P.
Who?
You know. One of the sisters who made the ‘recipe’.
(Or am I thinking of someone else?)
90 is a good long life.
RIP and God’s speed Ma’am 🙏
Not one of the Baldwin Sisters. She’s much younger.
I can’t remember her on the Waltons. I would have to watch a clip.
She played Mrs. Hunter, the school teacher. She then married Reverend Fordwick, played by John Ritter.
Goodnight Rosemary....... Too Sonn?
Those were the Baldwin sisters.
“She played Rosemary Hunter Fordwick...”
Who?
I said the same thing, but I found this:
https://thewaltons.fandom.com/wiki/Rosemary_Hunter_Fordwick
I think you had to much of the recipe.
“The thespian was also ‘a wonderful cook’ who rescued stray animals...”
And what exactly was the fate of the rescued animals, stew?
CC
Rest In Peace, Mariclare.
For Christmas one of my daughters bought my wife a complete set of The Waltons TV series. She hasn’t started watching them yet.
Did you know Grandpa & Grandma Walton were both gay? Grandpa always gave me the creeps and Grandma never seemed that grandmaee.
She was married for many years to Allan Arbus, who played the psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Freedman on MASH, until his death in 2013.
Grandpa Walton was queer as a three dollar bill, a communist, and hung around young men. Makes me sick to watch the Waltons now especially one episode where he is in a hot springs with one of the young boys, implied both naked.
And to think he and grandma were around all those young kid actors. Disgusting bastards.
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