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.
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She did a great deal of acting on this show and later on in a few movies, but I have no memory of her. Probably because most of her roles were cast as being a wife or partner of the actual star of the film. In her day, there were fewer good roles for nice looking adult women, unless it was somebody’s quiet wife.
She’s the one who told John Boy to follow his heart and go to Boatwright. Leaving the family to struggle…
How about Jeremiah Johnson? You come far, pilgrim.
She was perfect as a small-school teacher, and a major influence for John Boy.
I’m thinking she appeared in some of the later episodes, which kind of turned me off when the kids were not really kids anymore.
Seasons 1, 2 & 3 were it for me.
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