Although I never knew her Jean Stapleton passed away today 90 years old. I recall her as Edith Bunker the dingbat wife of Archie Bunker on a popular TV show All In The Family. She made me laugh. What greater gift then the ability to make someone laugh. I'm sure there is a place in Heaven for her. Godspeed Jean!
I was pretty young, just a kid. But I remember the impact "All In The Family" had at the height of it's popularity. I remember the adults in my family at gatherings talking about the shocking, scandalous and heartfelt and touching episodes. I have to admit, as a child at the time I often was allowed to watch and often watched but not with the sophistication that would catch much of the social and political significance of many of the episodes. However, I did rediscover "All In The Family" many years later as a young adult. It seemed to me to be lightening in a bottle, timeless, but simply the perfect cast at the perfect time, including Jean Stapleton. There are certain sitcoms that are timeless but also could only be done within their respective timeframes with their respective casts. Some go on too long, and maybe " All in The Family" did...I'm thinking of later years when Archie owned a bar and the show had lost Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers. I put "All in The Family" in it's best years, in the classification of such timeless and great Sitcom/Drama's as MASH. Another impeccably cast work that was able to combine flat out humor, with real drama and social importance attached. In anycase, I'm saddened to hear of her passing away. She did a pitch perfect job portraying Edith Bunker and with time on that sitcom created a depth of character that made a Edith Bunker more than just a one dimensional supporting cast member. More than just a foil to Carrol O' Connors' Archie Bunker. I could probably bore everyone with a long, long essay about her character alone. I can still remember as a kid, the television being on and the start of "All in The Family". Honestly, as a kid I hated the introduction to that show. The purposely off key singing of Stapleton and Connor singing "Those Were The Days", the grainy newsreel looking footage of 1970's boroughs....as a kid, I didn't get why the adults were so in to this program....not when Planet of The Apes- The Series or Bionic Man might be on..... It was only years later as an adult that I was able through cable television to revisit " All in The Family", and learn that the off key singing of Jean Stapleton as Edith Bunker....was pitch perfect.
She definitely brought a lot of laughter to a lot of people. I didn't know her from All in the Family. I have never seen an episode, but do remember her from "You've Got Mail." She had a long life and I am sure her sense of humor helped that.
There was one episode where she was going through "the change". In that episode she had to depart from her usual nice character and turn into an occasional raging b**ch. It was a role requiring absolutely perfect acting to pull it off. She did. It would still be great today.
