- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJeanne Murray
- Height1.73 m
- Jean Stapleton was born Jeanne Murray in Manhattan, New York City, to Marie A. (Stapleton), an opera singer, and Joseph Edward Murray, a billboard advertising salesman. Her paternal grandparents were Irish. She was a cousin of actress Betty Jane Watson. Other relatives in show business were her uncle, Joseph E. Deming, a vaudevillian; and her brother Jack Stapleton, a stage actor. She graduated from Wadleigh High School, NYC, in 1939. She worked as a secretary before becoming an actress. Stapleton made her stage debut at the Greenwood Playhouse, Peaks Island, Maine, in the summer of 1941, and her New York stage debut in "The Corn Is Green" (1948). She appeared on Broadway in the musicals "Damn Yankees" (1955) and "Bells Are Ringing" (1956), and later repeated her roles in the movie versions (Damn Yankees (1958) and Un numéro du tonnerre (1960)). Her other Broadway roles included the original companies of "Rhinoceros" (1961) and "Funny Girl" (1964). Stapleton also played Abby Brewster in the 1986-87 revival of "Arsenic and Old Lace".- IMDb mini biography by: Tim Dunleavy <timd@snip.net>
- SpouseWilliam Putch(October 26, 1957 - November 23, 1983) (his death, 2 children)
- Children
- ParentsJoseph E. MurrayMarie Stapleton Murray
- Her high-pitched nasally voice (as Edith Bunker on All in the family (1971)).
- Thin frame
- In the TV series The Defenders episode The Hidden Jungle (1962), which aired 1 December 1962, an unknown actress at this time, she played a woman who witnessed a murder. In the episode, while on the witness stand, she is asked to point out the murderer. The actor playing the murderer was another unknown named Carroll O'Connor, who later starred with her in All in the family (1971).
- Best friend of Carroll O'Connor.
- She won the role of Edith Bunker on All in the family (1971) when creator Norman Lear directed her in his 1971 film Cold Turkey (1971).
- Was offered a role in Willy Wonka au pays enchanté (1971), but turned it down to work on the pilot of All in the family (1971).
- Her first Broadway appearance following her departure from long-term TV series hits ("All in the Family" and "Archie Bunker's Place") was the comedy "Arsenic and Old Lace," alongside another actress (Polly Holliday) who was also trying to get some distance from her own long series of TV hits ("Alice" and "Flo"). Interestingly, Holliday was later replaced by Marion Ross in the "Arsenic" role. Ross also was aiming for her first Broadway appearance following a long TV run in "Happy Days.".
- [on being identified with Edith] The first time I was on [the TV quiz show] "Hollywood Squares", I didn't get one question until the end. I assumed it was because they thought I was a dingbat.
- [on her most famous character, Edith] She is not the typical American housewife. At least, I *hope* she's not the typical American housewife. What Edith represents is the housewife who is still in bondage to the male figure, very submissive and restricted to the home. She is very naive, and she kind of thinks through a mist, and she lacks the education to expand her world. I would hope that most housewives are not like that. [But] I view her as a true and honest reflection of a woman who is part of a family like the Bunkers. She has her good points--she is very human, very honest, very compassionate, very intuitive, and in most situations she says the truth and pricks Archie's inflated ego.
- There's nothing like humor to burst what seems to be an enormous problem.
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