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Sally Struthers

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Sally Struthers
Struthers in 1996
Born
Sally Anne Struthers

(1947-07-28) July 28, 1947 (age 77)
Portland, Oregon, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actress, activist
Years active1970–present
Known forGloria Bunker–Stivic – All in the Family
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1977; div. 1983)​
Children1

Sally Anne Struthers (born July 28, 1947)[1] is an American actress and activist. She played Gloria Bunker–Stivic, the daughter of Archie and Edith Bunker (played by Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton) on All in the Family, for which she won two Emmy awards, and Babette on Gilmore Girls. She was also the voice of Charlene Sinclair on the ABC sitcom Dinosaurs and Rebecca Cunningham on the Disney animated series TaleSpin.

Early life

Struthers' senior class photo, 1965

Sally Anne Struthers was born July 28, 1947, in Portland, Oregon,[1] the second of two daughters[2][3] born to Margaret Caroline (née Jernes) and Robert Alden Struthers, a surgeon. She has an older sister, Sue.[4] Her maternal grandparents were Norwegian immigrants.[2]

Her father abandoned the family when Struthers was approximately nine years old,[2] after which she was raised by her single mother in the Concordia neighborhood of northeast Portland.[5] Her mother, who supported herself and her two daughters working at Bonneville Power Administration,[5] suffered from significant depression during Struthers' childhood.[5]

Career

In Five Easy Pieces (1970) Struthers was cast opposite Jack Nicholson. She appeared as a restless wife of a veterinarian in The GetawayStarring Steve McQueen (1972). Around that time Struthers debuted as Gloria Stivic on the 1970s sitcom All in the Family. Producer Norman Lear had found the actress dancing on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.[citation needed]

According to a WPTT radio interview with Doug Hoerth in 2003,[citation needed] Struthers thought that Reiner's then-fiancée and later wife, Penny Marshall, would get the role of Gloria, as Marshall more resembled Jean Stapleton, who played Edith Bunker. Actress Candice Azzara had played the role of Gloria in a pilot episode, but was soon dropped. After a shaky start, the series became a hit beginning with its summer reruns, giving tens of millions of viewers the chance to see Gloria defending her liberal viewpoints about negative stereotypes and inequality. Struthers won two Emmy Awards (in 1972 and 1979) for her work on the show. In 2012, Struthers recalled the serendipity that helped her land the role:

I had just gotten let go from The Tim Conway Comedy Hour because the suits in New York said that I made the show look cheap. And the producer said, "That's the whole point, we're trying to make it look like the Conway show doesn't have a budget, has no money, and so that's why there's only one Tim Conway dancer instead of a line of them like the June Taylor Dancers on The Jackie Gleason Show, and there's only one musician, and they can't even afford an instrument for him, so he's standing at a music stand, humming the opening theme song." That's funny! And the suits said, "No, it makes the show look cheap." So they let me, the Tim Conway dancer, go. And if they hadn't done that, I wouldn't have been free to read for All in the Family.[6]

In 1977 she portrayed a housewife who was physically abused by her husband (portrayed by Dennis Weaver) in the made-for-TV movie Intimate Strangers, one of the first network features to depict domestic violence.[citation needed]

Struthers (upper-left) in the 1976 cast promotional photo of All in the Family

On the short-lived Archie Bunker's Place spin-off Gloria (1982–1983), Struthers reprised Gloria as a new divorcée (she became an "exchange student", when husband Mike exchanged her for one of his students). The series co-starred Burgess Meredith as the doctor of an animal clinic with Gloria as his assistant.[citation needed] From 1985 to 1986 Struthers starred as Florence Ungar in the female version of The Odd Couple. Struthers later stated in an interview on Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast, that it was an unpleasant experience until Rita Moreno, who was mean-spirited towards Struthers, left the play and was replaced by Brenda Vaccaro.[7]

She was a semi-regular panelist on the 1990 revival of Match Game and an occasional guest on Win, Lose or Draw (even filling in for Vicki Lawrence as host for a week). She also had a recurring role as Bill Miller's manipulative mother, Louise, on Still Standing and regularly appeared on Gilmore Girls as Babette Dell. She also provided voices for a number of animated series such as The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (as a teenage Pebbles Flintstone), TaleSpin (as Rebecca Cunningham) and was one of the voice stars on ABC's Dinosaurs produced by Walt Disney and Henson Productions (as Charlene Sinclair).[citation needed]

Struthers starred in the stage production of Annie at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia,[8] and in the national tour of the production in the late 1990s. She has been a regular since the early 2000s at the Ogunquit Playhouse, in Ogunquit, Maine.[9]

In 2014, Struthers toured in the 50th-anniversary production of Hello, Dolly!, playing Dolly Levi.

In Spring of 2023 Struthers will star in CLUE at a local theater on Long Island, located in New York.

Activism

Struthers has been a spokesperson for Christian Children's Fund (later renamed ChildFund), advocating on behalf of impoverished children in developing countries.

Business interests

Struthers has been a spokesperson for International Correspondence School (ICS) in television ads, pitching the famous line "Do you want to make more money? Sure, we all do!" ICS was a school with a diverse curriculum that, at the time, had fields of study going from brick laying to personal computers.[10]

Personal life

Struthers married psychiatrist William C. Rader on December 18, 1977, in Los Angeles.[11][12] After having one child, daughter Samantha, the couple divorced on January 19, 1983.[13]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
1970 The Phynx World's No. 1 Fan
1970 Five Easy Pieces Shirley "Betty"
1972 The Getaway Fran Clinton
1974 Aloha Means Goodbye Sara Moore Television film
1975 Hey, I'm Alive Helen Klaben Television film
1976 The Great Houdini Bess Houdini
1977 Intimate Strangers Janice Halston Television film
1978 My Husband is Missing Mrs. Katherine Eaton Television film
1978 A Different Approach Cameo Short film
1979 ...And Your Name Is Jonah Jenny Corelli
1981 A Gun in the House Emily Cates Television film
1989 A Deadly Silence Aunt Marilyn Television film
1990 TaleSpin: Plunder & Lightning Rebecca Cunningham Television film; voice role
1992 In the Best Interest of the Children Patty Pepper Television film
1997 The Others Mrs. Zelov
2001 Out of the Black Betty
2001 A Month of Sundays Onida Roy
2003 Reeseville Katie Oakman
2003 Baadasssss! Roz
2005 Hoodwinked! Granny Abigail Puckett Lines overdubbed by Glenn Close[14]
2006 What I Did for Love Aunt Trudy Television film
2010 Monster Heroes Kripta
2014 Waiting in the Wings: the Musical Sperm Bank Receptionist
2015 Hollywood Musical! Sally
2016 Still Waiting in the Wings Lucy
2017 The Relationtrip Liam's Mom Voice role
2017 You & Me Tilly
2018 Christmas Harmony Shirley Television film

Television

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
1970 The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour Performer 8 episodes
1970 The Tim Conway Comedy Hour 13 episodes
1971–1978 All in the Family Gloria Stivic 182 episodes
1971–1972 The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show Pebbles Flintstone (voice) 16 episodes
1971 Love, American Style Barbara Episode: "Love and the Triangle"
1971 Ironside Sandy Fonda Episode: "Love, Peace, Brotherhood and Murder"
1971 The Courtship of Eddie's Father Katie O'Hara Episode: "The Blarney Stone"
1977–1978 Fred Flintstone and Friends Pebbles Flintstone (voice) 95 episodes
1979 The 200th Episode Celebration of All in the Family Herself Television special
1979 Archie Bunker's Place Gloria Stivic Episode: "Thanksgiving Reunion"
1982 Archie Bunker's Place Gloria Stivic Episode: "Gloria Comes Home"
1982–1983 Gloria Gloria Stivic 21 episodes
1983 The Charmkins Poison Ivy (voice) 1 episode
1985 The Glo Friends Save Christmas Blanche (voice) Television special
1985 Alice in Wonderland Tiger Lily Miniseries
1986–1988 9 to 5 Marsha McMurray Shrimpton 52 episodes
1989 Charles in Charge Nora Bennington, Nancy Beauman Episode: "Still at Large"
1990 Sister Kate Mrs. Newberry Episode: "Sweet Sixteen"
1990 Murder, She Wrote Nancy La Rue Episode: "A Body to Die For"
1990–1991 TaleSpin Rebecca Cunningham (voice) 42 episodes
1991 All in the Family: 20th Anniversary Special Herself Television special
1991–1994 Dinosaurs Charlene Sinclair (voice) 65 episodes
1991 Yo Yogi! Additional voices 9 episodes
1991 Tom & Jerry Kids Jerry's Mother (voice) Episode: "Jerry's Mother"
1992 The Tin Soldier Narrator Television special
1992 Fish Police Shelly (voice) Episode: "Beauty's Only Fin Deep"
1992 Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa Bessy Bluebell (voice) Episode: "Another Fine Mesa"
1992 Tiny Toon Adventures Rhoda's Mom, Witch Sandy (voice) Episodes: "Fox Trot", "Buster's Directorial Debut"
1993–1994 Droopy, Master Detective Additional voices 13 episodes
1994 Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man Additional voices Episode: "Cellar Beware"
1995 The New Adventures of Mother Goose Mother Goose (voice) Television special
1998 Cow and Chicken Girl Enzyme #1, Native Enzyme Walla #2 (voice) Episode: "Journey to the Center of Cow"
1998 The Wild Thornberrys Galapagos Penguin, Iguanas (voice) Episode: "Eliza-cology"
1999 The Brothers Flub Additional voices
2000–2007 Gilmore Girls Babette Dell 52 episodes
2002 General Hospital Jennifer Smith 6 episodes
2002 As Told by Ginger Mrs. Higsby (voice) Episode: "New Girl in Town"
2003 Sabrina the Teenage Witch Aunt Lorraine Episode: "Ping, Ping a Song"
2003 The Division Eve Warner Episode: "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"
2003–2006 Still Standing Louise Miller 10 episodes
2004 Odd Job Jack Additional voices Episode: "Almost Wormless"
2008–2009 Betsy's Kindergarten Adventures Mrs. O'Connor (voice) 26 episodes
2011 American Dad! Clara (voice) Episode: "A Ward Show"
2011 Celebrity Ghost Stories Herself 1 episode: "Beverly D'Angelo/Sally Struthers/Melissa George"
2016 Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life Babette Dell Miniseries
2016 Maron Shirley 2 episodes
2021–2022 Around the Sun (audio drama) Mrs. Truitt (voice) 2 episodes

Stage

  • Wally's Cafe (1981) ... Janet (Broadway: Brooks Atkinson Theatre)
  • The Odd Couple (1985–1986) ... Florence Ungar (Broadway: Broadhurst Theatre)
  • Grease (1994–1998) ... Miss Lynch (Broadway: Eugene O'Neill Theatre)
  • Annie (1998–1999) ... Miss Hannigan, 20th Anniversary National Tour
  • Nunsense (2008) ... Mother Superior, 25th Anniversary Tour
  • Hello, Dolly! (2013–2014) ... Dolly Levi, 50th Anniversary Tour
  • Young Frankenstein (2022) ... Frau Blucher (McCoy/Rigby Ent. / La Mirada Theatre, CA)

Awards and nominations

Primetime Emmy Awards

Ovation Awards

  • 2010: Won the award for Featured Actress in a Musical for the role of the "Fairy Godmother" in the Cabrillo Music Theatre production of Cinderella[15]

References

  1. ^ a b Leszczak, Bob (2014). The Odd Couple on Stage and Screen: A History with Cast and Crew Profiles and an Episode Guide. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 119. ISBN 978-1-476-61539-4.
  2. ^ a b c Struthers, Sally (November 7, 2001). "Testimony to The Commission on Affordable Housing and Health Facility: Needs for Seniors in the 21st Century". Federal Depository Library Program. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
  3. ^ Tate, Toli. "All in The Acting | Grant Magazine". Retrieved 2022-02-12.
  4. ^ Tate, Toli. "All in The Acting | Grant Magazine". Retrieved 2022-02-12.
  5. ^ a b c Tate, Toli (April 24, 2017). "All in the Acting". Grant Magazine. Archived from the original on April 18, 2021. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
  6. ^ Fallick, Alan H. (July 24, 2012). "Sally Struthers on '9 to 5,' Life and Topless Scene with Jack Nicholson". Newsday.com. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
  7. ^ soundcloud.com
  8. ^ Janich, Kathy (14 January 2012). "Annie at the Fox Theatre". Encore Atlanta. Atlanta Metropolitan Publishing Inc. pp. 10–12. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  9. ^ Keyes, Bob (April 1, 2012). "Waiting in the wings: Summer". The Portland Press Herald. Portland, Maine. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
  10. ^ "Prestegious ICS School".
  11. ^ "California, Marriage Index, 1960-1985". State of California. Sally A Struthers, Female, 1947, age 30, date: 18 Dec 1977, place: Los Angeles, spouse:William C Rader
  12. ^ "Sally's Family Life". People magazine. February 16, 1981. Retrieved 2015-03-13. ... her husband, Dr. William Rader, 42 ... Rader's three children from a previous marriage ...
  13. ^ "California, Divorce Index, 1966-1984". familysearch.org. State of California. Retrieved 2021-03-06. William C Rader, date: 18 Jan 1983, place: Los Angeles, spouse: Sally A(registration required)
  14. ^ Joe Strike (August 31, 2007). ""With the Talents Of ..." Celebritization of the VO Biz". awn.com. Archived from the original on December 12, 2009. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  15. ^ "2009/2010 Ovation Award Winners". January 17, 2011. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
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