Stifled

Or

Those Were The Days

Jean Stapleton, America’s beloved dingbat, has died at the age of 90. Stapleton won 3 Emmys for playing the put-upon simpleton capable of great kindness and fairness, much to the chagrin of Carroll O’Connor’s judgmental, racist, misogynist, but ultimately loving patriarch, Archie. As if Archie’s constant abuse wasn’t enough, Edith dealt with menopause, breast cancer and a sexual assault (because who didn’t get a little randy thinking about a middle-aged woman in a shapeless housecoat?) as the 1970s sought to darken the previously sunny lives of sitcommers, inspiring the backlash of the 1980s that resulted in sitcoms about little girl robots, cross-dressing advertising staffers, buxom blonde sheriffs and furry alien invaders. Before taking up residence at 704 Hauser, Stapleton was in the original Broadway casts of “Bells are Ringing” and “Funny Girl.” After Edith died following the first season of Archie Bunker’s Place, Stapleton passed up the role of Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote; worked for Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail, played Ray Barone’s aunt and Miles Silverberg’s grandmother and was an Off Broadway fixture to stellar reviews in The Carpetbagger’s Children, The Entertainer, Mountain Language and The Birthday Party.