Jean Stapleton Passes Away!

Groundbreaking sitcom featuring Carroll O'Conner and Jean Stapleton. CBS comedy All In The Family tackled present day controversies such as racism, homophobia, religious intolerance and economic struggles.

Out of Hollywood, the famed mother of the Bunker household Jean Stapleton died.

One of the CBS Network's most controversial comedies was All In The Family. Besides our current crop of  controversial programs on CBS, All In The Family took on issues such as race, sexuality, nationality, religion, political and economic standings.

Produced by Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin, All in the Family revolved around the life of a working class bigot and his family. It is based on the British television comedy series Till Death Us Do Part.

Despite being considerably softer in its approach than its BBC predecessor, the show broke ground in its depiction of issues previously considered unsuitable for U.S. network television comedy, such as racism, homosexuality, women's liberation, rape, miscarriage, abortion, breast cancer, the Vietnam War, menopause, and impotence. Through depicting these controversial issues, the series became arguably one of television's most influential comedic programs, as it injected the sitcom format with real-life conflicts.

The show ranked number-one in the yearly Nielsen ratings from 1971 to 1976.

It became the first television series to reach the milestone of having topped the Nielsen ratings for five consecutive years, a mark later matched by The Cosby Show and surpassed by American Idol, which notched eight consecutive seasons at #1.

The episode "Sammy's Visit" was ranked #13 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.

TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time ranked All in the Family as #4. Bravo also named the show's protagonist, Archie Bunker, TV's greatest character of all time

Stapleton (born Jeanne Murray; January 19, 1923 – May 31, 2013) was an American character actress of stage, television and film.

She was best known for her portrayal of Edith Bunker, the long-suffering, yet devoted wife of Archie Bunker (played by Carroll O'Connor) and mother of Gloria Stivic (played by Sally Struthers), on the 1970s situation comedy All in the Family.

Stapleton remained with the show all through the original series run but decided to leave before the first season of Archie Bunker's Place had wrapped up. At that point Edith was written out as having suffered a stroke and died off-camera, leaving Archie to deal with the death of his beloved "dingbat".

Stapleton appeared in all but four episodes of All in the Family and had a recurring role during the first season of Archie Bunker's Place.

Stapleton died, surrounded by family and friends, on May 31, 2013 in New York City of natural causes.

She was 90 and is survived by her two children, John, a TV director, and Pamela, a TV producer, and several grandchildren.

Conservatives could relate to Archie Bunker.  Bunker (Carroll O'Connor) was a working-class World War II veteran. He is an outspoken bigot, seemingly prejudiced against everyone who is not a U.S.-born, politically conservative, heterosexual White Anglo-Saxon Protestant male, and dismissive of anyone not in agreement with his view of the world.

By contrast, Archie's wife, Edith (Jean Stapleton), is a sweet and understanding, if somewhat naïve, woman. She usually defers to her husband. On the rare occasions when Edith takes a stand she proves to be one of the wisest characters, as evidenced in the episodes "The Battle of the Month" and "The Games Bunkers Play". Archie often tells her to "stifle" herself and calls her a "dingbat". Despite their different personalities they love each other deeply.

I wasn't around during its run, but I've seen the program on TV Land and syndication. Here's an episode on YouTube. Take discretion in viewing this program. This episode contains controversial themes. It features O'Connell, Stapleton, comedian/director Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers.