Jean Stapleton

Known for ActingBorn 1923-01-19Died 2013-05-31Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

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, and attended Hunter College. 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 Bells Are Ringing (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".Read more

Movies & web series

Good Evening Captain

Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories

Funny Ladies: A Portrait of Women Cartoonists

Fire in the Dark

All in the Family: 20th Anniversary Special

Something's Afoot

Angel Dusted

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Beakman's World

E! True Hollywood Story

Baby

Style & Substance

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

Faerie Tale Theatre

The Muppet Show

Chance of a Lifetime

All in the Family

The Carol Burnett Show

Like Mother Like Son: The Strange Story of Sante and Kenny Kimes

Trying Times

A Matter of Sex

The Last Laugh

Touched by an Angel

Aunt Mary

Tail Gunner Joe

The Electric Company

Gonzo Presents Muppet Weird Stuff

Cinderella

Eleanor, First Lady of the World

The Ray Bradbury Theater

You Can't Take it With You

Up the Down Staircase

Everybody Loves Raymond

Cher

Dinah!

Acts of Love and Other Comedies

Saturday Night Live

You've Got Mail

Golden Globe Awards

The Dick Cavett Show

Caroline in the City

Klute

Bury Me in Niagara

Scarecrow and Mrs. King

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

Route 66

The Eleventh Hour

Murphy Brown