Jean Stapleton

Jean Stapleton

  • Birthday: 1923-01-19
  • Deathday: 2013-05-31
  • Place of birth: Manhattan, New York, US

Biography

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".

Filmography

Angel Dusted

1981

As Betty Eaton

Aunt Mary

1979

As Mary Dobkin

Eleanor, First Lady of the World

1982

As Eleanor Roosevelt

You Can't Take it With You

1979

As Penny Sycamore

A Matter of Sex

1984

As Irene Wallin

Bury Me in Niagara

1993

As Mildred

Isabel's Choice

1981

As Isabel Cooper

Dead Man's Folly

1986

As Ariadne Oliver

Acts of Love and Other Comedies

1973

As Gina's Mother

Baby

2000

As Byrd

Fire in the Dark

1991

As Henry Dutton

Jack and the Beanstalk

1983

As The Giantess

Cinderella

1985

As Fairy Godmother

Pursuit of Happiness

2001

As Lorrraine

The Buddy System

1984

As Mrs. Price

Something Wild

1961

As Shirley Johnson

The Habitation of Dragons

1992

As Lenora Tolliver

Up the Down Staircase

1967

As Sadie Finch

Bells Are Ringing

1960

As Sue

Tail Gunner Joe

1977

As Mrs. DeCamp

Michael

1996

As Pansy Milbank

Lily Dale

1996

As Mrs. Coons

Chance of a Lifetime

1998

As Mrs. Dunbar

You've Got Mail

1998

As Birdie Conrad

Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World

1998

As Mrs. Jenkins (voice)

Cold Turkey

1971

As Mrs. Wappler

Damn Yankees

1958

As Sister Miller

Pursuit of Happiness

2001

As Lorraine

Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme

1990

As Mother Goose

Klute

1971

As Strassberg's Secretary

The Trial

1993

As Landlady (uncredited)

The Last Laugh

2016

As Self

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