Damn, this sucks. She was so brilliant in Arrested Development.
RIP.
Quote:
Jessica Walter, a fan-favorite actress who starred in TV series “Arrested Development” and “Archer,” has died. She was 80.
Walter died on Wednesday in her home in New York. Walter’s publicist confirmed her passing.
Brooke Bowman, Walter’s daughter who is a senior vice president of drama programming at Fox Entertainment, released a statement to Deadline: “It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of my beloved mom Jessica. A working actor for over six decades, her greatest pleasure was bringing joy to others through her storytelling both on screen and off. While her legacy will live on through her body of work, she will also be remembered by many for her wit, class and overall joie de vivre.”
Walter’s career spanned five decades. She starred in Clint Eastwood’s directorial debut “Play Misty for Me” in 1971. Additional film roles include “Grand Prix” and “The Group.” Most people today know Walter for either her Emmy-nominated turn as Bluth family matriarch Lucille on “Arrested Development” and her voice role on FX’s longrunning animated comedy “Archer,” where she played Malory Archer, the mother of H. John Benjamin’s Sterling Archer.
Walter won an Emmy for her lead role in “Amy Prentiss.” Walter also received Emmy nominations for her roles in “The Streets of San Francisco” in 1977 and “Trapper John, M.D.” in 1980.
She was born in 1941 in Brooklyn and grew up in the Queens neighborhood of Astoria. She got her start in the 1960s, winning the Clarence Derwent Award in 1963 for Outstanding Debut Broadway Performance for “Photo Finish.” Her first TV role came on the CBS soap opera “Love of Life” in 1962.