Sally Struthers

Sally Anne Struthers (born July 28, 1947) is an American actress and activist. She played Gloria Stivic, the daughter of Archie and Edith Bunker in All in the Family, for which she won two Emmy Awards, and Babette on Gilmore Girls. She was also the voice of Charlene Sinclair on the ABC sitcom Dinosaurs, Pebbles Flintstone on The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, and Rebecca Cunningham on the Disney animated series TaleSpin.

Early life

File:Sally Struthers yearbook photo 1965.png

Struthers' senior class photo, 1965

Sally Anne Struthers was born on July 28, 1947, in Portland, Oregon,<ref name=Leszczak>Template:Cite book</ref> the second of two daughters<ref name=testimony/><ref name="All in The Acting | Grant Magazine">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> born to Margaret Caroline (née Jernes) and Robert Alden Struthers, a surgeon. She has an older sister, Sue.<ref name="All in The Acting | Grant Magazine" /> Her maternal grandparents were Norwegian immigrants.<ref name=testimony>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Her father abandoned the family when Struthers was approximately nine years old,<ref name=testimony/> after which she was raised by her single mother in the Concordia neighborhood of northeast Portland.<ref name=tate>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Her mother, who supported herself and her two daughters working at Bonneville Power Administration,<ref name=tate/> suffered from significant depression during Struthers' childhood.<ref name=tate/>

Career

She appeared as a restless wife of a veterinarian in The Getaway starring Steve McQueen (1972). Around that time, Struthers debuted as Gloria Stivic on the 1970s sitcom All in the Family; producer Norman Lear had found the actress dancing on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.Template:Citation needed

According to a WPTT radio interview with Doug Hoerth in 2003,Template:Citation needed Struthers thought that Rob Reiner's then-fiancée and later wife, Penny Marshall, would get the role of Gloria, as Marshall more resembled Jean Stapleton, who played Edith Bunker. Actress Candice Azzara had played the role of Gloria in a pilot episode, but was soon dropped. After a shaky start, the series became a hit beginning with its summer reruns, giving tens of millions of viewers the chance to see Gloria defending her viewpoints about negative stereotypes and inequality. Struthers won two Emmy Awards (in 1972 and 1979) for her work on the show. In 2012, Struthers recalled the serendipity that helped her land the role: Template:Quote

In 1977 she portrayed a housewife who was physically abused by her husband (portrayed by Dennis Weaver) in the made-for-TV movie Intimate Strangers, one of the first network features to depict domestic violence.Template:Citation needed

File:All in the Family cast 1976.JPG

Struthers (upper-left) in the 1976 cast promotional photo of All in the Family

On the short-lived Archie Bunker's Place spin-off Gloria (1982–1983), Struthers reprised Gloria as a new divorcée (she became an "exchange student," when husband Mike exchanged her for one of his students). The series co-starred Burgess Meredith as the doctor of an animal clinic with Gloria as his assistant.Template:Citation needed From 1985 to 1986 Struthers starred as Florence Ungar in the female version of The Odd Couple. Struthers later stated in an interview on Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast, that it was an unpleasant experience until Rita Moreno, who was mean-spirited towards Struthers, left the play and was replaced by Brenda Vaccaro.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

She was a semi-regular panelist on the 1990 revival of Match Game and an occasional guest on Win, Lose or Draw (even filling in for Vicki Lawrence as host for a week). She also had a recurring role as Bill Miller's manipulative mother, Louise, on Still Standing and regularly appeared on Gilmore Girls as Babette Dell. She also provided voices for a number of animated series such as The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (as a teenage Pebbles Flintstone), TaleSpin (as Rebecca Cunningham) and was one of the voice stars on ABC's Dinosaurs produced by Walt Disney and Henson Productions (as Charlene Sinclair).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Struthers starred in the stage production of Annie at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and in the national tour of the production in the late 1990s. She has been a regular since the early 2000s at the Ogunquit Playhouse, in Ogunquit, Maine.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2014, Struthers toured in the 50th-anniversary production of Hello, Dolly!, playing Dolly Levi.

In 2024, Struthers began playing Virgina Foldau in the Netflix series A Man on the Inside, starring Ted Danson. In January 2025, The Life and Times of Norman Lear author Tripp Whetsell revealed that Struthers had a tense relationship with Norman Lear and tried to leave All In The Family after the fifth season, spending $40,000 in legal fees in an unsuccessful effort to get out of her contract.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Activism

Struthers was<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> a spokesperson for Christian Children's Fund (later renamed ChildFund), advocating on behalf of impoverished children in developing countries.

Business interests

Struthers has been a spokesperson for International Correspondence School (ICS) in television ads, pitching the famous line "Do you want to make more money? Sure, we all do!" ICS was a school with a diverse curriculum that, at the time, had fields of study going from brick laying to personal computers.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

Struthers married psychiatrist William C. Rader on December 18, 1977, in Los Angeles.<ref name=index>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=People>Template:Cite news</ref> After having one child, daughter Samantha, the couple divorced on January 19, 1983.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Registration required</ref>

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Template:Tooltip
1970	Template:Sortname	World's No. 1 Fan
1970	Five Easy Pieces	Shirley "Betty"
1972	Template:Sortname	Fran Clinton
1976	Template:Sortname	Bess Houdini
1978	Template:Sortname	Cameo	Short film
1979	...And Your Name Is Jonah	Jenny Corelli
1997	Template:Sortname	Mrs. Zelov
2001	Out of the Black	Betty
2001	A Month of Sundays	Onida Roy
2003	Reeseville	Katie Oakman
2003	Baadasssss!	Roz
2005	Hoodwinked!	Granny Abigail Puckett	Unused voice; lines overdubbed by Glenn Close	<ref name="With the Talents Of">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2010	Monster Heroes	Kripta
2014	Waiting in the Wings: the Musical	Sperm Bank Receptionist
2015	Hollywood Musical!	Sally
2016	Still Waiting in the Wings	Lucy
2017	The Relationtrip	Liam's Mom	Voice	<ref name="btva">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }} A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.</ref>
2017	You & Me	Tilly

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Template:Tooltip
1970	The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour	Performer	8 episodes
1970	The Tim Conway Comedy Hour		13 episodes
1971–1978	All in the Family	Gloria Stivic	182 episodes
1971–1972	The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show	Pebbles Flintstone	Voice, 16 episodes
1971	Love, American Style	Barbara	Episode: "Love and the Triangle"
1971	Ironside	Sandy Fonda	Episode: "Love, Peace, Brotherhood and Murder"
1971	The Courtship of Eddie's Father	Katie O'Hara	Episode: "The Blarney Stone"
1974	Aloha Means Goodbye	Sara Moore	Television film
1975	Hey, I'm Alive	Helen Klaben	Television film
1977–1978	Fred Flintstone and Friends	Pebbles Flintstone	Voice, 95 episodes
1977	Intimate Strangers	Janice Halston	Television film
1978	My Husband is Missing	Mrs. Katherine Eaton	Television film
1979	The 200th Episode Celebration of All in the Family	Herself	Television special
1979–1982	Archie Bunker's Place	Gloria Stivic	5 episodes
1981	A Gun in the House	Emily Cates	Television film
1982–1983	Gloria	Gloria Stivic	21 episodes
1983	The Charmkins	Poison Ivy	Voice, 1 episode	<ref name="btva" />
1985	The Glo Friends Save Christmas	Blanche	Voice, television special
1985	Alice in Wonderland	Tiger Lily	Miniseries
1986–1988	9 to 5	Marsha McMurray Shrimpton	52 episodes
1989	Charles in Charge	Nora Bennington, Nancy Beauman	Episode: "Still at Large"
1989	A Deadly Silence	Aunt Marilyn	Television film
1990	TaleSpin: Plunder & Lightning	Rebecca Cunningham	Voice, television film
1990	Sister Kate	Mrs. Newberry	Episode: "Sweet Sixteen"
1990	Murder, She Wrote	Nancy La Rue	Episode: "A Body to Die For"
1990–1991	TaleSpin	Rebecca Cunningham	Voice, 42 episodes
1991	All in the Family: 20th Anniversary Special	Herself	Television special
1991–1994	Dinosaurs	Charlene Sinclair	Voice, 65 episodes
1991	Yo Yogi!	Additional voices	9 episodes
1991	Tom & Jerry Kids	Jerry's Mother	Voice, episode: "Jerry's Mother"
1992	In the Best Interest of the Children	Patty Pepper	Television film
1992	The Tin Soldier	Narrator	Television special
1992	Fish Police	Shelly	Voice, episode: "Beauty's Only Fin Deep"
1992	Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa	Bessy Bluebell	Voice, episode: "Another Fine Mesa"
1992	Tiny Toon Adventures	Rhoda's Mom, Witch Sandy	Voice, 2 episodes	<ref name="btva" />
1993–1994	Droopy, Master Detective	Additional voices	13 episodes
1994	Duckman	Additional voices	Episode: "Cellar Beware"
1995	The New Adventures of Mother Goose	Mother Goose	Voice, television special
1998	Cow and Chicken	Girl Enzyme #1	Voice, episode: "Journey to the Center of Cow"	<ref name="btva" />
1998	The Wild Thornberrys	Galapagos Penguin, Iguanas	Voice, episode: "Eliza-cology"	<ref name="btva" />
1999	The Brothers Flub	Additional voices	Voice
2000–2007	Gilmore Girls	Babette Dell	52 episodes
2002	General Hospital	Jennifer Smith	6 episodes
2002	As Told by Ginger	Mrs. Higsby	Voice, episode: "New Girl in Town"
2003	Sabrina the Teenage Witch	Aunt Lorraine	Episode: "Ping, Ping a Song"
2003	The Division	Eve Warner	Episode: "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"
2003–2006	Still Standing	Louise Miller	10 episodes
2004	Odd Job Jack	Additional voices	Episode: "Almost Wormless"
2006	What I Did for Love	Aunt Trudy	Television film
2008–2009	Betsy's Kindergarten Adventures	Mrs. O'Connor	Voice, 26 episodes
2011	American Dad!	Clara	Voice, episode: "A Ward Show"
2011	Celebrity Ghost Stories	Herself	Episode: "Beverly D'Angelo/Sally Struthers/Melissa George"
2016	Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life	Babette Dell	Miniseries
2016	Maron	Shirley	2 episodes
2018	Christmas Harmony	Shirley	Television film
2019–2021	Summer Camp Island	Rose / various	Voice, 3 episodes
2024–	A Man on the Inside	Virginia	8 episodes

Audio dramas

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Template:Tooltip
2021–2022	Around the Sun	Mrs. Truitt	Voice, 2 episodes

Stage

• Wally's Cafe (1981) ... Janet (Broadway: Brooks Atkinson Theatre)
• The Odd Couple (1985–1986) ... Florence Ungar (Broadway: Broadhurst Theatre)
• Grease (1994–1998) ... Miss Lynch (Broadway: Eugene O'Neill Theatre)
• Annie (1998–1999) ... Miss Hannigan, 20th Anniversary National Tour
• Nunsense (2008) ... Mother Superior, 25th Anniversary Tour
• Hello, Dolly! (2013–2014) ... Dolly Levi, 50th Anniversary Tour
• Young Frankenstein (2022) ... Frau Blucher (McCoy/Rigby Ent. / La Mirada Theatre, CA)

Awards and nominations

Primetime Emmy Awards

• 1971 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (tied with Valerie Harper)
• 1979 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Ovation Awards

• 2010: Won the award for Featured Actress in a Musical for the role of the "Fairy Godmother" in the Cabrillo Music Theatre production of Cinderella<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In popular culture

• Struthers was satirized in South Park, mainly the episodes "Starvin' Marvin" (1997) and "Starvin' Marvin in Space" (1999). In the latter she resembles Jabba the Hutt and eats the Christian Children's Fund's food herself.

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0001783

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• Sally Struthers at Voice Chasers