Edie McClurg

She was all over in the 80s and 90s

Nursie-nurse nurse!

It's been discussed here at length that apparently she is an uber-cunt in real life.

She was perfection here...

Isn't that just the perfect name for her?

What's the gossip, r3?

She looks like she could be fun.

The last time I saw (heard) her was a few years ago. She was a weekly guest on the Stephanie Miller's radio show for awhile. She seemed pleasant enough there, and obviously, being on that show, pretty liberal.

She's actually very articulate and a liberal political activist. Love her.

R6 In the Herbert Ross Troll threads on DataLounge, people who know her and/or who have worked with have all said she's a nasty bitch. One guy was a contestant on Password and she was his partner. He said when the cameras stopped rolling, her sweet smile turned to a scowl and she completely ignored him.

Oh dear, did her comments at the beginning of this interview get her blacklisted?

[quote]She's like the Midwestern frau prototype.

No kidding. There are clones of her at every small town church potluck and pta meetings.

R9 so you';re taking DL hearsay as gospel?

R10 Did I say that? I'm simply recounting the stories that have been told about her on this thread.

There was a strange situation with her on The Howard Stern Show back sometime in the late '80s or early '90s.

She'd become something of a regular on the show. Back then,any celebrity who willing to show up and hang out on the show, Howard would have. One morning, she came on the air kind of babbling and not making much sense. She was talking, but not saying anything. Then Robin Quivers revealed that about 15 minutes before she came on-air, she'd gone into the restroom and saw Edie passed on on the bathroom stall, on the floor!

Eventually, Howard asked her to go lay down in the green room. She did, and returned to the air sounding more coherent, but very worn down. It was a very strange episode. I wondered if she'd taken too many benzos or something.

Carrie is on AMC right now.

I love her in Elvira Mistress of the Dark.

She was great on Valerie/Valerie's Family/The Hogan Family. She stole all her scenes.

r12 most character actors get tired of being the character.... she's had a couple interviews discussing the point or mostly being burned out of sitcoms because they'd hire her to play the character but then as it show grows, they'd cut her instead of letting her character grow too... but then she adopted the Ruth Buzzi credo. (while taking breaks for the stage to play more dramatic roles.

R13 but you're recounting them as if they were fact.

r14

she did have known health issues too, not quite full blown diabetes but some kind of blood sugar / autonomic disorder.. didn't she?

R17 No, that's your perception. Listen, I love Edie, and I was disappointed to read the less than flattering stories about her. Are they true? Who knows? It shouldn't stop you from liking her if you like her.

Loved her on David Letterman's daytime show.

N20 "Nyork, Nyork..."

R19 but hwy would you be disappointed in her because of rumors?

R22 Oh, Lord. Enough.

Lucille: We only allow the children to watch wholesome, family entertainment.

TV Hostess: Like what?

Lucille: Well, the Little House on the Prairie. Now that's a fine, wholesome show. It's about blind children out west, and every week they have a fire, or someone gets an incurable disease. We enjoy it very much.

R23 you opened yourself up to that, for believing unfounded gossip from an online forum. Feel foolish now?

R25 Sweetheart, try and troll all you want. No one - including me - is taking your bait. You're the only looking foolish here. Now back to the fun...

Does anyone remember her in Eating Raoul? She played a suburban housewife who was also a sex-crazed swinger.

I know people who are close to her....she apparently had a LTR with Nelson Rockefeller Jr in the mid 90's.

R28 Really? Now that's some great dirt!

R27 Her line was, "Bruce is into S&M, and I'm into B&D. We met at the A&P!"

R30 Yes!

Moose, honey, they're into DOGGIES!

Also fantastic in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" .

Her brother was also an actor, Bob McClurg. He played Cindy William's brother on "Laverne and Shirley". He was already bald but really kinda cute.

Edie can be reserved, but she's not a bitch. I think she's always been insecure about her looks, and she's tried to compensate with comedy, but she also doesn't want to be known only as a "funny little plump woman," so she also compensates by letting you know she's well educated.

But the Midwestern housewife role has made her rich and she knows it -- she was playing 50 when she was in her 20s and she's in her 60s now.

Her early roles included a teenager in "Carrie," and she was one of the original cast members of "The Pee-wee Herman Show," though she didn't move to the TV show, for whatever reason. I can't remember the character -- a female explorer or a steamboat captain or something.

She's not a bad person, but like a lot of actors, she's basically insecure.

Here she is in "Carrie." She probably was in her early to mid-20s then, but looked more like a middle-aged teacher than the student she played.

I think she's a righteous dude.

Also: one of the funniest characters she ever played was Ann Landers. It would be lost as a reference today, but she had Ann's Midwestern twang and spitty lisp down pat, along with the perfect wig.

Here's a picture of Ann. You can see why Edie would slay it.

To be fair that Herb Ross thread went on for about 10,000 posts and for a while almost everyone on it had an "Edie McClurg is a bitch" story.

She was nice to me when I met her but was mean to someone I know (who is also kind of a cunt) so who knows. I heard she has dementia.

Well howdy doo

My cousin told me she's African American

I loved her in Cheech & Chong's Next Movie. This scene makes me laugh.

Another scene with Edie in Cheech & Chong's Next Movie.

Did she die?

She should star in The Cathy Mitchell Story.

So funny that she went from playing a teenager in 'Carrie' to playing Herb Tarlick's wife on 'WKRP' about two minutes later.

She was a bitch, I am glad when we fired her fat ass and replaced her with Esmerelda

[quote]So funny that she went from playing a teenager in 'Carrie'

What the hell was she thinking anyway

No one's pointed out that r18's clip is not Edie McClurg?

A while ago someone posted a funny story here about writing Edie a fan letter while they were drunk with a friend and took poloraids of themselves being silly. A few weeks later they got a nice letter back and autographs and she joked about them being drunk. She also posted on the IMDb boards a few times and seemed pretty cool.

I don't think you could be that nasty and work regularly for the last 40 years like she has.

[quote]She was a bitch, I am glad when we fired her fat ass and replaced her with Esmerelda —Vicki The Robot

They didn't fire her. They were basically doing a Disney-type show on a John Waters budget, and they just couldn't afford the and/as, regular role and salary increase that NBC offered her.

Her satire on that certain sort of frumpy frau is about as perfect and hilarious as it gets.

She's a CUNT!

I've seen her out and about and she's very different than the characters she plays....pink Juicy Couture outfit with large crucifix jewelry and dirty Ugg boots.

So an older version of Paris Hilton R54?

She was only 28 when she filmed CHEECH & CHONG'S NEXT MOVIE and just turned 29 when it was released. She as born July 23, 1951, and the film was released July 13, 1980. Yet she was playing a middleaged housewife. Cheech even called her 'grandma.' '

Which means that she was in her mid-20s playing Lucille Tarlick on 'WKRP', who was supposed to be in her mid to late 40s

[quote] Which means that she was in her mid-20s playing Lucille Tarlick on 'WKRP', who was supposed to be in her mid to late 40s

Your point?

Who told you that r58?

R59 You need to learn how to spell your own name, honey.

R41 Your cousin is "special needs," right?

Hi-ho, Hogans!

Did I totally miss a show called the Hogans??? I don't remember this at all.

She used to say well howdy do.

Classic. LOVED her in Bueller's Day Off. Had me in stitches with the pencil in the hair nervous gesture and relaying "false" information to the school principal.

And as previous poster cited: Her role in annoying Steve Martin in Trains, Planes and Automobiles had me in stitches.

Thank you for that link r4.

Edie McClurg, Password Shark

R63 it was originally titled VALERIE and was supposed to be a vehicle for Valerie Harper, about the trials and tribulations of being a working mom. But then Jason Bateman, who played the oldest son, became a teen heartthrob and producers started to focus on him and his younger twin brothers. This angered Valerie. Plus, she demanded a pay raise, and when they didn't meet her demands, she stopped showing up to the set. It was a tactic that had worked on RHODA, but this time TPTB did not budge. Harper was fired after Season 2 and replaced with Sandy Duncan, who played the paternal aunt. The show went on for four more seasons, first as VALERIE'S FAMILY, then as THE HOGAN FAMILY.

How did they explain the mom disappearing and an aunt taking care of them in TV fantasy land R68?

R69, it was explained that the paternal aunt needed an eye transplant and the only match was her sister-in-law, who subsequently died on the operating table. The irony was that the eye wasn't a match after all so she was stuck with a glass eye. There was a 'Very Special Episode' where the boys took things too far and were playing keep away from Sandy with the glass eye. It was pretty heavy stuff for the time.

R69 Valerie was killed off in a car accident that happened off-screen between Seasons 2 and 3. Season 3 began with her funeral. Duncan was the aunt who came over to help her brother and her nephews during the grieving process and to be a surrogate mother.

[quote]They didn't fire her. They were basically doing a Disney-type show on a John Waters budget, and they just couldn't afford the and/as, regular role and salary increase that NBC offered her.

They fired her and trust me, when you get fired and replaced by Esmerelda it turns you into a grumpy old bitch real quick

[quote]She was only 28 when she filmed CHEECH & CHONG'S NEXT MOVIE and just turned 29 when it was released.

That's too old to be playing a teenager

"Her brother was also an actor, Bob McClurg. He played Cindy William's brother on "Laverne and Shirley".

I thought Ed Begley Jr. played Shirley's brother on L&S. I distinctly remember a show where he was her brother.

[quote]But then Jason Bateman, who played the oldest son, became a teen heartthrob and producers started to focus on him and his younger twin brothers. This angered Valerie.

This has happened so many times. A tv show starts out as a vehicle for the adult star or stars, then one of the teenage boys on the show turns into fantasy fuckbait for teen girls, and the whole dynamic of the show changes. That's just what happens sometimes, and it can't be turned around.

R75 I believe that's what happened with FAMILY TIES, too. It was going to be about the hippy, liberal parents in the Reagan era, but then Michael J., Fox broke out as the star and won all those Emmys, while Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross were not nominated at all. I think I read that Baxter resented this, but obviously didn't take it as far as Harper.

r76 Family Ties was another show where that happened. Alex Keaton was supposed to be just "one of the kids" on the show but then of course Michael J. Fox blew up as the most popular character and the show centered around him from then on. Like I said, the popularity of the actor won't change and the other actors on the show just have to roll with the punches, but many times the other actors get really pissed off.

The way that she stares down Steve Martin in that clip at R4, and raises her eyebrows, and "takes that tone" with him is something you just can't learn. She played that role so perfectly.

She is every customer's worst nightmare!

I never realized the Hogan Family went on that long. I don't know if I have ever seen it in syndication.

I think Baxter admitted she resented the change in focus. Largely because of her smaller role, but I don't think she was thrilled that the Alex character who was conservative and worshiped Reagan and Nixon was viewed as the centerpiece. To a lesser degree, I think Mallory took off a bit as well. Jennifer was the child whose role got smaller after the first season or two. Still, it could have been worse for Baxter and Gross. Their characters were not completely sidelined and were featured more than some other TV parents at the time.

[quote]I never realized the Hogan Family went on that long. I don't know if I have ever seen it in syndication.

The first and sixth seasons were half-seasons of 10-13 episodes each. Seasons 2-5 were full seasons of 21-23 episodes.

[quote] I think Mallory took off a bit as well.

Yeah, she was only second to Alex, albeit a distant second. She was nominated twice for the Emmy for Supporting Actress and once for the Golden Globe. If you consider that the Globes squish Supporting Actress in a Comedy/Drama/TV Movie/Miniseries into one category, that's a hell of an accomplishment.

At any rate, Justine and Fox were the only actors from the show to receive any Emmy/GG nods.

She was fucking hilarious in Cheech & Chong's Next Movie!

That bus driving chick, the contestant on that password clip sounded like a tranny.

R82 how does a tranny sound like?

Like a MAN, baby!

R75/r76/r79 Baxter should actually be thankful Fox became a huge star, because her most favored nation clause meant she always had to get paid more than he, even if only slightly. So by the late 80s she was the highest paid woman on TV (yes, more than Joan Collins).

And im not one to dislike her - I think she's a legitimately good actress and she brought that to the show. But no one was watching because of her - like everyone said, the draws were Fox and Bateman a distant second. So she was damn lucky.

R85 Mallory's boyfriend, Nick, was also quite popular. He was the Fonzie of that show to a degree.

R86.ugh don't remind me.

Yeah, yeah, yeah...WE know. She's from Kansas City where we're ALL adorable. Now YOU know.

r77

Michael Gross said at one time the exec producer Gary David Goldbergtsaid to him and Baxter-Lesbian, "I would understand if you wanted to leave the series," in an attempt to get rid of the parents. Neither he nor Baxter-Lesbian were stupid enough to give up their paycheck.

I always felt that Michael Gross was the true star of Family Ties.

Watching the show nowadays, his performances have aged the best of all of the cast, with Justine's work in the first few years a strong second (Mallory just became a ditz by the end). He was hilarious without going over the top. His work was very nuanced.

I think Baxter and Fox are still great but I've grown to appreciate the work of Gross more over the years.

I saw the 18th birthday episode a couple of weeks ago and it really holds up well. The funny parts flow very naturally for a sitcom, it's acted very well all around, and I guess the thing I really noticed is that you can really empathize with both sides (the mother and Alex's). That's thanks to the writing, which on many of the early episodes especially was very strong.

No, it doesn't the drinking age by that time was 21

R92 it wasn't universally 21 until 1985.

Minnesota was 19 until Sept. 1, 1986. The fall I started college. You can imagine a lot of my classmates were not happy about missing the legal drinking age, by months or some cases weeks.

One of my favorite Edie roles is the Bingo Lady on "Roseanne." She plays Roseanne's rival at the bingo hall, a bingo fanatic with teased-up hair and a collection of troll dolls, whose hair she blows on for good luck.

for r95^

Edie and Elvira discussing the ELVIRA movie.

"Is this face taken??"

July 1984 was the National Drinking Act which punished states not raising the purchase age up to 21.

Two friends have told me she was a complete bitch to them. One was a tenant of an apartment she owned near the Hollywood Bowl and the other was an actor who worked with her on a film. Both were very disappointed because they were fans of hers. The actor said she was blatantly rude to him onset and at the wrap party. They were both smaller roles and it incensed her to be relegated to such status and caused her mean streak to come out and take it out on him. He was a bit starstruck and just endured the verbal abuse (don't remember specifics). The tenant first thought her quirky due to Edie's insistence on keeping shag carpet and very dated wallpaper/ decor in the apartment. But it soon turned nasty as she refused to acknowledge basic/normal landlord duties.

I haven't seen her in anything in some years. Is she still acting?

[quote]July 1984 was the National Drinking Act which punished states not raising the purchase age up to 21

Yes, I remember the reason MN finally raised it was to not lose federal funding for highways (or something like that).

Minnesotans drink meths.

For R95/R96

No one's speculating on her relationship or sexual orientation? This is a first for DL!

Roseanne had some good episodes, but watching that bingo clip reminded me how bad an actress Roseanne was in the early years of the show.

It has been years since I have seen the episodes, but I think her role as Mrs. Herb Tarlek did give her a chance to add a little depth and subtext to the character. There was a little discontentment behind the facade if I remember correctly.

[quote]Roseanne had some good episodes, but watching that bingo clip reminded me how bad an actress Roseanne was in the early years of the show.

I don't think Roseanne was bad in that clip at all. In fact, I don't think she was bad at all in the early years. She was spontaneous and natural, IMO. And, more importantly, funny.

I was Edie McClurg before she was Edie McClurg

Am I the only who think's she and Cathy Mitchell could be sisters?

I looked at OP's pic and wanted to make a dump cake.

[quote]A tv show starts out as a vehicle for the adult star or stars, then one of the teenage boys on the show turns into fantasy fuckbait for teen girls, and the whole dynamic of the show changes.

Reminds me of Happy Days. It was supposed to be mainly about Richie Cunningham, a 50's era teenager and his friends and family, and then it became the Fonzie show and lost most of its charm though it chugged along for a long time. I also hated the screaming from the audience and loathe those "filmed before a live audience" shrieks to this day.

The Fonz character was a seldom heard background character in the first few seasons. Someone the local teens were scared of and in awe of at the same time.

R108 see r45

I wonder if she has family money. I know she owns several commercial properties on La Cienega, and at least one on Melrose. I wouldn't think her acting career would have made her that wealthy.

R111 perhaps if she was smart with her money and invested wisely?

r111 - she's also done dozens and dozens of voiceover projects for cartoons and animated features, including a lot of Disney/Pixar.

I am Pussycat 1. YOU are Pussycat 2.

Edie said that Bea farted alot during the week Edie guest starred on Golden Girls.

W&W, R2.

R108 They should do a cooking show or sitcom or something. Hopefully with an on the road type of format named something like like Route 666 about 2 screechy voiced harridan sisters.

She's a Groundling!

Edie McClurg raped me and held me captive at her apartment for three weeks in 1983. Dianne Kaye and Connie Needham tried to sell me to white slavers and only Edie would pay cash. The horrors i had to endure. I believe Barbra Streisand was behind it. She was always bitterly jealous of my charm and beauty.

Willard Scott said she was always grabbing at his privates.

I vaguely recall her getting a bit huffy when we offered her the role of Angie's great aunt Loretta back in'79.

r107

I was Doris Roberts before she was Edie McClurg

No mention of her hilarious multi episode role on Melrose Place in the 90s as Hilda Morris?

It was the debut of EDIE MCCLURG- THE PRIMETIME SOAP OPERA STAR!

Who knew?

Loved her small role in Back to School as Marge, Mr. Mellon's private secretary taking stenographic notes in class.

[quote] I was Edie McClurg before she was Edie McClurg—Doris Roberts

And you were a bigger cunt than Edie could ever hope to be. Roast in Hell, bitch.

R125 is that true about Doris Roberts?

Yes it is. I worked with her as a child and can attest to her complete and utter dedication to being a nasty cunt.

Details please

r127 Sometimes being a bitch is the only thing a woman has hold onto.

Bob McClurg played Shirley's cousin Mikey.

Going to be at The Hollywood Show autograph show in June.

In OP's picture, Edie looks EXACTLY like the horrible Pence woman.

"The grandmother too".