
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".

Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories

All in the Family: 20th Anniversary Special

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Beakman's World

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Faerie Tale Theatre

Chance of a Lifetime

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All in the Family

キャロル・バーネット・ショー

A Matter of Sex

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Touched by an Angel

Up the Down Staircase

The Electric Company

Aunt Mary

Acts of Love and Other Comedies

Cinderella

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

Baby

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The Last Laugh

The Ray Bradbury Theater

Everybody Loves Raymond

The Dick Cavett Show

Klute

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Dinah!

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

Scarecrow and Mrs. King

My Three Sons

Dennis the Menace

Murphy Brown

Damn Yankees

Caroline in the City

Bells Are Ringing

Route 66

The Philco Television Playhouse

The Love Boat

Dead Man's Folly

Cold Turkey

Something Wild

Cher

The Merv Griffin Show

The Muppets Go Hollywood

Tail Gunner Joe

Eleanor, First Lady of the World

The Habitation of Dragons

The Eleventh Hour

The Trial

The Defenders

The Patty Duke Show

Great Performances

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Grace Under Fire

Robert Montgomery Presents

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裸の町

Dr. Kildare

The Mike Douglas Show

Jack and the Beanstalk

Bagdad Cafe

Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme

Pursuit of Happiness

The Buddy System

Intimate Portrait

The Nurses

Bury Me in Niagara

The Rosie O'Donnell Show

Lily Dale

Gonzo Presents Muppet Weird Stuff

The Television Revolution Begins: "All in the Family" Is On the Air

Those Were the Days: The Birth of "All in the Family"

Angel Dusted

Funny Ladies: A Portrait of Women Cartoonists

You Can't Take it With You

Fire in the Dark

Isabel's Choice

Faerie Tale Theatre: Cinderella

Something's Afoot

Style & Substance