Sad news today as actress Jessica Walter has passed away. at her home in New York City in her sleep at the age of 80. She is survived by her daughter Brooke Bowman and grandson Micah Heymann.
Walter’s career spanned over six decades both on the big screen and on the stage. Her first major role was in Clint Eastwood’s Play Misty for Me, earning her a Golden Globe nomination for her performance. She would later star in the TV series Amy Prentiss and its spin-off Ironside, the latter of which she won an Emmy for.
“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of my beloved mom Jessica,” Bowman said in a statement for the family. “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.”
Her biggest role in her later career was that of Lucille Bluth in the comedy series Arrested Development. She portrayed the scheming, manipulative and simultaneously overbearing and uninterested matriarch of the Bluth family, earning a massive amount of praise from audiences and several award nominations for her performance over the course of the show’s original run and its revived seasons on Netflix.
Lucille would not be the only stern and overbearing mother she would play as Walter also provided her voice in FXX’s spy comedy Archer as Mallory Archer, the head of the independent spy agency ISIS and mother to Sterling Archer. She was again a fan-favourite on the animated series for Mallory’s wit, callousness and selfishness toward Archer and the rest of the ISIS agents.
Our condolences to Walter’s family and friends.
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.
