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Marcia Karen Wallace (November 1, 1942 – October 25, 2013) was an American actress and comedian, primarily known for her roles on sitcoms. She is best known for her roles as receptionist Carol Kester on the 1970s sitcom The Bob Newhart Show, Mrs. Carruthers on Full House, and as the voice of elementary school teacher Edna Krabappel on the animated series The Simpsons, for which she won an Emmy in 1992. The character was retired after her death but sporadically appears through archive recording.
Wallace was known for her tall frame, red hair, and distinctive laugh. She had a career spanning five decades on TV, film, and stage. She was a frequent guest on The Merv Griffin Show, which led to her receiving a personal request to appear on The Bob Newhart Show in a role created especially for her. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1985, she became a cancer activist, and remained so throughout her life. Her father owned and operated Wallace Sundries, a general merchandise store in the typical small rural country Iowa town, where Marcia, her sister Sharon, and brother Jim would often help. While Wallace was in the local high school, a teacher encouraged her to consider a career in acting after she did well in a school play. Following her 1960 graduation from Creston High School, Wallace attended nearby Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa, which had offered her a full scholarship. She was a member of the Delta Nu chapter of Delta Zeta sorority. At Parsons, she majored in English and Theater, graduating in 1964, and performing in several campus productions, including Brigadoon and The Music Man.
thumb|Marcia Wallace at age 33 with [[Bob Newhart (right) and Will Mackenzie in a fourth-season episode of The Bob Newhart Show, "Carol's Wedding" (1975)]]
Wallace was a semiregular on The Merv Griffin Show long-running syndicated daytime talk / variety show, appearing over 75 times. When the show moved its production from New York to Los Angeles, Wallace moved with it at Griffin's request. She returned the following season in the musical Promises, Promises. Other stage productions included Born Yesterday; You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown; Steel Magnolias; and Last of the Red Hot Lovers, in which she played all three female roles at various times. In 2013, shortly before her death, she voiced the character of the librarian in Monsters University, and in 2014 (posthumously) she portrayed herself in the movie Muffin Top: A Love Story.
Personal life
Wallace married hotelier Dennis Hawley on May 18, 1986, in a Buddhist ceremony. The couple adopted an infant son, Michael Wallace "Mikey" Hawley.
Before her marriage, Wallace was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1985, after which she became an activist and lecturer on the subject. On January 27, 2007, Wallace won the Gilda Radner Courage Award. It was annually given by the longtime nationally prominent institution in the medical fight against the disease of cancer, the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York. It was given to her six years before her death for helping educate Americans about the importance of early cancer detection and inspiring others through her 20 years as a breast cancer survivor.
Wallace was a member of Delta Zeta sorority from her college years at Parsons College in Iowa, and was named the "Delta Zeta 2010 Woman of the Year" at their 2010 Biennial National Convention in Tucson, Arizona. Her autobiography, titled Don't Look Back, We're Not Going That Way, was published in 2004. Besides describing her film and TV career, the book importantly recounts the early detection of her breast cancer, the early loss of her husband Dennis, her nervous breakdown, her single motherhood, and other personal experiences such as a private history of bulimia. She credited the title of the book to her father, who used the phrase often during her childhood.
She was noted on a list of "Famous Iowans" by her important state capital daily newspaper, the Des Moines Register, in November 2013. Wallace was cremated following a private funeral service.
Staff on The Simpsons had reportedly been aware of her ill health. Yeardley Smith, who voices Lisa Simpson, tweeted, "Heaven is now a much funnier place b/c of you, Marcia." Former co-star Bob Newhart commented on his Facebook fan page, "Marcia's death came as quite a shock, she left us too early. She was a talented actress and dear friend[.]" Al Jean said that producers planned to retire her "irreplaceable" character Edna Krabappel. Wallace had recorded lines for several upcoming episodes, and her final episode, "The Man Who Grew Too Much", aired on March 9, 2014.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|1980
|Pray TV
|Alice Kidd
|
|-
|1989
|Teen Witch
|Ms. Edith Malloy
|
|-
|1989
|My Mom's a Werewolf
|Peggy
|
|-
|1990
|Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College
|Miss Boggs
|Video
|-
|1998
|'
|Mrs. Claus
|
|-
|2001
|You Never Know
|
|Short
|-
|2004
|Forever for Now
|Ellie
|
|-
|2007
|'
|Mrs. Edna Krabappel
|(voice, scenes deleted)
|-
|2007
|Big Stan
|Alma
|
|-
|2008
|Tru Loved
|Mrs. Lewis
|
|-
|2013
|Monsters University
|Additional Voices (voice)
|
|-
|2014
|Muffin Top: A Love Story
|Marcia Wallace
|Released posthumously in November 2014
|-
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|1967
|'
|Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
|Season 2 Episode 6: "The Trial"
|-
|1971
|Bewitched
|Betty
|Season 7 Episode 27: "Laugh, Clown, Laugh"
|-
|1971
|'
|Saleswoman / Mrs. Robbins
|2 episodes
|-
|1972
|Columbo
|Woman / Woman in Inquest (uncredited)
|2 episodes
|-
|1972
|Love, American Style
|Bertha
|Season 3 Episode 16: "segment: Love and the Topless Policy"
|-
|1972–1978
|'
|Carol Kester Bondurant
|Series regular
|-
|1978
|Insight
|Augusta
|Season 1 Episode 417: "Second Chorus"
|-
|1978
|'
|Mrs. O'Roarke
|Season 1 Episode 23: "Musical Cabins"
|-
|1978
|Flying High
|Connie Martin
|Season 1 Episode 0: "Flying High"
|-
|1979
|'
|Myra Elliott
|TV Movie
|-
|1979
|Fantasy Island
|Martha Meeks
|Season 3 Episode 13: "The Inventor/On the Other Side"
|-
|1980
|Gridlock
|Boom Boom Shavelson
|TV Movie
|-
|1980
|Characters
|Leila Flynn
|TV Movie
|-
|1980
|CHiPs
|Marcia Wallace (uncredited)
|Season 4 Episode 6: "The Great 5K Star Race and Boulder Wrap Party: Part 2"
|-
|1981
|Magnum, P.I.
|Barbara Terranova
|Season 1 Episode 18: "Beauty Knows No Pain"
|-
|1982
|Taxi
|Marcia Wallace
|Season 5 Episode 1: "Love Un-American Style"
|-
|1983
|Gimme a Break!
|Hilda
|Season 2 Episode 20: "Glenlawn Street Blues"
|-
|1984
|Finder of Lost Loves
|Daisy and Cary's Friend
|Season 1 Episode 1: "Maxwell Ltd: Finder of Lost Loves Pilot"
|-
|1985
|Down to Earth
|Grace
|Season 4 Episode 17: "The Bag Lady"
|-
|1986
|Murder, She Wrote
|Polly Barth
|Season 3 Episode 5: "Corned Beef and Carnage"
|-
|1987
|ALF
|Mrs. Lyman
|2 episodes
|-
|1988
|Night Court
|Miss Phillips
|Season 5 Episode 16: "Another Day in the Life"
|-
|1988
|Mathnet
|Mrs. Wynn
|Season 2 Episode 4: "The View from the Rear Terrace"
|-
|1988
|Small Wonder
|Miss Cratchit
|Season 4 Episode 12: "Tag, You're It"
|-
|1989–1990
|Charles in Charge
|Dodo
|2 episodes
|-
|1990
|What a Dummy
|
|Season 1 Episode 10: "The Substitute"
|-
|1990–2014, 2018–2019, 2021
|'
|Edna Krabappel / Various
|Series regular
|-
|1991
|'
|Dr. Susan Evans
|Season 3 Episode 22: "Diary of a Mad Munsterwife"
|-
|1991–1992
|Darkwing Duck
|Clovis / Mrs. Cavanaugh (voice) / Didi Lovelost (voice)
|4 episodes
|-
|1992
|Hearts Are Wild
|Agnes Biederbeck
|Season 1 Episode 8: "Coming Home"
|-
|1992
|Raw Toonage
|Female Tourist (voice)
|Season 1 Episode 8: "Dogzapoppin'/The Hairy Ape/A Fear of Kites"
|-
|1992
|A Different World
|Waitress
|Season 6 Episode 13: "White Christmas"
|-
|1992
|Camp Candy
|(voice)
|Season 3 Episode 6: "When It Rains... It Snows"
|-
|1992–1993
|'
|Mrs. Blossom (voice)
|21 episodes
|-
|1993
|Batman: The Animated Series
|'Dark Interlude' Actress (voice)
|Season 2 Episode 3: "Mudslide"
|-
|1993
|Captain Planet and the Planeteers
|Mrs. Wheeler (voice)
|Season 4 Episode 10: "Talkin' Trash"
|-
|1993–1995
|Full House
|Mrs. Carruthers
|4 episodes
|-
|1994
|Aladdin
|Oopa (voice)
|Season 2 Episode 37: "The Game"
|-
|1994–1998
|Murphy Brown
|Carol - Secretary #66 / Molly
|2 episodes
|-
|1995
|Kirk
|Lamerle
|Season 1 Episode 7: "The Crush"
|-
|1996
|'
|Librarian
|Episode 2386: "Episode #1.2386"
|-
|1997
|Teen Angel
|Angela
|Season 1 Episode 1: "Marty Buys the Farm"
|-
|1997
|George and Leo
|Marcia
|Season 1 Episode 8: "The Cameo Episode"
|-
|1998
|I Am Weasel
|Woman - Old Woman (voice)
|Season 3 Episode 9: "Driver's Sped"
|-
|1998
|Cow and Chicken
|Woman - Old Woman (voice)
|Season 3 Episode 9: "The Day I Was Born/Factory Follies/I.M. Weasel: Driver's Sped"
|-
|1998
|'
|Mrs. Beaver (voice)
|Season 2 Episode 11: "If You Insisters/Alley Oops!"
|-
|1999
|Maggie
|Head Nurse
|Season 1 Episode 22: "Uh-Oh Baby"
|-
|2001
|That's My Bush!
|Maggie Hawley
|8 episodes
|-
|2002
|Providence
|Glenda
|Season 4 Episode 21: "Smoke and Mirrors"
|-
|2002
|Rugrats
|Mrs. Rapple (voice)
|Season 9 Episode 9: "They Came from the Backyard/Lil's Phil of Trash"
|-
|2003
|7th Heaven
|Nurse
|3 episodes
|-
|2004
|Triple Play
|Waitress
|TV Short
|-
|2009
|'
|Annie Wilkes
|14 episodes (Recurring role)
|-
|2010
|Vampire Mob
|Virginia Jones (2010)
|
|-
|}
Video games
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|1997
|The Simpsons: Virtual Springfield
|Edna Krabappel (voice)
|(uncredited)
|-
|2001
|The Simpsons: Road Rage
|Edna Krabappel (voice)
|
|-
|2007
|The Simpsons Game
|Edna Krabappel (voice)
|
|-
|}
Music videos
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year
! Title
! Role
|-
|1990
|Bart Simpson: Do the Bartman
|Edna Krabappel (voice)
|-
|}