Sally Struthers

I loved her appearance on South Park.

She was great.

She was great as Lady MacBeth at the Burt Reynolds dinner theater!

She was open about the difficult people she worked with on WTF---and still came off like a genuinely sweet person.

If there is anything on Gottfried that is different than her interview with Maron (WTF) let us know. I won't listen unless there is something new.

As long as she lives I have hopes for a Designing Women reboot.

When they ask her about her costar in The Odd Couple, she refuses to mention Rita by name, instead referring to her friend Brenda Vaccaro, who took over after Rita left (after nearly 300 shows).

She finally says that Rita chose the Walter Matthau/"Oscar"/"Olive" role for herself, thinking it was the funnier role. "Felix" went to Sally, who says she amped-up the character's neuroticism and ended up getting all of the laughs. According to her account, Rita left out of frustration over not getting laughs.

I haven't heard all of the episode. I heard one she did with Marc Maron a few months ago where she gossiped a bit about her All in the Family days, talking about Jean's niceness, Carol O'Connor's anti-anxiety pill abuse, Rob Reiner's friendly-then-not post AITF behavior towards her, and Norman Lear's having assistants read and summarize popular books for him so he could fake it at parties.

[quote] She was great as Lady MacBeth at the Burt Reynolds dinner theater!

Opposite Mr. Arte Johnson as the Thane of Cawdor himself!

[quote]Rob Reiner's friendly-then-not post AITF behavior towards her

In Meghan Daum's book, she talked about being invited to Nora Ephron's for a party and being nervous because she was a "nobody." Everyone there was of course very nice to her, except for Reiner, who she said kept looking frantically over her shoulder for someone more important to talk to.

She was even better in the South Park sequel.

In the Marc Maron interview, she said that for a few years after All in the Family, Rob would randomly call her, sometimes in the middle of the night, from wherever he happened to be. She'd answer and he'd just start in on the joke, which was always a fart joke. After he'd finish and she'd laugh, he'd hang up.

Reiner met his current wife working on "When Harry Met Sally", a movie inspired during his breakup from Penny. After the new marriage, Sally (Struthers) said she never heard from him again and when she did see him, he would act very aloof.

I have to believe that they'd had an affair at some point when they worked together on All in the Family. He was married to Penny Marshall and it was the 70s, so do the math. In fact, I wonder if Sally was the Sally in When Harry Met Sally--friends, but more than friends It would make meeting up years later awkward for the remarried man for so many reasons.

Does she talk about how cunty those Gilmore Girls were?

I’ve always loved Sally.

Thought she was hilarious as Jami’s mother-in-Law on Still Standing.

I’m surprised she hasn’t been invited to WWHL.

R12 I agree. I miss that show.

Thanks, OP. I just downloaded those episodes.

I know some who has often worked with her in regional theater . She could not be nicer to him. She's a great actress and was perfect on AITF.

My village still talks of her tour de force performance as the title role in Gypsy. Her rendition of Little Lamb still brings tears to the eyes of the elders.

They're just sorry they didn't get to eat that Little Lamb with mint sauce.

I saw her in Annie, a show I do not particularly like and was not looking forward to seeing again. She was fantastic and made it all worth it.

That Sally Struthers is a good egg doesn't surprise me. This long-running commercial was a gag in my family for years... I'm sure glad I got that VCR repairman certificate! "Do you want to make more money? Sure, we all do!"

In the GG podcast, Sally talked about her original costar in The Odd Couple, who was Rita Moreno. Sally said she was the nastiest woman she had ever known. Sally never says Rita’s name (actually calls her Miss Cuzburger) but absolutely loathed her.

Also, Sally dated Andy Williams and Elvis!

Did Sally replace Rita on the 9 to 5 series before or after The Odd Couple?

I always thought she must be a good person and never fully understood why she was ridiculed for the Save the Children adds. I guess we don't want to feel guilty or that network television back in the day was our main entertainment?

She's a wonderful comic actress and a wonderful person!

Shut. Up.

Elvis?!!

Really?

Alright, Sally - Ha!

Shut. Up.

Andy Williams?!!

You go, gurl !

R24 She was mocked for her Save the Children days because she became a crazy bible thumper at the time.

Like R19 I saw her when she was on tour with ANNIE. She played Miss Hannigan and she was great - so funny. And she really sold those songs.

A couple of years later I saw her on tour in GREASE she played Miss Lynch and she was hilarious.....Donny Most from Happy Days played the DJ at the dance contest. She came out into the audience at the beginning of the show to welcome us all back to the Rydell High Reunion.....she went down a couple of aisles bumping folks with her ample backside and telling them how she remembered them from when they were in high school......and how bad they were.....LOL....

Stage doored afterwards and she signed programs for my sister and me. She is very short but she has perfect beautiful skin. Her daughter was with her and looks just like she did on AITF.

IF Sally is in it - I'll go.

She's always come across as a lovely person. And yes, she's got wonderful comic timing and should be more utilized in Hollywood.

I love that story, R10.

Thanks for sharing.

Dataloungers never cease to amaze me with their wealth of knowledge.

She is well-liked and respected in Ogunquit, Maine. She has appeared at the Ogunquit Playhouse numerous times and is not just a reliable draw at the box-office but performs well on-stage. She has spunk and an infectious way about her that makes audiences warm to her. Not a great singer, but she interprets a song well. I've seen her several times there and she was good. She is also very accommodating after performances by remaining to do a meet and greet. The tourists love it. Around town, she is very approachable.

OP here. Thanks for filling me in on Sally's theater stuff. She sounds like a solid hire.

I just got to the part of the podcast where she was offered the lead in THE DAY OF THE LOCUST (presumably after her splashes in FIVE EASY PIECES and THE GETAWAY). Norman Lear refused to give her the time off, saying it would set a precedent at all his other shows.

When he gave Rob Reiner time off the next year to film something called FIRE SALE, she sued for unequal treatment and lost. On her return to the set, Lear had flunkies positioned every few feet with bouquets for Sally. She said she told every one of them to "shove it."

Oddly enough, she has fonder memories of the later (lesser) years of ALL IN THE FAMILY, simply because they started giving Gloria more to do than say "Oh, Ma" or "Stop it, Daddy."

So terrible, R33. What assholes Lear and Reiner were.

She was played Principal McGee in a tour of Grease. She fell of the stage and broke her ankle at a performance in Ohio. A friend who worked with the crew stole her crutch and walking boot and gave it to me for my birthday.

[quote] Oddly enough, she has fonder memories of the later (lesser) years of ALL IN THE FAMILY, simply because they started giving Gloria more to do than say "Oh, Ma" or "Stop it, Daddy."

She said this exact same story on Marin's podcast, and I am in no position to argue with her feelings and memories, but as a lifelong fan of AitF I can say she had plenty of great material during the first 5 years.

DL does indeed love Gilbert's podcast, but few under 50 have the attention span to listen to an hour's worth of stories from an aging celebrity.

Who is this person? She looks like the poor man's Chrissy Metz.

Weren't she and Valerie Harper doing a play together in Ogunquit, Maine when Valerie got her brain cancer diagnosis? I feel like she may have had trouble remembering her lines? Also, without googling, didn't Sally and Valerie share (tie) a best supporting Emmy one year? These are the things a DL'er thinks about , I guess.

She and Valerie did share an Emmy. I think it was Sally’s first because she barreled up to the stage to accept. Valerie looked a little confused and embarrassed.

r39 Yes, they were. Sally was hysterical in the role.

Thanks to Gilbert's podcast I learned that Norman Lear and others put out an All in the Family coffee table book a few months ago. My order arrived today and it looks like a fantastic book. Leafing through it I see all kinds of cool stuff...polaroid shots of wardrobe tests, pictures of correspondence, letters from viewers, and all kinds of interviews with guest stars and behinds the scenes people. By the way the Roger the Fairy episode gets a chapter and there is an interview with DL fave Anthony Geary.

[quote]In the GG podcast, Sally talked about her original costar in The Odd Couple, who was Rita Moreno. Sally said she was the nastiest woman she had ever known. Sally never says Rita’s name (actually calls her Miss Cuzburger) but absolutely loathed her.

The mid to late 80's seemed to be a low point in Rita's career. A couple of guest shots on TV shows, but no substantial movie or tv work. I believe when she was asked to do the pilot for the Golden Girls spinoff, she was performing on a cruise ship.

I wonder if she was even approached to do the syndicated version of 9 to 5, considering the other two came back.

Did she talk about her relationship with Carroll O'Connor?

[quote]Did she talk about her relationship with Carroll O'Connor?

Yes. Very close to him and his wife. They introduced her to one of her husbands.

I remember liking her one-season AITF spin-off, Gloria, because it was about veterinarians.

I'm a little hesitant to believe Sally's story about Rita Moreno, anyone who has seen the 'Empty Nest' episode of the Golden Girls knows that Rita had them roaring!

[quote]A friend who worked with the crew stole her crutch and walking boot and gave it to me for my birthday.

With friends like that, who needs an asshole?

Listening to Part 2 now.

She worked with Joan Crawford on the Tim Conway Comedy Hour (!) and said Joan came to set with a giant refrigerator of ice-cold Pepsi for everyone, then later wrote personalized thank-you notes to the cast.

Sally was very positive about almost everybody she interacted with in Hollywood. Except for Rita Moreno of course.

Rita must have been impossible to work with and probably humiliated that she was an Oscar winner forced to co-star with a sitcom actress in a regional production of The Odd Couple.

R49 Say what you want about Joan, she was pure class.

Rita Moreno is still relevant today. Nobody remembers Sally Struthers except for a few of us ancient queens.

Due to West Side Story.

That shitty episode of Golden Girls is more remembered than anything else she's done.

Nominated or not, there’s no way that Rita Moreno won’t be presenting at the Oscars this year. Hopefully Sally will be sitting in front of a TV throwing tomatoes.

OP here. I got to the point where Sally discusses Rita Moreno.

First, she refuses to speak her name, referring to her as "Miss Coozeburger" (!). Apparently Rita had the choice of roles in "The Odd Couple" and picked Oscar (Olive), which didn't suit her comedy. Sally turned Felix (Florence) into a hysterical mess and got all the laughs.

When Secretary of State George Shultz and his wife came to the show, there were a ton of security precautions but Shultz wanted a photo with Sally and Rita. The rest of the cast was told to head to their dressing rooms after the curtain call, but Sally and Rita were to stay onstage where the photo would be taken.

Sally did as she was told, but Rita disappeared. Once the Shultzes arrived, Rita swept open her dressing room door, which was adjacent to the stage, and announced the photo would be in her dressing room. The Shultzes went in, and Sally attempted to follow, but Rita stretched her arm across the door opening and told her "We won't be needing YOU" before closing the door in Sally's face.

She’s a lovely person.

Just last week she was helping a good friend of mine pack up boxes for his elderly aunt and uncle (Broadway and movie stars) for their upcoming move.

Rita fucked Gene Saks during that production to get some favoritism.

Though he doesn't mention her by name, Lewis J. Stadlen makes it clear in his book he was fucking her too, talking about her smooth as parchment nether regions. These days, Rita talks about how "her husband kept her prisoner" but she certainly had some company in the cell. Stadlen also talks about Neil Simon having his brother more or less fired as director of the project and Saks brought in when it was time for Broadway.

Rita doesn't even mention The Odd Couple in her memoir, though between the tour and Broadway, it must have taken up a year in her life at least. There used to be an interview on YouTube from when the show was out of town, and Sally was asked why she was doing it, and she straight up said she needed the work and the money.

To go further, read Mary Louise Wilson's book and she has disparaging words for most everyone involved in The Odd Couple, which is pretty typical for her throughout the book. Everyone on that Odd Couple tour and Broadway engagement seems to have had an awful time.

Oscar is more of the straight man throughout the piece unless you have a very skilled actor-comedian. Felix always gets the laughs.

Struthers and Vaccarro must have been a funny team. I would also have liked to see Sandy Dennis and Kaye Ballard when they did it regionally.

Here are the two ladies giving it a good try, side by side and facing front.

I know I have no social life when I'm spending Saturday night reading about Sally Struthers and her dinner theater career.

Shally Shtruthersh would make a shwell Shally Bowlesh!

R58 “ I know I have no social life when I'm spending Saturday night reading about Sally Struthers and her dinner theater career.”

Me: I know I have no social life when I'm spending Saturday night reading about r58 reading about Sally Struthers and her dinner theater career.

r57 I saw the Sandy Dennis/Kaye Ballard at the Bucks County Playhouse, and Dennis was pure gold as "Felix."

Is Sandy Dennis the same person as Tuesday Weld? They look so much alike. And of course, I am forever confusing Sandy Dennis with Joan Hackett for some reason.

R4 is quite the piece-of, ain't she?

Sally and Rita also starred together in the Broadway play "Wally's Cafe," in 1981. I wonder what happened to make Rita turn evil on Sally. I'm sure everything started out amicably between the two.

Her "interview" with Norman Gunston was hilarious. She had no idea that she was being pranked, but she soon enough sensed it, and played along with the gag wonderfully.

Moreno got great reviews but even then, reviewers were focusing on how bad Sally looked. Almost everyone felt the two were playing the wrong parts.

I absolutely loved that clip at R65. She was so game for it once she caught on.

Her laughter is so infectious.

Does she still do commercials for organization that saves kids overseas?

In retrospect it really is bizarre that SS became a national joke in the 1980s and 1990s because of her weight gain and commercials for Save the Children. I mean that's pretty much what it came down to, she was overweight (having once been thin) and was doing commercials for a charity organization. And I say this is someone who totally hopped on the bandwagon and made fun her.

R70, the charity organization was for starving children. Get it now?

I waited on Sally Struthers at a retail store in the 90s. She could not have been more pleasant and down to earth. Not surprisingly, she was also very short! We didn’t get many celebrities in the store but I kept my cool, even when she handed me her credit card with SALLY STRUTHERS printed on it. I’d sort of played dumb until that moment, but I looked up and smiled, and she smiled back. She was friendly with the other employees and customers as well.

Sally was hilarious in Odd Couple. Rita sucked. Show improved when DL fav Brenda Vaccarro replaced Rita. Seriously, if the cast was miserable it didn’t show in performance. I saw it three times and the audience ate it up every time.

I thought the reason people made fun of her Save The Children commercials was because she was so overemotional in them. At least that's what us kids found funny.

My mom saw her in a couple of things in Ogunquit, maybe 10 or 15 years ago. I guess Sally is friends with the guy who now runs the theater? Used to be a place where a lot of big stars did shows, and when I was a kid I saw a few. The theater was pretty elegant back then. Anyhow mom saw a couple of plays there where Sally did cameos (I think some of them were created for her), one was as the pianist in The Full Monty. Mom said she was hilarious.

R33 r34 You think that’s bad producer behavior? Have I got a story for you…

Sally was pretty hot in the 70s. Why did she get so fat?

Does Sally get Ubers now?

[quote]I thought the reason people made fun of her Save The Children commercials was because she was so overemotional in them.

Yes, one should remain light-hearted when making appeals for food for starving children.

R29- Sit down we need to talk

You are TOTALLY gay.

I worked on an Ogunquit show with her a while back and what everyone says is true, she's wonderful to work with on stage and off. She's the kind of performer who makes everyone on stage with her better. Before I did the show everybody I mentioned it to raved about her and how much I was going to love working with her, which I thought was a little odd until I was actually up there doing it and found she's really as much fun and nice as everyone said.

Did she offer you a lift home?

Just before I quit drinking there was a blacked out trip to the bar with friends. They say I talked a lot about Sally Struthers. I don't know a lot about or necessarily like Sally Struthers.

I went to see her in Hello Dolly in Ogunquit years ago purely for the fact that I was sure she would be horrible and I would have a story to tell for years. She really surprised me, she was not horrible and the audience loved her.

Did Sally ever act opposite her daughter?

R79 I know.

[quote]I thought the reason people made fun of her Save The Children commercials was because she was so overemotional in them.

[quote]Yes, one should remain light-hearted when making appeals for food for starving children.

R78 Did I criticize how she made her appeal? I merely said I thought her overemotionalism was why people made fun of her commercials. What do you think the reason was that people mocked her?

By the way, being light-hearted is not the opposite of being overemotional. Being composed, or cool and collected, would be the opposite of being overemotional.

Why did people make fun of Dionne & Psychic Friends?

I never liked people attacking her for those ads. I mean unless you are actively doing something to help, at least she was doing something. At least she didn't record an all-star charity single or something.

Oh, please. She took a gig. She didn't do it for nothing.

Actually, she did do it for nothing. But she got various perks.

Her hair is so beautiful.

I have been going to Ogonquit for years during the summer and have noticed her appearing at the Playhouse several times but never went, and after listening to her on Gilbert Gottfried, I now regret that. She seems so genuine. Here’s hoping she will be back this summer.

She was supposed to be the next big thing. Bigger than Faye, Jane Fonda, Barbra….

She helped me land a rewarding career!!

[quote]I have been going to Ogonquit for years during the summer

Then you should learn to spell it.

Sally and Rita seem like pals, here!

Ugh. . . when did she become frau of the year?

[quote]Bigger than Faye, Jane Fonda, Barbra….

The only one she wasn't bigger than is Chrissy Metz.

The miscarriage episode of AITF always broke my heart.

Carroll looked devastated by Sally’s performance.

“I guess I didn’t do a very good job, did I Daddy?”

Not too long after that they were both on a talk show, Mike or Merv?, and because Archie always referred to Gloria as his little girl, Carroll sang the second half of Soliloquy from Carousel (My little girl, pink and white as peaches and cream, is she) to Sally.

So touching.

Reportedly Sally was up for one of the leads in The 5 Mrs. Buchanans and though Marc Cherry thought she was amazing, they passed because of Sally’s weight.

(pot/kettle)

One wonders had they leapt at the chance to hire her maybe the show would not only have stayed on the air, but would have been a hit.

She's a lucky lady. Laura Branigan didn't write a song for just anybody!

Is “Miss Cuzburger” a pop culture reference or something?

Or did she actually mean to say “cuntburger”.

R100 I’d love that explained too. I thought it was just a DL invented nickname for Rita Moreno I didn’t realize it actually came from somewhere.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

She was super annoying on GG.

Her character, I mean.

For you Long Island-based Sally Struthers aficionados, she's going to be starring as Mrs. Peacock in "Clue" at Gateway Playhouse in Bellport. Good for her for building a solid career in regional theater.

But aren’t peacocks thin birds?

I’ve always liked her. She’s one of those performers that I always wished appeared on screen more often.

[quote]R35 She was played Principal McGee in a tour of Grease. She fell off the stage and broke her ankle at a performance in Ohio. A friend who worked with the crew stole her crutch and walking boot and gave it to me for my birthday.

A cruel joke to play on the disabled!

I love Rita and Sally — but I guess if I had to choose I’d probably choose Sally. Met her once when she was touring with Grease. Not only was she hilarious in the role, she couldn’t have been nicer off-stage.

She is very diminutive. Many people gain some weight as they age. If Sally were a few inches taller any weight she gained would likely go mostly unnoticed.

Rita sounds like an absolute cunt.

I saw Sally and Rita in both The Odd Couple and Wally's Cafe.

Neither was worth seeing without them and they both gave it their all. I've never liked Rita, she seems like a bitter pill.

I remember it was rumored that Struthers was going to take over the role of 'Dolly' in 'Hello Dolly' when Midler left in 2018. IIRC, I believe the reason she wasn't offered the role in the end was because she didn't want to commit to 6 months - she only wanted 3 or 4. Peters, on the other hand, was fine with 6 months - so she got the role. I wonder how Struthers would've done at the Broadway box office ?

R113, I would imagine a lot more tourists would know Sally than Bernadette...