Broadway to dim lights in memory of Jean Stapleton

[June 05, 2013]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Broadway theaters will dim their marquee lights Wednesday night in memory of Jean Stapleton, the actress who played the sweetly naive Edith in TV's groundbreaking 1970s comedy "All in the Family."

The Broadway League said the lights will be dimmed for one minute at exactly 8 p.m. EDT. Stapleton died Friday in New York at 90 of natural causes.

The theater was Stapleton's first love and she compiled a rich resume, starting in 1941 as a New England stock player and moving to Broadway in the 1950s and 60s.

In 1964, she originated the role of Mrs. Strakosh in "Funny Girl" with Barbra Streisand. Others musicals and plays included "Bells Are Ringing," "Rhinoceros" and "Damn Yankees."

[Associated Press]

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