| Anne Meara  Born: 20-Sep-1929
Birthplace: Brooklyn, NY
Died: 23-May-2015
Location of death: Manhattan, NY
Cause of death: unspecified
Gender: Female
Religion: Jewish
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Comic, Actor
Party Affiliation: Democratic Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Stiller and Meara Anne Meara was Jerry Stiller's wife, and for decades was his partner in one of America's most famous comedy acts, Stiller & Meara. Both were actors, and they met at a 1953 theatrical audition. They started in comedy as members of the Compass Players (which years later was renamed Second City), and were successful as a nightclub act, appeared in numerous movies, and were staples on the old Ed Sullivan Show and other televised variety shows.
Younger audiences might recognize Meara from recurring roles on ALF, Sex and the City, and her husband's The King of Queens. She was also a writer for ALF. Earlier, she was a regular on several 1970s shows, including Rhoda with Valerie Harper, Archie Bunker's Place with Carroll O'Connor, and her own lawyer drama, Kate McShane. And of course, Stiller & Meara's comic accomplishments include their children, actor Ben Stiller and comedian Amy Stiller.
Through the 1990s Meara played a maid, Peggy Moody, on the soap All My Children. Whenever the plots got too ludicrous or the melodrama too overblown, the show would come back to Meara's Peggy, who would offer a fresh-baked pastry and a little common-sense.
She wrote two plays, but her first, titled Victims: Blood From a Stone, was termed "too mean-spirited" and never produced. At 65, she wrote the more lighthearted After-Play, a metaphysical comedy about couples going to a restaurant after a play, and unraveling some mysteries of life. After-Play has been produced regionally, and had an off-Broadway run with Rue McClanahan.
She was raised Catholic, but converted to Judaism six years after marrying Stiller. She has long stressed that her conversion wasn't at Stiller's request, but because "Catholicism was dead to me", and she simply came to prefer the more "lively" character of Jewish culture. And she took the conversion seriously, studying the faith in such depth that her born-Jewish husband quipped, "being married to Anne has made me more Jewish".
She died in 2015. Father: Edward Joseph Meara (attorney, b. circa 1893)
Mother: Mary Dempsey Meara (b. 1894, d. 1941 suicide)
Husband: Jerry Stiller (m. 14-Sep-1954, until her death, one daughter, one son)
Daughter: Amy Stiller (actress, b. 9-Aug-1961)
Son: Ben Stiller (actor, b. 30-Nov-1965)
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Converted to Judaism
Irish Ancestry
Risk Factors: Smoking, Alcoholism, Depression
TELEVISION
Sex and the City Mary Brady (2002-04)
The King of Queens Veronica (1999-2007)
All My Children Peggy Moody (1992-99)
ALF Dorothy Halligan (1987-89)
Archie Bunker's Place Veronica Rooney (1979-82)
Rhoda Sally Gallagher (1976-77)
Kate McShane Kate McShane (1975)
The Corner Bar Mae (1972-73)
The Paul Lynde Show Grace Dickerson (1972-73)
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Planes: Fire & Rescue (15-Jul-2014) [VOICE]
Another Harvest Moon (6-Oct-2010) · Ella
Fired! (2-Feb-2007) · Herself
Night at the Museum (21-Dec-2006)
Chump Change (20-Jan-2004) · Casting Director
Like Mike (3-Jul-2002) · Sister Theresa
Get Well Soon (21-Dec-2001) · Linda
What Makes a Family (22-Jan-2001)
The Thin Pink Line (7-Oct-2000)
The Independent (12-Mar-2000)
Judy Berlin (10-Sep-1999)
A Fish in the Bathtub (1999) · Molly
Southie (10-Jun-1998) · Mrs. Quinn
The Daytrippers (Jan-1996)
Kiss of Death (21-Apr-1995) · Bev's Mother
Heavyweights (17-Feb-1995) · Alice Bushkin
The Search for One-eye Jimmy (9-Nov-1994)
Reality Bites (18-Feb-1994) · Louise
Highway to Hell (13-Mar-1992) · Medea
Awakenings (20-Dec-1990) · Miriam
That's Adequate (Jan-1989)
My Little Girl (31-Aug-1986)
The Longshot (17-Jan-1986) · Madge
The Other Woman (22-Mar-1983)
Fame (16-May-1980) · Mrs. Sherwood
The Boys From Brazil (5-Oct-1978)
Nasty Habits (10-Oct-1977)
Lovers and Other Strangers (12-Aug-1970)
The Out-of-Towners (28-May-1970)
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