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R.I.P. Mary Pat Gleason, comedic talent in everything from 'Mama’s Family' to 'Mom'
The prolific TV and film actress also won an Emmy for writing.
Mary Pat Gleason was known for her comedic skills which she brought to sitcoms like Mama’s Family, Full House and, most recently, Mom.
She appeared in a hilarious episode of Saved by the Bell where Kelly brings her baby brother to school and Zack and the gang have to look after him. Gleason plays French teacher, Madame Oeuf ("oeuf" means "egg" in French). She mistakes the baby's sounds for Zack trying to speak French.
In the Friends episode "The One with George Stephanopoulos," Gleason played the stern Nurse Sizemore who gets hit in the head with a hockey puck after Ross accidentally throws it across the waiting room.
Gleason was equally at home in dramas. She had a small role in the 1992 movie Basic Instinct and was in TV shows from L.A. Law to NCIS: Los Angeles. She also appeared in three dramas by mega-producer Shonda Rhimes – Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder.
In the episode "Just a Country Boy" of In the Heat of the Night, Bubba goes to L.A. to bring back a suspect who must stand trial in Sparta. Gleason plays a hostess in the episode that was directed by Chief Gillespie himself — Carroll O’Connor.
While most of her 170+ credits are for acting, Mary Pat Gleason did serve as a writer for the long-running soap opera The Guiding Light. She acted in two episodes in 1983 then joined the writing staff two years later. She and her colleagues won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1986 for Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team.
Gleason passed away on June 2. She was 70.
6 Comments
Wasn't she in "Wristcutters - a Love Story" too?
Did not realize she was also a writer.
RIP
