Jean Stapleton

Acting

Jean Stapleton

Born 1923-01-19 · Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Jean Stapleton was born Jeanne Murray in Manhattan, New York City, to Marie A. (Stapleton), an opera singer, and Joseph Edward Murray, a billboard advertising salesman. Her paternal grandparents were Irish. She was a cousin of actress Betty Jane Watson. Other relatives in show business were her uncle, Joseph E. Deming, a vaudevillian; and her brother Jack Stapleton, a stage actor. She graduated from Wadleigh High School, NYC, in 1939, and attended Hunter College. She worked as a secretary before becoming an actress. Stapleton made her stage debut at the Greenwood Playhouse, Peaks Island, Maine, in the summer of 1941, and her New York stage debut in "The Corn Is Green" (1948). She appeared on Broadway in the musicals "Damn Yankees" (1955) and "Bells Are Ringing" (1956), and later repeated her roles in the movie versions (Damn Yankees (1958) and Bells Are Ringing (1960)). Her other Broadway roles included the original companies of "Rhinoceros" (1961) and "Funny Girl" (1964). Stapleton also played Abby Brewster in the 1986-87 revival of "Arsenic and Old Lace".

Acting credits

You've Got Mail poster
6.7

Book superstore magnate Joe Fox and independent book shop owner Kathleen Kelly fall in love in the anonymity of the Internet—both blissfully unaware that he's trying to put her out of business.

You've Got Mail

1998

Klute poster
6.8

A high-priced call girl is forced to depend on a reluctant private eye when she is stalked by a psychopath.

Klute

1971

Michael poster
5.7

Tabloid reporters are sent by their editor to investigate after the paper recieves a letter from a woman claiming an angel is living with her.

Michael

1996

Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World poster
5.6

When news of John Smith's death reaches America, Pocahontas is devastated. She sets off to London with John Rolfe, to meet with the King of England on a diplomatic mission: to create peace and respect between the two great lands. However, Governor Ratcliffe is still around; he wants to return to Jamestown and take over. He will stop at nothing to discredit the young princess.

Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World

1998

The Muppets Go Hollywood poster
6.2

Kermit the Frog throws a glamorous party at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub to celebrate the premiere of the Muppets' first feature film, The Muppet Movie. Hosts Dick van Dyke and Rita Moreno interview the wide array of celebrities and Muppets who attend the event. Gary Owens serves as off-camera announcer, and appears on-screen to introduce Miss Piggy.

The Muppets Go Hollywood

1979

Aunt Mary poster
7.3

The true-life drama about a handicapped Baltimore woman living on welfare who organized a sandlot baseball team and ended up coaching more than 50,000 boys and girls over nearly 40 years.

Aunt Mary

1979

The Trial poster
6.0

Joseph K. awakes one morning, to find two strange men in his room, telling him he has been arrested. Joseph is not told what he is charged with, and despite being "arrested," is allowed to remain free and go to work. But despite the strange nature of his arrest, Joseph soon learns that his trial, however odd, is very real, and tries desperately to spare himself from the court's judgement.

The Trial

1993

Baby poster
8.0

A couple finds a baby on their doorstep with a note asking them to temporarily keep it. They take the baby in and care for it as if it were their own. But what if the baby's mom really returns to claim it?

Baby

2000

Lily Dale poster
3.7

In 1910, 19-year-old Horace Robedaux, still bitter toward his stepfather, goes to Houston to be reunited with his mother, Corella, and his sister, Lily Dale, following a long estrangement. He has not seen either since he was 12 because his wicked stepfather, Pete Davenport (whom his mother married after his father drank himself to death) believes a boy ought to be self-reliant.

Lily Dale

1996

Fire in the Dark poster
9.0

A 75-year old widow struggles with being a burden to those she loves. Though determined not to rely on her children, she is forced to move in with her daughter after a serious fall, and the family learns to face the future with dignity and hope.

Fire in the Dark

1991

Cinderella poster
6.7

An oppressed young woman finds happiness when she secretly attends the royal ball.

Cinderella

1985

The Last Laugh poster
7.0

Feature documentary about humor and the Holocaust, examining whether it is ever acceptable to use humor in connection with a tragedy of that scale, and the implications for other seemingly off-limits topics in a society that prizes free speech.

The Last Laugh

2016

Dead Man's Folly poster
6.4

During a murder hunt game at a country house, to which Hercule Poirot is invited as an "expert", a real murder occurs.

Dead Man's Folly

1986

The Buddy System poster
4.9

A school truant officer uncovers a young boy's attempt to fake his residential address and subsequently befriends the kid and his mother.

The Buddy System

1984

Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme poster
5.3

Set in the mythical world of Rhymeland, Gordon Goose returns home to discover that his mom has mysteriously vanished. Now the characters of Rhymeland are in danger of disappearing unless Mother Goose returns.

Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme

1990

Bells Are Ringing poster
6.5

Ella Peterson works in the basement office of Susanswerphone, a telephone answering service. She listens in on others' lives and adds some interest to her own humdrum existence by adopting different identities for her clients. They include an out-of-work Method actor, a dentist with musical yearnings, and in particular playwright Jeffrey Moss, who is suffering from writer's block and desperately needs a muse.

Bells Are Ringing

1960

Angel Dusted poster
9.0

Cautionary anti-drug film based on a true story about the effects on Jean Stapleton and Arthur Hill when their teenage son (John Putch, Stapleton's real-life son) gets spaced out on a marijuana joint laced with PCP, or "angel dust," and the family is forced to wrestle with the crisis.

Angel Dusted

1981

Tail Gunner Joe poster
6.0

Senator Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin accuses prominent people of Communist sympathies in order to give him a national power base when he later planned to run for President.

Tail Gunner Joe

1977

Up the Down Staircase poster
7.1

Sylvia, a novice schoolteacher, is hired to teach English in a high school, but she’s met with an apathetic faculty, a delinquent student body and an administration that drowns its staff in paperwork. The following days go from bad to worse as Sylvia struggles to reach her most troubled students.

Up the Down Staircase

1967

Good Evening, Captain poster
10.0

TV special celebrating the 25th anniversary of Captain Kangaroo with multiple guest stars.

Good Evening, Captain

1981

Cold Turkey poster
6.3

Reverend Brooks leads his small Iowa town in a contest to stop smoking for a month. But some tobacco executives don't want them to win, and try everything they can to make them smoke. If townspeople don't go nuts from wanting a cigarette, or kill each other from irritation and frustration, they will win a huge prize.

Cold Turkey

1971

Pursuit of Happiness poster
5.4

An advertising executive fails to realize that the woman of his dreams is his best friend since first grade, now married to his cheating co-worker.

Pursuit of Happiness

2001

Pursuit of Happiness poster
5.4

An advertising executive fails to realize that the woman of his dreams is his best friend since first grade, now married to his cheating co-worker.

Pursuit of Happiness

2001

Something Wild poster
6.2

A young rape victim tries desperately to pick up the pieces of her life, only to find herself at the mercy of a would-be rescuer.

Something Wild

1961