Edie McClurg

Short, pleasantly plump, and endowed with an endearingly piercing voice, American actress Edie McClurg has been a favorite supporting performer since her 1976 film debut in Carrie. Much of her TV work has been as a comedy sketch performer, notably on Tony Orlando and Dawn (1976), The David Letterman Show (a 1980 daytimer), The Big Show (1980) and No Soap, Radio (1982). Ms. McClurg has also played many a nosy neighbor/in-law/secretary on such TV sitcoms as Harper Valley PTA (1982), Small Wonder (1985) and The Hogan Family (1988). McClurg received larger roles in the TV series The Kallikaks (1977), in which she was the wife of series star David Huddleston, and in the feature film Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988), wherein she portrayed the villainess (the ads showed McClurg burning horror-show hostess Elvira at the stake; bully for her). That Edie McClurg is capable of subtler dramatic roles was proven by the TV movie Bill: On His Own, in which she was touchingly convincing as a mentally retarded group-home resident.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide