(L-R) Rob Reiner, Gene Stapleton, Sally Struthers, Carol O’Connor and Michael Evans for All in the Family
Getty ImagesSally Struthers he has nothing to hide about his time Everyone in the family.
The actress, who played Gloria Stivitch on the 1970s TV series, opened up about her attitude on set and how she tried to quit the show on the Monday, January 13 episode of “Let’s talk about it!” podcast with Larry Saperstein and Jacob Belotti.
It all started with her working relationship with the legendary producer Norman Learwho died in 2023 aged 101 years.
“I wasn’t a big fan of his,” Struthers, 77, said.
Sally Struthers knows how beloved Betty White was in Hollywood, but her experience with the late actress was anything but golden. “Now that she’s gone, I’m going to talk about Betty White for a moment,” Struthers, 77, said during the Monday, Jan. 13, episode of Let’s Talk About It! With Larry Saperstein and Jacob (…)
“All these years on the show, Norman and his (then) wife (Frances) hosted dinner parties,” she added. “They were going to invite the other stars of the show… Carol O’Connor, Jean Stapleton and Rob Reiner — and their husbands often… For eight years I had not been invited to his home. I didn’t feel good.”
Sally Struthers speaks on stage at the 2024 Emmy Awards
Monica Schipper/WireImageThe relationship got so bad, Struthers said, that she actually tried to leave the show after its fifth season, took her contract to arbitration and spent $40,000 in legal fees.
Struthers wasn’t the only one Everyone in the family a cast member who had a rocky relationship with Lear. The series creator also reportedly clashed with O’Connor, who portrays the main character Archie Bunker.
The two “had a very difficult, contemptuous relationship,” according to Trip Wetselauthor of Norman Lear: His Life and Times.
Norman Lear seems to have had some behind-the-scenes drama with Carroll O’Connor, the actor who played Archie Bunker in All in the Family. Trip Wetsel, who authored the upcoming biography, Norman Lear: His Life and Times, claimed in a recent interview with Cracked that Lear and O’Connor “had a very difficult, disdainful relationship.” “This (…)
“They had a very difficult relationship, but Norman really respected him,” Wetsel said in a November 2024 interview. Cracked. “Deep down they respected and loved each other, but creatively it was just a challenge for them every step of the way.”
(L-R) Gene Stapleton, Rob Reiner, Carol O’Connor and Sally Struthers for All in the Family
CBSStruthers went on to refer to herself as the “fourth banana” in the cast, adding that the show’s writers didn’t know how to write for a “young lady”.
“I’ve usually had about three lines per show saying, ‘I’ll help you set the table, Mom,’ ‘Michael, where are you going?’ and ‘Oh, Dad, stop,'” she said. “And next week I’ll have the same three lines in a different order. And if they literally didn’t know what to do with me in a scene, they’d make me go upstairs to take a shower or wash my hair. It was very disappointing.”
Riverdale, Glee and other TV shows were faced with the difficult task of writing characters after their characters died off-screen. The sudden and tragic death of Luke Perry in March 2019. left the Riverdale writers’ room committed to giving Fred Andrews a fitting send-off while also honoring the late actor. The crew decided to postpone (…)
Despite her disappointment, Struthers admitted that when she returned to the show after trying to get out of her contract, she had a better experience.
“I came back and had three more seasons, but those were the most fun for me,” she said. “Since they finally got Mike and Gloria to have a baby, they made us move next door to the house the Jeffersons lived in.”
When Everyone in the family ended in 1979, Struthers stayed on for the spinoff, Archie Bunker’s placewhich ran for four seasons. She also reprized her role in the spinoff Gloriafrom 1982 to 1983 Lear has not been in any shows.
