| Name |
Marcia Wallace |
| Height |
|
| Naionality |
American |
| Date of Birth |
1-November-1942 |
| Place of Birth |
Creston, Iowa, U.S. |
| Famous for |
Acting |
Marcia Wallace is an American character actress, comedienne and game show panelist, primarily known for her roles in television situation comedies. She is perhaps best known for her roles as receptionist Carol Kester on the 1970s sitcom, The Bob Newhart Show, and as the voice of Edna Krabappel on the animated series The Simpsons, for which she won an Emmy for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 1992.
Wallace moved from Iowa to New York the day that she graduated from college with $150 dollars in her pocket. To make ends meet she performed in summer stock, typed scripts, did commercials and worked as a substitute English teacher in the Bronx. After performing for a year in a Greenwich Village nightclub Wallace and four fellow entertainer friends formed an improvisational group, The Fourth Wall. In 1968 she appeared for a year Off-Broadway with the her group. Afterwards, she made several other appearances in improvisational shows, and, after losing 100 pounds (45 kg) from her previous weight of 230, appeared in a nude production of Dark of the Moon at the avant-garde Mercer Arts Center. She also did commercials and studied with renowned acting teacher Uta Hagen.
Wallace was a semi-regular on The Merv Griffin Show, appearing over 75 times. When the show moved to the west coast, Wallace moved to Hollywood with it at Griffin's request. One of these appearances in March 1972 led to a phone call from TV producer Grant Tinker, who offered her a supporting role on The Bob Newhart Show on the recommendation of CBS founder Bill Paley The role of Carol Kester (later Carol Kester Bondurant), receptionist to Bob Newhart, was written specifically for her. When that series ended its six-season run in 1978, Wallace began three decades of television appearances as a game show panelist, on shows such as Hollywood Squares, Password Plus and its 1980s spin-off Super Password, Whew!, the 1980s version of Crosswits, Hot Potato, Body Language, The $25,000 Pyramid, Double Talk, Win, Lose or Draw, To Tell the Truth and Match Game. She was also on special celebrity episodes of the Ray Combs version of Family Feud and the Jim Perry version of Card Sharks. In April 2008, Wallace appeared on the interactive show GSN Live.
