Marcia Wallace the voice of Mrs. Krabappel of The Simpsons, Dies at 70
It is with much sadness that we report the death of Marcia Wallace, the voice of Mrs. Edna Krabappel from the popular long running Fox animated sitcom The Simpsons. Her character made famous as the semi-defeated teacher to Bart Simpson. Edna Karbapple always managed to muster a ‘single laugh’ in the light of Barts antics, eventually evolving Edna’s tone into the teacher looking for ‘love’, passionately or apathetically, emotionally and humorously.
Having won an Emmy for outstanding voice-over performance in 1992, from “Bart the Lover”, Marcie Wallace aged 70, passed after complications arising from her long battle with breast cancer. The actress was diagnosed in 1985 and became an activist and lectured on subject, earning her a Gilda Radner Courage Award from Roswell Park Cancer Institute in 2007. Marcie advocated the importance of early cancer detection and inspired others through her 20 years as a breast cancer survivor. Her autobiography, “Don’t Look Back, We’re Not Going That Way”, was published in 2004 and dealt with the many triumphs and sadness in her life.
Marcia Wallace starred in numerous television programs during her long and memorable career, including, ‘The Bob Newhart show’, ‘ALF’, ‘Full House’, ‘Bewitched’, ‘The Brady Bunch’, ‘Taxi’ and ‘Murder, She Wrote‘. Simpsons had announced the show intended to kill off ‘a major character’ in the upcoming season. Producer Al Jean had stated that ‘Wallace’s character was not the one slated to die’, He has recently followed his statement further:
“Marcia’s passing is unrelated and again, a terrible loss for all who had the pleasure of knowing her. She was beloved by all at The Simpsons and we intend to retire her irreplaceable character.”
Edna is set to retire from teaching and many Simpson fans will be sad to see her go.
Mrs. Krabapple is remembered by such episodes as ‘Bart Gets an “F”, ‘Bart the Lover’, ‘Special Edna’, ‘Postcards From the Wedge’, ‘Bart gets a “Z”, ‘The Ned-liest Catch’ followed by ‘Ned ‘N Edna’s Blend’.
Marcia is survived by her son.