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EXCLUSIVE — Starring in one of the edgiest comedies in history served as a culture shock to Sally Struthers.
“All in the Family” ran from 1971 to 1979 and was known for tackling taboo topics with humor. Most of the show’s provocative lines came from working-class man Archie Bunker, who’d often spew stereotypes from his living room recliner. He had controversial complaints about his Black neighbors, his feminist cousin-in-law and his Jewish coworkers, among other groups. He also threw in quite a few digs at his wife Edith.
Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton starred as Archie and Edith, along with Struthers as their daughter Gloria and Rob Reiner as their son-in-law, whom Archie preferred to call “Meathead.”
Struthers reflected on how surprised she was by her early “All in the Family” rehearsals, having had a rather sheltered upbringing.
NORMAN LEAR CHANGED TV CULTURE, FROM ‘ALL IN THE FAMILY’ TO ‘THE FACTS OF LIFE’
Promotional still shows the cast from the American television show ‘All in the Family,’ Los Angeles, California, early 1970s. They stand in the doorway of their television address, 704 Hauser Street, Astoria, Queens, New York, and are, from left, American actors Jean Stapleton (1923-2013), Rob Reiner, Carroll O’Connor (1924-2001), and Sally Struthers. (CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)
“Well, I was very young when I started on that show,” Struthers told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. “I was young when I finished it. And I grew up in Portland, Oregon, living with a Lutheran Norwegian family, who had absolutely no bigotry coming out of their mouths or in their hearts.”
“And so for the first couple of years that I sat in that rehearsal hall at CBS here in Los Angeles, and we would, on the first day of rehearsal, read the script out loud for all the writers to hear it, the producers, the network execs, programs … people who were marking it for how many times they would let Archie say ‘Geez’ because they said, of course, you know that’s short for ‘Jesus’ and that’s swearing,” she continued. “And so they would bargain with Norman Lear about how many words he had to take out.”
“Something would come out of somebody’s mouth in the show, usually Archie’s, and I would turn to whoever was sitting next to me and say, ‘What does that mean?’” she added. “I didn’t hear racial slurs growing up. I didn’t hear negative epithets. I really didn’t know that all this ugliness was out there. So it was a big learning curve for me.”
‘ALL IN THE FAMILY’ STAR SALLY STRUTHERS SAYS BETTY WHITE ONCE ‘FAT-SHAMED’ HER
Maude (played by actress Bea Arthur) visits the Bunker family (L-R: Jean Stapleton as Edith Bunker, Maude, Carroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker, Rob Reiner as ‘Meathead’ Stivic and Sally Struthers as Gloria) in the ‘Cousin Maude’s Visit’ episode of the CBS television series “All In The Family.” (CBS via Getty Images)
Yet, despite his cranky on-air demeanor, O’Connor felt like a second dad to her, Struthers said in an interview with Closer Weekly in 2021.
“In 1968, my own father passed away,” she shared. “I was still feeling bad and fatherless when I got this show. Carroll and his wife, Nancy, turned out to be as parental with me as he was in the show. Carroll gave me advice, he laughed at my antics, he hugged me all the time — and he introduced me to my husband, [William Rader]! So I gained a father again by doing that show.”
She waffled on whether “All in the Family” humor would fly today.
“I don’t know, I guess the circle of life, the rhythms of life, the centuries that we’ve gone through as human beings,” Struthers told Fox Digital. “I think, you know, everything that leaves comes back maybe with a new sparkle on it or a new twist, but there’s really very little in life that’s completely new again unless it’s a piece of technology that no one could have thought was coming. I just, I enjoyed the fact that there was that one brief moment in time where that television show got to come on the air.”
“And I don’t know, maybe educate a few people,” she continued. “I’ve had so many people approach me over all my years to say, and they, quite often, a lot of them start out with a sentence, ‘My dad is just like Archie. My grandfather is Archie Bunker, my uncle. And I always just say, ‘My condolences.'”
Actress Sally Struthers attends the premiere of “Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life” at Regency Bruin Theatre on Nov. 18, 2016, in Los Angeles, California. (Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)
Struthers, known to younger generations for her role as Babette on “Gilmore Girls,” is starring in the new Christmas movie “All is Merry & Bright” from SCDG Edify Productions, in partnership with The Greenhouse Arts. The film is directed by Cory Edwards, with whom Struthers said she’s previously worked, and also stars John O’Hurley, Emily Rose and Eric Close.
The film follows a mother as she comes to find forgiveness for her sister after a tragic accident that occurred when they were teenagers and left her with a physical disability.
Struthers said her favorite part of the holiday season is giving gifts.
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“I think that brings me the most satisfaction,” she said. “I would much rather give a gift than receive one. I just, I love to see people’s faces light up and see that I’ve actually found something, chosen something that gives them delight. And, you know, that’s gifts for family and friends and even your everyday people that are in your life, like your mailman, your water delivery guy. It’s just so much fun to have an excuse to give gifts where people don’t look at you like you’re crazy because you’re giving them a gift because it’s considered gift time.”
“All is Merry & Bright” is now in theaters.