
Jean Stapleton was born Jeanne Murray in Manhattan, New York City, to Marie A. (Stapleton), an opera singer, and Joseph Edward Murray, a billboard advertising salesman. Her paternal grandparents were Irish. She was a cousin of actress Betty Jane Watson. Other relatives in show business were her uncle, Joseph E. Deming, a vaudevillian; and her brother Jack Stapleton, a stage actor. She graduated from Wadleigh High School, NYC, in 1939, and attended Hunter College. She worked as a secretary before becoming an actress. Stapleton made her stage debut at the Greenwood Playhouse, Peaks Island, Maine, in the summer of 1941, and her New York stage debut in "The Corn Is Green" (1948). She appeared on Broadway in the musicals "Damn Yankees" (1955) and "Bells Are Ringing" (1956), and later repeated her roles in the movie versions (Damn Yankees (1958) and Bells Are Ringing (1960)). Her other Broadway roles included the original companies of "Rhinoceros" (1961) and "Funny Girl" (1964). Stapleton also played Abby Brewster in the 1986-87 revival of "Arsenic and Old Lace".

Saturday Night Live
TV • 1975

The Mike Douglas Show
TV • 1961

Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944

Great Performances
TV • 1971

The Love Boat
TV • 1977

Touched by an Angel
TV • 1994

The Dick Cavett Show
TV • 1968

The Merv Griffin Show
TV • 1962

Everybody Loves Raymond
TV • 1996

Dr. Kildare
TV • 1961

Robert Montgomery Presents
TV • 1950

My Three Sons
TV • 1960

Intimate Portrait
TV • 1993

Route 66
TV • 1960

Naked City
TV • 1958

Naked City
TV • 1958

Dinah!
TV • 1974

The Defenders
TV • 1961