Jessica Walter

For the Liechtenstein skier, see Jessica Walter (skier).

Jessica Walter
Walter at a premiere party for 90210 in 2008
Born	(1941-01-31) January 31, 1941 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1962–present
Spouse(s)	Ross Bowman (1966–1978; divorced) Ron Leibman (1983–present)
Children	1
Signature

Jessica Walter (born January 31, 1941) is an American actress. She is best known for appearing in the films Play Misty for Me and Grand Prix, her role as Lucille Bluth on the sitcom Arrested Development, and providing the voice of Malory Archer in the FX animated series Archer.

Walter was a series regular for the first half of season one of 90210, provided the voice of Fran Sinclair in the series Dinosaurs, and starred as the title character of the series Amy Prentiss, for which she won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie.

Early life

Walter was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Esther (née Groisser) and David Walter, a musician who was a member of the NBC Symphony and the NYC Ballet Orchestra. Her brother is screenwriter Richard Walter.

Career

Walter began her acting career as Julie Murano on the television series, Love of Life, which ran from September 1951 until February 1980. During Walter's stint on Love of Life, she also acted in many other popular television series, namely Naked City, East Side/West Side, Ben Casey, Route 66, Lilith, The Doctors and the Nurses, The Rogues, and The Defenders. Amongst those series is Walter's notable role as Lorna Richmond on "The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow" episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour which aired in April 14, 1964.

Walter appeared in the first episode of Flipper, shown in September 1964. Also in 1964, she guest starred in the episode "How Much for a Prince?" of CBS's short-lived drama The Reporter. In 1966 she appeared in an episode of The Fugitive entitled "The White Knight".

Her earliest notable film role was in the 1971 movie Play Misty for Me, in which she played a young woman with behavior consistent with borderline personality disorder who becomes infatuated with and ultimately stalks a disc jockey. For her performance, Walter received a Golden Globe nomination in the Best Motion Picture Actress – Drama category and critical praise, with Roger Ebert describing Walter as demonstrating "unnerving effectiveness" in the role. Walter's other film credits from that era include Lilith (1964), Grand Prix (1966), The Group (1966), Bye Bye Braverman (1968), and Number One (1969).

In 1974, Walter co-starred an episode of Columbo, "Mind Over Mayhem". She starred in the short-lived series Amy Prentiss, a spinoff of Ironside and had a recurring role on Trapper John, M.D. as Melanie McIntyre, Trapper John's former wife. In 1983, she had a role in the short-lived NBC primetime soap opera Bare Essence as Ava Marshall. Since then, she has worked most frequently in television and theater, though she did appear in some films including The Flamingo Kid in 1984 and the 1994 film PCU. In the 1990s, she voiced Fran Sinclair on the ABC comedy Dinosaurs, and appeared on Just Shoot Me! as Eve Gallo, the mother of Maya and the ex-wife of magazine publisher Jack Gallo.

From 2003 to 2006, she appeared in a regular role as the scheming alcoholic socialite matriarch Lucille Bluth on Fox's critically acclaimed comedy series Arrested Development. In 2005, she received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for the role. Despite her convincing portrayal of Lucille, she states: "I'm nothing like Lucille. Nothing. My daughter will tell you. I'm really a very nice, boring person." Despite acclaim from critics, Arrested Development received low ratings and viewership on Fox, which canceled the series in 2006. It was revived by Netflix for one more season in 2013.

Walter played Tabitha Wilson on the first season of 90210, until the character was written off halfway through the season. She also guest starred on the sitcom Rules of Engagement in the episode titled "Kids". She guest starred in an episode of Law & Order: SVU in 2009, and appeared again later on as legal-aid lawyer Petra Gilmartin.

Walter recently starred as Evangeline Harcourt in the Broadway revival of Anything Goes, which began previews in March 2011 and officially opened on April 7, 2011.

She currently voices spymistress Malory Archer on the FX animated show Archer. She was drawn to the role after learning that the script for the pilot explicitly drew comparisons between Malory and Lucille Bluth.

Personal life

Since 1983, Walter has been married to actor Ron Leibman, with whom she co-starred in Neil Simon's play Rumors. They also appeared together as husband and wife in the film Dummy and in Law & Order (in the episode "House Counsel") and he joined the cast of Archer, playing her character's new husband.

Walter has a daughter, Brooke Bowman, who was born in 1972 and is currently a development executive for ABC Family, from her twelve-year marriage to Ross Bowman, a former Broadway stage manager and television director.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Roles	Notes
1964	Lilith	Laura
1966	Grand Prix	Pat Stoddard	Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Female
1966	The Group	Libby
1968	Bye Bye Braverman	Inez Braverman
1969	Number One	Julie Catlan
1971	Play Misty for Me	Evelyn Draper	Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1972	Women in Chains	Dee Dee	TV movie
1972	Home for the Holidays	Frederica "Freddie" Morgan	TV movie
1976	Victory at Entebbe	Nomi Haroun
1978	Dr. Strange	Morgan le Fay	TV movie
1979	Goldengirl	Melody
1979	Vampire	Nicole DeCamp	TV movie
1979	She's Dressed to Kill	Irene Barton	TV movie
1981	Going Ape!	Fiona
1982	Spring Fever	Celia Berryman
1984	The Flamingo Kid	Phyllis Brody
1985	The Execution	Gertrude Simon	TV movie
1988	Tapeheads	Kay Mart
1993	Ghost in the Machine	Elaine
1994	PCU	President Garcia-Thompson
1995	Temptress	Dr. Phyllis Evergreen
1998	Slums of Beverly Hills	Doris Zimmerman
2001	My Best Friend's Wife	Mrs. Epstein
2003	Dummy	Fern Schoichet
2006	Unaccompanied Minors	Cindi
2012	Bending the Rules	Lena Gold

Television

Year	Title	Roles
1968	Name of the Game	Linda Ramsey	Episode: "Ordeal"
1970	Mannix	Kathy Graves	Episode: "Who is Sylvia?"
1970	Mission Impossible	Valerie	Episode: "Orpheus"
1971	Name of the Game	Rita Mason / Allie Chambers	Episode: "The Showdown"
1971	Alias Smith and Jones	Louise Carson	Episode: "Everything Else You Can Steal"
1972	Cannon	Jane Butler	Episode: "That was no Lady"
1973	Banacek	Erica Osburn	Episode: Two Million Clams for Cap'N Jack"
1974	Columbo	Dr. Margaret Nicholson	Episode: "Mind Over Mayhem"
1974–1975	Amy Prentiss	Amy Prentiss	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1975	McCloud	Mrs. Jessica Wright	Episode: "Park Avenue Pirates"
1976	The Streets of San Francisco	Maggie Jarris	Episode: "Till Death Do Us Part"
1977	The New Adventures of Wonder Woman	Gloria	Episode: "The Return of Wonder Woman"
1977	McMillan (formally McMillan and Wife)	Donna Drake Linguist	Episode "All Bets Off"
1978	Wheels	Ursula
1982	Joanie Loves Chachi	Vanessa Sterling	Episode: "Everybody Loves Aunt Vanessa"
1984–1985	Three's a Crowd	Claudia Bradford
1985	Murder, She Wrote	Joyce Holleran	Episode: "Murder In The Afternoon"
1986	Magnum P.I.	Joan Fulton	Episode: "Novel Connection"
1986	Murder, She Wrote	Joan Fulton	Episode: "Magnum On Ice"
1991	Murder, She Wrote	Jane Dawson	Episode: "Unauthorized Obituary"
1991–1994	Dinosaurs	Fran Sinclair	Voice
1994	Murder, She Wrote	Gwen Noble	Episode: "The Murder Channel"
1994	Babylon 5	Senator Elise Voudreau	Episode: "A Spider in the Web"
1996	The Magic School Bus	Ashley Walker-Club-Dupree	Episode: "Rocks and Rolls"
1998	Just Shoot Me!	Eve Gallo	Episode: "Eve of Destruction"
2003–2006, 2013, 2016	Arrested Development	Lucille Bluth	68 episodes Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (2003) TV Land Award for Future Classic (2004) Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (2005) Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2005, 2006)
2007	Rules of Engagement	Constance	Episode: "Kids"
2007–2010	Saving Grace	Betty Hanadarko	5 episodes
2008	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Eleanor Reynolds	1 episode
2008–2009	90210	Tabitha Wilson	13 episodes
2009	Make It or Break It	Grandma Tanner	Episode: "Battle of the Flexes"
2009	Law & Order: SVU	Attorney Petra Gilmartin
2009–present	Archer	Malory Archer	Voice
2010	Gravity	Henrietta	5 episodes
2010	Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated	Mrs. Wyatt	Episode: "Howl Of The Fright Hound"
2011	The Big Bang Theory	Mrs. Latham	Episode: "The Benefactor Factor"
2011–2012	Retired at 35	Elaine Robbins	Main cast
2014	Jennifer Falls	Maggie	Main cast
2015	Star vs. the Forces of Evil	Miss Heinous	Episode: St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses
2015	NCIS	Judith McKnight	Episode: "16 Years"

External links

• Jessica Walter at IMDb
• Jessica Walter at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jessica Walter on tvland.com