Marcia Wallace, veteran actress and long time star in The Simpsons as the voice of Springfield Elementary’s apathetic fourth grade teacher Edna Krabappel has died in Los Angeles overnight.
After working on The Simpsons since 1990 and appearing in almost 200 episodes, producer Al Jean lamented the loss of Wallace by saying, “I was tremendously saddened to learn this morning of the passing of the brilliant and gracious Marcia Wallace,” and described Ms Krabappel as an “irreplaceable character”, signalling her retirement from the show.
Earlier this month, Al Jean also announced that the show’s 25th season would lose one of its major characters in an on-screen death. However, a statement confirms that the character “was not Marcia’s Edna Krabappel. Marcia’s passing is unrelated and again, a terrible loss for all who had the pleasure of knowing her.” Marcia Wallace’s death is perhaps one of the most significant changes to The Simpsons’ solid cast over the past three decades; the show was similarly struck by tragedy in 1998 when Phil Hartman, voice actor of Troy Mcclure and Lionel Hutz was murdered.
Marcia Wallace, who also starred in countless sitcoms and lent her voice to other cartoons such as Captain Planet and Angry Beavers, became an activist for Breast Cancer Awareness after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1985.
Via news.com.au, TMZ.
