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Here's how Jean Stapleton would correct fans when they identified her as Edith in public
She was a talented actor, but was also comfortable in her own skin.
Jean Stapleton may have been a patient woman, but she was also strong. She was confident enough in her own personality and talents to know that she was a star worth remembering, and saw to it that other people understood that as well.
While Stapleton became famous for playing Edith Bunker on All in the Family, she maintained that she and Edith were two completely separate people.
Stapleton was an incredibly talented actor; it made sense that some viewers may have seen her natural performance and assumed that Edith Bunker was simply her personality. However, the actor wasn't willing to let a single character define her life.
"I've made it my mission to educate people about the difference between me and my characters ever since All in the Family began in 1971," said Stapleton during an interview with the Edmonton Journal. "When someone stops me in a store, for instance, and addresses me as Edith, I'll very politely correct them, and try to explain that it is an actress' function to play many roles, and Edith Bunker was just one of the many roles I intend to play."
That's why in 1979, Stapleton left Edith Bunker behind.
"The way I'm constituted, I just can't invest my life in one portrayal," said the actor. "I need a variety. The last few seasons, I began to feel like a pit musician in a long-running Broadway show, who works on a crossword puzzle between cues, then picks up his instrument and plays the same notes he played the night before. It becomes less than a stimulating experience."
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