Actress Jessica Walter Of 'Arrested Development' Dies At 80
Jessica Walter, the actress who played the iconic role of Lucille Bluth on the show Arrested Development, has died at the age of 80.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
We're going to take a moment now to remember an actress who played one of my favorite TV mothers.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT")
JESSICA WALTER: (As Lucille Bluth) When's the last time you went on a date?
JASON BATEMAN: (As Michael Bluth) I just haven't met anybody who's not completely self-absorbed and impossible to have a conversation with.
WALTER: (As Lucille Bluth) If that's a veiled criticism about me, I won't hear it and I won't respond to it.
SHAPIRO: That is the voice of Jessica Walter in her star turn as Lucille Bluth on the sitcom "Arrested Development." Walter died Wednesday at her home in New York City.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
Walter's career began in the '60s. She performed in dozens of plays, movies and TV shows, like "Amy Prentiss," "Columbo" and "Trapper John, M.D."
SHAPIRO: In an interview on NPR's Ask Me Another, Walter said as the years passed, she began to worry about her career.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
WALTER: You know, I didn't panic about it, but there was a period I would say between when I was about 60 to 62, when I got that role...
OPHIRA EISENBERG, BYLINE: Yeah.
WALTER: ...That I thought, things are not looking good.
EISENBERG: Yeah.
WALTER: And then, oh, no, there came that wonderful role.
CORNISH: As Lucille, the matriarch of the rich but troubled Bluth family, Walter turned in an unforgettable performance as a narcissistic, domineering mother hopelessly out of touch with everyday life.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT")
WALTER: (As Lucille Bluth) I mean, it's one banana, Michael. What could it cost, $10?
BATEMAN: (As Michael Bluth) You've never actually set foot in a supermarket, have you?
WALTER: (As Lucille Bluth) I don't have time for this.
SHAPIRO: That was Jessica Walter, who died Wednesday at the age of 80.
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