Sally-Ann Struthers (born July 28, 1948) is a two-time Emmy-winning American actress and spokesperson, known for her roles in sitcoms and television, particularly that of Gloria Stivic, née Bunker, the daughter of Archie and Edith Bunker (played by Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton respectively) on All in the Family.
Struthers was born in Portland, Oregon, the daughter of Margaret Caroline (née Jernes) and Robert Alden Struthers, who was a surgeon. Her maternal grandparents were Norwegian immigrants and her father was of Scottish descent. She attended Grant High School. Struthers married Dr. William Rader, a psychiatrist, on December 18, 1977. Now divorced, they had one child together, Samantha Struthers Rader.
Struthers first achieved fame for her portrayal of Archie Bunker's daughter, Gloria Stivic on the 1970s sitcom All in the Family. Producer Norman Lear found the actress dancing on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, a counterculture variety show whose writing staff included Rob Reiner. According to a WPTT-AM radio interview with Doug Hoerth in 2003, Struthers felt that Rob Reiner's fiancée, actress Penny Marshall, would get the role of Gloria, as Marshall resembled Edith Bunker. Struthers also stated the Queens-based bigot was the brainchild of Carroll O'Connor and was not conceived by Norman Lear. After a shaky start, word of mouth propelled the program to the top of the Nielsen Ratings heap, giving tens of millions of viewers the chance to see "Gloria" defending her liberal viewpoints about negative stereotypes and inequality. Struthers won two Emmy Awards (in 1972 and 1979) for her work in All in the Family. Struthers also reprised her role of Gloria on the short-lived All in the Family spin-off Gloria (1982-1983). In 2001, Struthers said good-bye to her well-loved television "father" when she attended the funeral of Carroll O'Connor, along with Rob Reiner and Danielle Brisebois.
In Five Easy Pieces (1970), she had a memorable nude sex scene with Jack Nicholson.
Struthers was a semi-regular panelist on the 1990 revival of Match Game. She also had a recurring role as Bill Miller's manipulative mother, Louise, on the CBS sitcom Still Standing and regularly appeared on the dramedy Gilmore Girls as the girls' neighbor, Babette Dell.
Struthers has also provided voices for a number of animated series such as The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (as a teenage Pebbles Flintstone), TaleSpin (as Rebecca Cunningham) and Dinosaurs (as Charlene Sinclair).
The ironic disparity between her activism for starving children and her own weight gain was parodied in two South Park episodes: "Starvin Marvin" (1997) and "Starvin' Marvin in Space" (1999).
Struthers is also widely known for her work with two organizations that advertised heavily on cable and late-night television. The first of these is the Christian Children's Fund, advocating on behalf of impoverished children in developing countries, mainly in Africa. She has also worked with the International Correspondence School, which offers degrees by sending lessons directly to individuals' homes.
