Edith Bunker - Edith's Death

Edith's Death

Archie was intensely protective of her and became upset at even the thought of losing her (a point driven home in the episode "Too Good Edith," the 208th and final episode of All in the Family, in which Edith becomes seriously ill while frantically helping Archie cook Irish dinners for a St. Patrick's Day celebration at the bar; she had been suffering from phlebitis and didn't tell Archie out of love, but he found out anyway and was upset that she'd hidden it from him).

Archie's worst nightmare came true in 1980, on the All in the Family continuation series Archie Bunker's Place, when Edith died (off-camera) of a stroke in the 1-hour second season premiere, "Archie Alone," which originally aired on CBS on November 2, 1980.

Jean Stapleton had wished to leave her role (in interviews, Stapleton has stated the role of Edith had reached its potential). Her appearances on the prior season sharply declined, having appeared in only four episodes of the 1979-1980 season. The 1980–1981 season premiere of Archie Bunker's Place acknowledged Edith's death (which had occurred a month before), and focused on Archie's denial and later grieving over Edith's death. The memorable episode ends with Archie alone in the bedroom in which he finds one of Edith's slippers, at which time he mourns her death.

The following is part of the transcript from the episode on Edith's death:

Archie: "It wasn't supposed to be like this. I was supposed to be the first one to go. I always used to kid you about you going first. You know I never meant none of that and that morning when yous was laying there. I was shaking you and yelling at you to go down and fix my breakfast. I didn't know. You had no right to leave me that way ..." (Holding the slipper to his face, Archie starts to cry) "... without giving me just one more chance to say I love you."

It was only with great reluctance that producer Norman Lear killed off his beloved character. When Jean Stapleton reminded him that Edith was a fictional character, Lear took a long pause and with a sad tone responded, "I don't see it that way."

Jean Stapleton appeared as a presenter on an Emmy Awards Telecast (after the episode "Archie Alone" aired) and said to the viewing audience: "See! I'm still here!"