Marian Mercer

From The Sandy Duncan Show. Front, L-R: Pam Zarit, Sandy Duncan, Tom Bosley. Back: M. Emmet Walsh, Marian Mercer Marian Ethel Mercer (November 26, 1935 – April 27, 2011) was an American actress and singer.

Career Born in Akron, Ohio, Mercer was the daughter of Samuel and Nellie Mercer.

She drew critical notice for her performance in New Faces of 1962, and won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance, and the Theatre World Award for her performance as Marge MacDougall in Promises, Promises (1968). in which she played piquant restaurant hostess Nancy Beebe Miller. (Mercer was one of four members of the cast who lasted through the series' network and syndicated runs; the others were Gail Edwards, Paul Kreppel, and Barrie Youngfellow). She had recurring roles on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman; its sequel, Forever Fernwood; St. Elsewhere; and Empty Nest.

She made guest appearances on such shows as Love, American Style; Archie Bunker's Place; Mama's Family; Benson; The Golden Girls; Murder, She Wrote; Touched by an Angel; and Suddenly Susan, among many others. She had featured roles in the television films The Cracker Factory (1979), which starred Natalie Wood, and Murder in Three Acts (1986), starring Peter Ustinov and Tony Curtis. Her big screen credits include John and Mary (1969); Oh, God! Book II (1980); and 9 to 5 (1980), where she played Missy Hart.

Mercer had been reunited with two former co-stars of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (in which she played Wanda Rittenhouse Jeeter) in two separate projects. She was reunited first with Dabney Coleman (he had played Merle Jeeter) in the film 9 to 5; where she resided until her death on April 27, 2011, from Alzheimer's disease in Newbury Park, California at the age of 75.

Filmography

Film

Television