Mrs. Garrett of Different Strokes and Facts of Life is dead. In my opinion, she was by far the highlight of both shows. Different Strokes and Facts of Life both loved to hit us over the head with the very special episodes, Rae often provided some comic relief during those.
“Whut’chu talkin’ about, Willis?”
This makes me sad because it makes me realize how far behind me my own youth is.
It’s like, I don’t want the cultural pillars of my childhood to be 92 years old and dead. But alas…
Very sad. Mrs. G was always so cheerful. RIP, Charlotte.
But I’ll confess that I only watched Facts of Life for Nancy McKeon.
I just saw Todd Bridges Twitter post paying tribute to the rest of the cast. Made me feel old.
Weirdly, my first thought is of her brief, wordless role in Hair as the gleeful middle-aged woman who danced with Berger when the hippies crashed the society party.
I liked her since I saw her on stage at Ford’s Theater.
No, Lincoln wasn’t there. It was a production Ken Ludwig’s “Leading Ladies.” She and John Astin were the big names, thought they had small roles. It was the last show of the run, and everyone on stage was having a great time. I do remember how short she was: everyone towered over her.
Sorry to hear she’s gone.
I started out hot for Blair, but quickly shifted my affections to Jo. :o
RIP, Mrs G.
Goodbye to Sylvia Schnauser, beloved wife of Leo Schnauser (Al “Grandpa” Lewis) from Car 54, Where Are You?
Among surviving cast members, she had the 2nd most number of appearances on that show after Hank Garrett* (Officer Ed Nicholson).
Now that’s a long career.
- That image of him on his IMDb page from 3 Days of the Condor: still creepy after all these years.
I never saw those shows but I found a really old clip on youtube sometime ago and thought she was a cut-up.
Don’t be so sure… before she passed, a reboot was in the works…
Probably the role I’ll remember her most by is “The Twitch” - a one-off on The Phil Silvers Show; as a punishment for gambling, Sgt. Bilko has to find a way to get a crowd to watch someone give a lecture on the life of Beethoven, but it’s made much easier when he discovers that she is notorious for tugging on her girdle and he starts taking bets on how many times she’ll do it.