Marcia Wallace

Though her own life was marked by periods of pain, actress Marcia Wallace spent much of her career making others laugh through her frequent television appearances. She first caught audiences' attention as Bob Newhart's tart-tongued secretary on the classic "Bob Newhart Show" (CBS, 1972-78). Countless comic guest shots on television series soon followed, as well as stints as celebrity contestant on game shows throughout the 1970s, which greatly benefited from her improvisational skills. Wallace was relegated to supporting parts and regional theater throughout much of the 1980s, during which she recuperated from a bout with breast cancer. But she rebounded at the end of the decade with television and theater performances, buoyed largely by her crisp, Emmy-winning turn as Mrs. Krabappel on "The Simpsons" (Fox, 1989- ). The very definition of the word "survivor," both in her varied career and tumultuous life, Wallace's stubborn perseverance and her unfailing ability to simply make people laugh were warmly remembered upon her death in October 2013.