“Arrested Development” Star Jessica Walter Dead At 80

“Arrested Development” Star Jessica Walter Dead At 80

TV star Jessica Walter, best known for her legendary performance as Lucille Bluth in the sitcom Arrested Development, has died at the age of 80.

In a statement released to Deadline, her daughter said:

It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of my beloved mom Jessica. A working actor for over six decades, her greatest pleasure was bringing joy to others through her storytelling both on-screen and off. While her legacy will live on through her body of work, she will also be remembered by many for her wit, class, and overall joie de vivre.

No cause of death was given, but Deadline reported that she died in her sleep at her home in New York.

Jessica’s credits include 90210 and the TV sitcom Amy Prentiss, for which she won an Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series category.

She also lent her voice to Fran Sinclair in the Jim Henson Television series Dinosaurs and, more recently, played Malory Archer in the animated series Archer.

However, her most iconic role is that of Lucille Bluth, a character she played in the first three series of Arrested Development, and later reprised in the Netflix revival.

Lucille was arguably the stand-out character of the critically acclaimed show, earning Jessica an Emmy nomination, and in later years, inspiring a number of social media memes.

She served as 2nd National Vice President of the Screen Actors Guild and was an elected member of the SAG Board of Directors for over a decade.

Also on stage, Walter worked at New York’s Playwright’s Horizons and the Los Angeles Theater Center, where she starred in Tartuffe opposite the late Ron Leibman, her Emmy- and Tony-winning husband.

She also starred in the Broadway revival of Anything Goes, which picked up several Tony Awards.

Jessica’s final onscreen credit was in an episode of American Housewife which aired earlier this year.

She is survived by her daughter, Brooke Bowman, and grandson Micah Heymann.