Patt Shea, the regular actor of Norman Lear, who in 1979 directed the series finale of Everything in the family and was co-creator and contributor to two spinoffs of the legendary sitcom, Archie Bunker’s Place And Gloriahas died. She was 93.
Shea died of natural causes at her home in Sherman Oaks on April 12, her birthday, said her son Michael Shea, a director and assistant director. The Hollywood ReporterThe family has decided to wait until this week to publicly announce her death.
“Patt Shea was a pioneer in comedy writing,” noted Michael. “Her success as a writer of groundbreaking sitcoms was surpassed only by her generosity and compassion for people.”
Jack Shea, her husband of 59 years, died in 2013. He directed dozens of episodes of Lear-related sitcoms such as The Jeffersons, Silver spoon And Sanford and Son From 1997 to 2002 he was President of the DGA and thus owes half a century of dedicated work to the guild.
Patt Shea got her first TV script gig on The Jeffersons in 1977, and she also worked for Lear on the spinoff Sanfordthe film with McLean Stevenson in the leading role At the beginning and the one created by Terrence McNally Mama Malone.
She also worked with Everything in the family Stars Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton in their follow-up series In the heat of the night And Baghdad Caférespectively.
A story editor and then a staff writer at Everything in the familyShea and her frequent writing partner Harriett Weiss were credited as “writers” for “Too Good Edith,” the 205th and final installment in the series (by many counts).
In the episode, Edith (Stapleton) is supposed to cook all the food for Archie’s (O’Connor) St. Patrick’s Day party at his bar, but she has developed a phlebitis – which she keeps secret – and can barely stand. They end up sharing a tender moment, which is rare for this TV couple.
Shea, who worked on many of the series’ Edith-centric storylines, received the first of her three Humanitas Award nominations for her work on this episode.
O’Connor and Stapleton immediately went to Archie Bunker’s Placewhich ran for four seasons and 97 episodes until April 1983. (At the beginning of the second season in 1980, it is revealed that Edith has died of a stroke.) Shea was credited as a writer for about 20 episodes of this series.
Shea, Weiss and Joe Gannon then created Gloriain which Sally Struthers’ Everything in the family character (who now works in a veterinary practice) and her son. This series ran for one season (1982-83) with 21 episodes.
Patricia Catherine Carmody was born on April 12, 1931 in Sacramento, the daughter of a real estate agent. She attended St. Francis High School and, after moving to Los Angeles, Immaculate Heart College.
She met her future husband backstage when she was cast in George Washington slept here at Immaculate Heart and they married in Carmel, California. They lived in New York for a while while Jack worked as a stage manager for NBC, then returned to LA in 1953.
Shea took writing classes at UCLA and always carried a yellow pad with her, which she constantly wrote on while her five children were at practice, her son said.
Your first loan on The Jeffersons appeared in an episode directed by her husband. She was credited as a writer for two episodes of the final season of Everything in the family before I dedicated myself to the last episode and also wrote for Beautiful days, Cagney and Lacey, Lou Grant, Valerie And The Golden Girls.
She and Jack co-founded Catholics in Media Associates in 1992 and received the Lifetime Achievement Award ten years later. They also received the Luminosa in Unity Award from the Focolare Movement for their work in “bringing together producers, directors, writers and actors to convey positive values through their work.”
In addition to Michael, she is survived by her other sons Bill (another director/assistant director) and JJ, and their grandchildren Amanda, Michael, Dylan, Hudson, Katherine and Jackson.
Their eldest child, daughter Shawn Shea, a longtime assistant director and stage manager in Hollywood, died of pneumonia in February at age 69. Another daughter, Elizabeth, died in 2006 at age 48.
A joint service for Patt and Shawn was held on April 20 at St. Francis De Sales Parish in Sherman Oaks.
