Marcia Wallace, who became famous to many as the sassy, redheaded receptionist on The Bob Newhart Show and also voiced Bart's crabby teacher on The Simpsons, died Friday in Los Angeles. She was 70.
A representative from Wallace's agency confirmed the actress' death in an email to NBC News.
Cheers to the hilarious, kind, fab Marcia Wallace, who has taken her leave of us, said Simpsons actress Yeardley Smith on Twitter. Heaven is now a much funnier place b/c of you, Marcia. Xx
Wallace's world-weary voice was the perfect delivery vehicle for Bart Simpson's chain-smoking, always-exasperated teacher, Edna Krabappel. In 1992, Wallace won an Emmy for outstanding voice-over performance.
Her derisive HA! laugh became a character trademark, and is even collected in a YouTube video montage.
But long before The Simpsons, a generation of TV watchers knew her as Bob Newhart's joke-loving receptionist, Carol Kester, who minded the central desk at Dr, Bob Hartley's shared office suite on The Bob Newhart Show. The character became so well-known that in 1994, Wallace reprised the role of Kester on Murphy Brown. She was nominated for an Emmy for that guest appearance.
Wallace was also a game-show regular, making more than a dozen appearances on shows including Hollywood Squares, Match Game, The $25,000 Pyramid and To Tell the Truth, among others.
