Mariclare Costello, an actress who appeared in various ‘70s and ‘80s TV shows, passed away earlier this month. She was 90 years old.
Videos by Suggest
According to her obituary, the actress passed away on April 17 in Brooklyn, New York. The cause of death was not disclosed.
Born in February 1936, Costello landed her first acting gig as Rosi in the 1967 comedy The Tiger Makes Out. In 1971, she appeared as Emily/Abigail in Let’s Scare Jessica to Death. A year later, she landed the role of Rosemary Hunter/Fordwick on The Waltons, which she appeared in for 15 episodes.
Other TV shows she appeared in are Barnaby Jones, Harry O, This Is the Life, The Fitzpatricks, The Incredible Hulk, and Murder, She Wrote.
She continued acting throughout the ’90s before scaling back. Nearly a decade after her appearance on Providence, Costello appeared in her final role in the 2011 video short Assisted Loving.
Costello is survived by her daughter Arin, partner Ethan, granddaughter Bird, stepdaughters Amy and Doon, and nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her husband, Allan Arbus, her sisters, Marjorie and Joan, and two of her nephews.
Costello Once Opened Up About Her Start in Acting
During a 2011 interview, Costello spoke about first going into acting.
“I’m from Peoria, Illinois. I had two older sisters and two male cousins from Chicago, who were super, super smart,” she explained. “One ended up in the CIA. They would come down to Peoria to visit us, and they and my sisters would write plays for us. We would do the plays in the basement.”
She further shared, “I remember my first appearance was in that basement, where we had an old icebox because we had changed to a refrigerator, and this thing had been sitting there. Because I was so young, there wasn’t much for me to do in the play.”
“But at the end, somebody opened up the icebox, and there I was,” Costello continued. “At which point, my parents and my aunt and uncle and everybody in the audience just gasped. They were so horrified that I had been in there.”
Although she auditioned for a variety musical show in high school, Costello said she was named the student director instead. ” I was basically extremely shy and quiet at that time, although probably not anymore. That was a very outgoing thing for me to have to do.”
However, she said she enjoyed managing the show. “I loved doing it, and also I was in it with a friend of mine who is a star athlete. We did a song together, and it was hugely successful.”
Following her decades-long acting career, Costello said she began teaching professionally.