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Mary Pat Gleason, a prolific character actress with more than 100 TV and film credits, including CBS’ sitcom Mom and A Cinderella Story, died of cancer June 2, according to a post on her Facebook page. She was 70.
Born in Lake City, MN, Gleason began her decades-long career in 1982 with a role in NBC soap opera Texas. She went on to star as Jane Hogan in daytime drama The Guiding Light, and won a daytime Emmy as part of the writing team on the show, which ran for 72 seasons on CBS.
Since then she has appeared on dozens of television series including Full House, Dear John, Murphy Brown, Empty Nest, L.A. Law, Saved by the Bell, Murder, She Wrote, Friends, Step by Step, Suddenly Susan, Will & Grace, Sex and the City, Desperate Housewives, Family Matters, NCIS: Los Angeles, The Middleman, Up All Night, 1600 Penn, Motive, Baby Daddy, Grey’s Anatomy, Partners, Mama’s Family, 2 Broke Girls and most recently in Mom as Mary, an Alcoholics Anonymous member. Her final television appearance came in the October 24, 2019 episode of Mom in which her character died of a brain aneurysm during an AA meeting.
Her feature film credits include I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Basic Instinct, Traffic, Bruce Almighty, 13 Going on 30, The Crucible, Bottle Shock, A Cinderella Story, The Island, Killing Kennedy and Nina. Her most recent film role was in the yet-to-be released drama Pencil Town.
She also starred as Professor Foxtrot in the web show WTF 101, on CollegeHumors Dropout platform.
Actor Ron Fassler penned a remembrance to Gleason, saying in part, “she was so much more than a wonderful actress: she was one of a kind. So caring, so funny, and so delicious to be around, that I find it hard to imagine a world without her shining presence and smiling face.”
