All In The Family was one of the greatest shows ever, with lessons that I believe are still relevant today. It catapulted several actors to stardom – and Sally Struthers happened to be one of them.
Today, the beautiful woman with that signature blonde hair looks a lot different – but she’s still in the business…
A precocious talent
For many of us, Sally Struthers will always be remembered for her portrayal of Gloria Stivic in the ’70s sitcom All In The Family. The iconic show was about a working-class white family living in Queens, New York, and received an astonishing 73 award nominations and 42 wins during its run.
But I’m not sure if people born after the show’s heyday can properly grasp how ground-breaking it was. There had been funny sitcoms before that, but they rarely, barely touched on social issues and taboos. All In The Family took many of those issues and made them funny, or heartbreaking, or both.
Watching old episodes of the show on YouTube really makes you feel young again; makes you laugh, takes your mind off things that are happening today. A lot of the issues back then are the same ones we have today, only presented in a comical way
In my opinion, Sally Struthers was very underrated and versatile as an actress. She occasionally sang in some episodes of All In The Family – and I could see how she developed during the course of the series.
“At first I behaved like an idiot on the set. I thought that was the way to get people to like me. I’ve been educated on the set. I’ve learned to be myself. And now, they respect me,” she told Longview Daily News in 1973.
When the series premiered in January 1971, Sally was a 22-year-old unknown with minimal TV experience. Producer Norman Lear, who was a “father of us all” according to Sally, discovered the talented actress when she was dancing on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
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