Betty McGuire, an actress known for her decades on Broadway and her recurring role as Kate Malone on “Growing Pains,” died Oct. 8 of natural causes at age 100, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She died at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, where she had lived since 2017.
The news was confirmed by Keith Gerchak, an actor and co-founder of Double G Films who was described as a close family friend, the outlet reported.
Betty McGuire “Growing Pains” Role And Television Career
McGuire appeared in 12 episodes of “Growing Pains” between 1986 and 1991, showing up in all but one of the show’s seven seasons. She played Kate Malone, the mother and grandmother on the sitcom, opposite Gordon Jump, who played her husband, Ed.
Her television resume stretched far beyond that one role. Over a career that spanned 70 years, McGuire appeared on “The Doris Day Show,” “Cannon,” “Columbo,” “Barnaby Jones,” “Baretta,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Lou Grant,” “Hill Street Blues,” “Moonlighting,” “St. Elsewhere,” “Falcon Crest,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “Murphy Brown,” “ER” and “7th Heaven.”
On the film side, she played Sister Mary Quacker in Cheech & Chong’s “Up in Smoke” and a nurse in “Coma,” the Michael Crichton-directed medical thriller starring Geneviève Bujold, both in 1978. She also appeared in “The Incredible Shrinking Woman” in 1981 and “Wishmaster” in 1997.
Broadway And Stage Credits
McGuire built her early career on Broadway. She appeared in the original 1955-56 production of “Plain and Fancy,” where she performed and understudied alongside Ethel Merman, Barbara Cook, Bea Arthur and Tony Randall. She went on to appear in the original productions of “Happy Hunting” in 1956-57 and “Oh, Captain!” in 1958.
She later headlined as the title character in “Mame” at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and performed the role internationally. Her stage work also included regional, national and Australian touring productions of “Gypsy,” “Oliver!,” “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” and “The Ziegfeld Follies” of 1956. Along the way, she shared stages with Tallulah Bankhead, Celeste Holm, Susan Hayward, Constance Bennett, Jane Russell and Ron Moody.
Background And Later Years
McGuire was born March 20, 1926, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. After moving into the Motion Picture & Television Country House in 2017, she stayed active in front of and behind the camera, hosting and producing her own talk show, “GabFest,” for the facility’s on-campus television station, Channel 22. Rather than interview celebrity residents, she focused the show on the dreams and life stories of staff members who worked there.
Her retirement home life drew national attention in 2019, when she appeared on “NBC Nightly News” in a segment profiling the facility. She reflected on that stage of her life in a quote carried by The Hollywood Reporter.
“I’m a happy camper. To have the chance to do new things and different things at 92, can you think of anything better? I can’t,” McGuire said.
No information on surviving family members or memorial plans had been released as of the report from The Hollywood Reporter.
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