Debra Engle (July 4, 1953 - February 10, 2023) was an American actress and school teacher.
On Married... with Children, she appeared as Mary Ellen Litchfield, an old childhood friend of Al Bundy's in the Season 8 episode, "Hood 'n the Boyz".
Acting career[]
Debra, a Baltimore, Maryland native, made her stage debut in Babe, Balm in Gilead at the Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago in 1981, where she appeared in 200 performances. She would later reprise her role in the play at Minetta Lane Theatre, New York City in 1984, for another 200 performances.
Other stage appearances include The Early Male Years at the North Light Repertory Theatre in Evanston, IL in 1982; Waiting for the Parade at both the Steppenwolf Theatre and Misalliance, Court Theatre in Chicago in 1985; Arms and the Man at the Circle in the Square Theatre, New York City in 1985, then also at the Court Theatre, 1986 and Tansy and, The Nerd at the Helen Hayes Theatre, New York City in 1987. [1]
She was best known to TV sitcom viewers as Rebecca Devereaux, Blanche Devereaux's daughter, in the long-running NBC-TV sitcom series The Golden Girls and its spin-off, The Golden Palace.
Debra's other television appearances include guest roles on such series as Family Ties, ER, Home Improvement, Dave's World, Dream On, Blossom, and Sabrina The Teenage witch.
Debra's most recent TV series appearance was as an E.R. Doctor in the A&E TV series Crossing Jordan in 2002.
In 2016, she participated in an interview for the blog, Nobelmania in an article titled "Family Ties: oral history of the 1980s sitcom". The interview featured many of the sitcom's past guest stars reflecting back on their experience on the show and how their lives have turned out since then. (though some including Christina Applegate declined to be interviewed, while others such as Beverly Archer accepted but dropped out due to not having much to contribute).
In the multi-part interview, she mentioned that she had recently moved to California after having performed in several theater productions when she was cast on Family Ties for the 1988 episode, "Designing Woman".[2] She enjoyed working on show, playing Jaime Carter, the supervisor at David Campbell Fashion who steals the design from Mallory, their newest intern. She revealed that she was originally supposed to cry after being caught, but it was changed so she did not have to.[3] She also mentions that some of her fans and family were surprised that she would play a character that would steal, but also enjoyed posting screenshots of her in her various acting roles. [2][4] She mentioned that she had recently ran into Matthew Diamond, who directed the episode and also received a residual check for the episode, which was almost 30 years old when the interview was conducted.[5]
She also reveals that had stopped acting altogether after one of her daughters was diagnosed with autism. Due to the constant doctors' appointments, she decided to become a elementary school teacher so she could have a schedule that would be in-line with her daughters and have more time to spend with them. She mentioned that she was working for LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) and was teaching theatrical performance to elementary school kids. [6]
Personal Life[]
Married to TV/film producer Russ Smith on February 6, 1983, the couple resides in Los Angeles.
Death[]
Engle died on February 10, 2023 in Los Angeles, California at the age of 69 due to Frontal Temporal Dementia. Her death was announced on her Facebook page by her cousin, who shared some of his memories of her. She is survived by her two daughters as well as a sister.[7]
References[]
- ↑ Debra Engle at Film Reference
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Family Ties": oral history of the 1980s sitcom – part 7 – favorites
- ↑ "Family Ties": oral history of the 1980s sitcom – part 2 – shooting anecdotes
- ↑ "Family Ties": oral history of the 1980s sitcom – part 3 – reactions
- ↑ "Family Ties": oral history of the 1980s sitcom – part 10 – mementos, memories
- ↑ "Family Ties": oral history of the 1980s sitcom – part 8 – your life today
- ↑ Twitter Post from @goldengirlsnews dated February 12, 2023
External links[]
Debra Engle at the Internet Movie Database- Russell Smith at the Internet Movie Database
- Debra Engle at the Internet Broadway Database
- Debra Engle at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
