Betty McGuire, Stage and Screen Actor, Dies at 100

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that stage and screen actress Betty McGuire has died at age 100. McGuire appeared in three Broadway productions, including the original productions of Plain and Fancy, Happy Hunting and Oh, Captain!

McGuire made her Broadway debut in the musical Plain and Fancy, which ran from 1955 to 1956. She next appeared in Happy Hunting from 1956 to 1957, followed by Oh, Captain! in 1958. Her stage credits also included touring and regional productions of Gypsy, Oliver!, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and The Ziegfeld Follies of 1956. She performed in productions in the United States, Australia and internationally, and headlined as Mame at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Her stage career brought her into productions alongside performers including Ethel Merman, Bea Arthur and Susan Hayward, among others.

McGuire also maintained an extensive screen career, known to television audiences for her recurring role as Kate Malone, the mother of Maggie Seaver, played by Joanna Kerns, on the sitcom Growing Pains. McGuire appeared in 12 episodes between 1986 and 1991, spanning six of the show’s seven seasons. 

She also appeared in television series including 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.

Her film credits included Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke and the medical thriller Coma, both released in 1978. In Up in Smoke, she portrayed Sister Mary Quacker, while she played a nurse in Coma. Her other film appearances included The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) and Wishmaster (1997).

In addition to her work in entertainment, McGuire volunteered for years as a receptionist and advocate with the Coalition for Economic Survival, a legal clinic that assists low-income tenants facing eviction. McGuire had lived at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital since 2017. During her time there, she hosted and produced GabFest, a talk show for the facility’s Channel 22 television station. The program featured the dreams and life stories of the staff members who worked at the retirement community.