The actor played the Bunker family daughter Gloria in the sitcom and its spinoffs.
It’s been more than 40 years since the All in the Family series finale aired. The groundbreaking sitcom, which dealt with controversial social issues and centered a working class New York family, aired for nine seasons and was hugely popular. Stars Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton, who played Archie and Edith Bunker, have both since passed away. But the woman who played their daughter Gloria is still a working actor. All in the Family was one of the first roles Sally Struthers took on, and it ended up changing her life.
Today, Struthers is 74 years old and still in the business. Read on to find out what she’s been doing since her run on the legendary comedy ended.
Struthers played Gloria from 1971 through 1983, not only on All in the Family, but also the show’s spinoffs, Gloria and Archie Bunker’s Place. Other notable TV roles include Nine to Five, General Hospital, and Still Standing. She also lent her voice to the ’90s sitcom Dinosaurs, portraying teen daughter Charlene Sinclair. She’s also appeared in many films and TV movies.
One of her most famous recent gigs was playing Babette Dell—Lorelai and Rory’s eccentric, cat loving next door neighbor—on Gilmore Girls. She reprised her role in Netflix’s revival of the series years later.
And people who grew up in the ’90s surely remember Struthers’ stint starring in commercials for the International Correspondence School, or ICS, and her famous opening line: “Do you want to make more money? Sure, we all do.”
Today, Struthers has two TV series in the works: Very Frightening Tales and In-Security. She recently provided her voice to an episode of the podcast Around the Sun.
In an August 2021 interview with Closer Weekly, Struthers said she loved working with the cast, especially Carroll, who became like a father to her after her own father died three years before All in the Family premiered.
“I was still feeling bad and fatherless when I got this show. Carroll and his wife, Nancy, turned out to be as parental with me as he was in the show,” she said. “Carroll gave me advice, he laughed at my antics, he hugged me all the time–and he introduced me to my husband [William C. Rader, whom she divorced in 1983]! So I gained a father again by doing that show.”
While her list of film and TV credits is long, Struthers also performs on stage pretty regularly. One recent production is the musical Always, Patsy Cline, in which she’s played the singer’s friend and fan Louise on-and-off over the span of several years. The actor’s resumé also includes Wally’s Café, The Odd Couple, and Grease, all on Broadway, and playing Miss Hannigan in a touring production of Annie in 1998.
“They fell in love with me as a family member on television 40 years ago. They love to scream when I do something naughty. I’m a little wackadoodle, and they love that,” she told Broadway World in 2013 about performing for a live audience.
Struthers and ex-husband Rader were married from 1977 to 1983. They share a daughter, Samantha Rader, who didn’t exactly grow up to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Instead, she went more in the direction of her psychiatrist father. Samantha is a clinical psychologist who developed her own therapy practice called Source Code Psychology.
