Marcia Rodd passes away at the age of 87

Actress Marcia Rodd passed away at the age of 87 on December 27.

Actress Marcia Rodd starred in films including the black comedy Little Murders and TV shows like Trapper John, M.D.

The actress who was nominated for Tony Awards for the 1973 musical Shelter and celebrated on Broadway enjoyed her career over the span of 6 decades.

Other standout projects included starring in the hit stage comedy Last of the Red Hot Lovers on Broadway from 1969-71 before her screen career took off.

On Wednesday, the news was published in the Los Angeles Times by her close family. The publication revealed her death date as December 27. The news was first broken by The Hollywood Reporter.

She was born in Lyons, Kansas, in July 1938. She made her Broadway debut as a replacement in the classic musical Oh, What a Lovely War, and played Dorothy Gale in a televised production of The Wizard of Oz, both in 1964.

She had moved to New York City with her husband, Dale Hagen, after studying at Northwestern University and first following him to New Haven, Connecticut, where she enrolled at Yale Law School and performed in theatrical productions there.

Rodd’s first two film roles both occurred in 1971, starring opposite Elliott Gould in Little Murders as a designer who falls for his photographer character when she’s getting mugged, which was directed by Alan Arkin.

Rodd’s varied TV career saw her appear in some of the biggest shows being broadcast, although she turned down the opportunity to play the role of Maude’s daughter Carol Traynor after playing her in a 1972 episode of All in the Family, which served as the series Maude’s pilot. It went on to air for six seasons.

However, she made guest appearances in the likes of The New Dick Van Dyke Show, Young Dr Kildare, Barnaby Jones, All’s Fair and M*A*S*H, and landed a regular role on 1976’s sitcom The Dumplings with James Coco and Geraldine Brooks.

Other bigger roles followed when she starred in the main part of Elaine Dowling on the sitcom 13 Queen’s Boulevard in 1979, and then played E.J. Riverside from 1980-86 on Trapper John, M.D., the major spin-off from the record-breaking and boundary-pushing TV hit M*A*S*H.