Marcia Wallace (voice of Mrs Krabappel in The Simpsons) 1942 - 2013 RIP

The American actress Marcia Wallace has died a few days short of her 71st birthday.

She was born in the small town of Creston, Iowa (I've been there, so trust me, it's a VERY small town!), where her parents ran the local store. She graduated from the local college with thoughts of becoming a teacher but having been bitten by the acting bug after a successful appearance in a school play she moved to New York with just $148 in her pocket.

After a number of minor acting roles she decided on a lifestyle change. At the time she weighed more than 16st (just over 100kg) but she almost halved her weight, leading to a nude role in an off-Broadway review.

Her big television break came in 1969 when she landed a role in The Merv Griffin Show, and when the show moved to Los Angeles in 1972 she went with it, where she was approached by the producers of the extremely successful The Bob Newhart Show. They wanted her for the role of the doctor's receptionist, which she played until 1978.

She starred for many years as a panelist on the programme which we know as Celebrity Squares, as well as appearing in other US TV quiz shows such as Password Plus and its 1980s spin-off Super Password, Whew!, the 1980s version of Crosswits, Hot Potato, Body Language, The $25,000 Pyramid, Double Talk, Win, Lose or Draw, To Tell the Truth and Match Game. She also appeared in Taxi, Bewitched and The Brady Bunch and on film in Ghoulies III and Teen Witch.

But her global fame came as the voice of Bart Simpson's class teacher, the lonely and frustrated spinster Edna Krabappel. Wallace appeared in 177 episodes of the Simpsons between 1990 and 2013, and it was for this role that she won an Emmy Award in 1992.

Her cause of death is not immediately known, but she had previously been treated for breast cancer, and staff at The Simpsons knew that she was ill. In 2007 Wallace won the Gilda Radner Courage Award from Roswell Park Cancer Institute for helping educate Americans about the importance of early cancer detection and inspiring others.

The writers of The Simpsons have announced that the character of Mrs Krabappel is being retired.

Ironic her character smokes.

The opening sequence of the latest episode to be shown in the States was amended to acknowledge her death: