'Mr. Maude' actor Bill Macy dies at 97
FILE - This April 27, 1987 file photo shows actor Bill Macy in Los Angeles. Macy, who starred opposite Bea Arthur in the 1970s sitcom “Maude," died Thursday Oct. 17, 2019 in Los Angeles, friend Matt Beckoff said Friday. (AP Photo/Lennox McLendon, Fil
Bill Macy, known for his hangdog expression in the “All in the Family” spinoff “Maude,” died. He was 97.
According to his friend, Matt Beckoff, Macy died Thursday evening in Los Angeles. Details on how the actor died were not available at the time of publication.
“My buddy Bill Macy passed away at 7:13pm tonight," Beckoff wrote on Facebook. "He was a spitfire right up to the end. My condolences to his beautiful wife Samantha Harper Macy.”
The 97-year-old actor played Walter Findlay on the CBS sitcom from 1972 to 1978.
Other appearances included gigs on “ER,” “Seinfeld” and “How I Met Your Mother.”
Producer Norman Lear in a 1998 interview described Macy’s skills as “rare,” calling him a “great comic actor.”
Lear hired Macy after seeing him in an off-Broadway play where the character choked to death on a chicken bone.
Macy’s work also includes move credits like “The Holiday,” “Analyze This” and Steve Martin’s 1979 comedy “The Jerk.”
He started his career in theater.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.