TV star Jessica Walter – best known for her legendary performance as Lucille Bluth in the sitcom Arrested Development – has died at the age of 80.
Her daughter said in a statement released to Deadline: “It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of my beloved mom Jessica. A working actor for over six decades, her greatest pleasure was bringing joy to others through her storytelling both on screen and off.
“While her legacy will live on through her body of work, she will also be remembered by many for her wit, class and overall joie de vivre.”
No cause of death was given, but Deadline reported that she died in her sleep at her home in New York.
Jessica’s credits include 90210 and the TV sitcom Amy Prentiss, for which she won an Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series category.
She also lent her voice to Fran Sinclair in the Jim Henson Television series Dinosaurs and, more recently, played Malory Archer in the animated series Archer.
However, her most iconic role is that of Lucille Bluth, a character she played in the first three series of Arrested Development, and later reprised in the Netflix revival.
Lucille was arguably the stand-out character of the critically acclaimed show, earning Jessica an Emmy nomination, and in later years, inspiring a number of social media memes.
Jessica’s final on-screen credit was in an episode of American Housewife which aired earlier this year.
She is survived by her daughter, Brooke Bowman, and grandson Micah Heymann.
