American actress Edie McClurg made a name for herself acting in a wide variety of films and TV shows including NBC sitcom, The Hogan Family. McClurg’s Mrs. Patty Poole was a consistent character in the series.
Originally called Valerie, the series first focused on a family with a mother played by Valerie Harper. After Harper left the show, the series adopted the new title, Valerie’s Family before finally adopting its current name of The Hogan Family. Even with a series of title changes, one thing remained the same, and that was Edie McClurg’s portrayal of Mrs. Poole.
Despite Edie’s famous interpretation of the nosy neighbor Mrs. Poole, that’s not the only role she’s praised for. Read on to learn more about McClurg’s long list of acting gigs as well as what her life looks like today.
Prior to her work on The Hogan Family, McClurg appeared in the movies Carrie and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in addition to the TV series The Richard Pryor Show, WKRP in Cincinnati, Harper Valley P.T.A., and The Jeffersons, among others.
It’s hard to forget Edie McClurg’s infamous character of the school secretary, Grace in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. At one point in the film, Grace even refers to Ferris as a “righteous dude.”
Continuing down McClurg’s long list of popular projects, her other movies include Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Curly Sue, Natural Born Killers, and Flubber. Additionally, Edie’s TV series’ filmography consists of Seinfeld, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Married… with Children, 7th Heaven, Caroline in the City, and Melrose Place.
Edie’s voice acting career includes voicing characters in The Little Mermaid, A Bug’s Life, Cars and Cars 2, Wreck-It Ralph, and Frozen.
Edie McClurg reflects on her longstanding acting career
McClurg worked with director John Hughes across four films consisting of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Curly Sue, and She’s Having a Baby.
In an interview with the Chicago Tribune in 2016, Edie gushed about working alongside Hughes saying, “All the time I was working for him, I felt, ‘Oh, I’m so happy to be here doing this. It was just so wonderful, compared to some of my other experiences. I felt I was very lucky to have the chance to work with all those people he pulled together. But I’m not sure I really understood, at the time, just how wonderful the films would turn out to be. And it was just one after another after another. I was so pleased to be a part of it.”
According to reports, the actress has been dealing with health problems as of late. In 2019, TMZ mentioned McClurg was diagnosed with dementia. However, that hasn’t stopped her from continuing her work. Most recently, Edie took on voicing a role for a 2020 episode of Family Guy.
Overall, Edie McClurg is proud of what she’s accomplished.
“I feel blessed. A lot of things have flown past my mind for a while,” she said. “But I know there are many people who still remember and still talk about (my work). They recite the words that were mine, to begin with. I’m so pleased people still care about me. I love that they laugh when they think of me.”