Edie McClurg is an American character actress. She is known for her perky North Central dialect , common to persons from Middle America. McClurg began her career with a role in the 1976 Brian De Palma horror film Carrie as Helen Shyres, one of Carrie's classmates. The following year, she was a member of the cast of The Richard Pryor Show. In 1980, she was a regular performer on The David Letterman Show in the persona of Mrs. Marv Mendenhall. She also had a role in Elvira's first motion picture, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, in which she plays the Town Council President Chastity Pariah who... uses her uptight conservative views to convince the townsfolk to get rid of Elvira. She also had a minor role in Cheech & Chong's Next Movie. Having been a member of the Groundlings, she worked with fellow Groundling player, Paul Reubens, aka Pee-Wee Herman, on his first play “The Pee Wee Herman Show." In 1981, Edie McClurg starred as "Hermit Hattie" in Paul Reubens stage show The Pee-wee Herman Show. She has performed in nearly 90 movies and 55 TV episodes, usually typecast as a middle-aged, somewhat stubborn and dimwitted Midwesterner.
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