Mitzi McCall dead: 'Seinfeld' actress and comedian was 93

Mitzi McCall, the comedian and actress who famously shared the Ed Sullivan Show stage with the Beatles and memorably portrayed a dry cleaner's wife with boundary issues on Seinfeld, died Aug. 8 at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Calif. She was 93.

Jeff Sanderson, a representative for McCall, confirmed the news to Entertainment Weekly and provided a statement saying she passed away peacefully with loved ones surrounding her. A cause of death was not disclosed.

"Mitzi McCall's life was a testament to the power of laughter, and her influence on the world of comedy will be remembered for years to come," the statement added. "Her legacy will live on through the countless laughs she inspired and the doors she opened for future generations."

Born in Pittsburgh in 1930, McCall began her show business career with a production of Strange Bedfellows at the Pittsburgh Playhouse in 1948. She hosted the local children's TV program Kiddie Castle in the 1950s, and one episode of the show received widespread publicity after McCall helped coach Claire Porvaznik, a 5-year-old girl with a cleft palate, into speaking her first words.

McCall moved to Hollywood in the mid-1950s and appeared in small parts in films like You're Never Too Young, War of the Satellites, Machine-Gun Kelly, and The Cry Baby Killer. She also appeared as a waitress in the iconic Twilight Zone episode "The Hitch-Hiker," and acted in episodes of The Dennis O'Keefe Show and The Jim Backus Show.

As a comedian, McCall appeared on episodes of The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Tonight Show with both Jack Paar and Johnny Carson, and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. Many of her comedy appearances came alongside her husband and comedy partner, Charlie Brill. The duo are perhaps best remembered for their part in one of the most seminal broadcasts in American television history: the episode of The Ed Sullivan Show that introduced the Beatles to the United States in 1964.

In the 1970s and '80s, McCall pivoted to primarily voice acting in Flintstones and Scooby-Doo projects, as well as shows like The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang and Snorks. She also wrote for shows including The Stockard Channing Show, Eight Is Enough, One Day at a Time, and ALF.

Her on-camera career had something of a renaissance in the 1990s, most memorably when she appeared in a 1994 episode of Seinfeld titled "The Secretary." In the episode, Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) discovers that his dry cleaner's wife (McCall) has been wearing his mother's fur coat, which is clearly a "breach of the dry-cleaners' code." Jerry accosts her in a dressing room (with significant resistance) before she walks out of the stall, coatless, as if nothing has happened.

McCall also appeared in 17 episodes of Silk Stalkings, 21 episodes of Alright Already, four episodes of Life Goes On, and individual episodes of Roseanne, Ellen, Dragnet, and Becker in the 1990s, plus eps of Chuck, Hannah Montana, and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody in the 2000s. She also continued with numerous voice acting gigs, including Hey Arnold, Darkwing Duck, Aaahh! Real Monsters, and The Wild Thornberrys, and even voiced a Glyptodont in the original Ice Age movie. At the end of her career, she played a supporting role in the Robin Williams movie World's Greatest Dad, and was credited with voice work in Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak.