# Mary Pat Gleason

Mary Pat Gleason (February 23, 1950 – June 2, 2020) was an American film and television actress and an Emmy Award-winning writer. From 1983 to 1985, she appeared as "Jane Hogan" on the daytime soap opera Guiding Light, for which she was also a writer.

## Life and career

Gleason was born in Lake City, Minnesota, the daughter of Mary Elizabeth (Kane) and Harold Clifford Gleason. During her high school years she starred in a local theater's production of Once Upon a Mattress.
Her first screen role was the a 1982 episode of Texas, a soap opera that aired on NBC. She appeared on, among many others, such television series as Full House, Dear John, Murphy Brown, Empty Nest, L.A. Law, Saved by the Bell, Friends, Sex and the City and Step by Step. She appeared in more than 50 feature films, including I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Basic Instinct, Traffic, Bruce Almighty, 13 Going on 30, The Crucible, Bottle Shock, A Cinderella Story, The Island, Killing Kennedy, and Nina. In one of her last roles, she voiced Professor Foxtrot in CollegeHumor's animated web series WTF 101.

## Writing

In addition to acting, Gleason also wrote for Guiding Light and was part of the team that won the 1986 Daytime Emmy for outstanding daytime drama series writing.
Gleason became a vocal proponent of mental health treatment, and in 2006 wrote and starred in Stopping Traffic, a one-woman play about her struggles with bipolar disorder. The play is now used as a teaching aid for the Mayo Clinic's mental health programs.

## Death

Gleason died of uterine cancer on June 2, 2020, at age 70.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1983 | Easy Money | Party Mother | |
| 1989 | Troop Beverly Hills | Kindly Troop Leader | |
| 1989 | I, Madman | Policewoman | |
| 1989 | Fat Man and Little Boy | Dora Welsh | |
| 1990 | Vital Signs | Rotunda Woman | |
| 1990 | Pastime | Woman At Bar | |
| 1991 | Defending Your Life | The Waitress | |
| 1991 | Soapdish | Housewife | |
| 1992 | Basic Instinct | Juvenile Officer | |
| 1992 | Man Trouble | Vira | |
| 1992 | Lorenzo's Oil | The Librarian | |
| 1994 | Lookin' Italian | Casting Director | |
| 1994 | Holy Matrimony | Female Officer | |
| 1994 | Speechless | Desk Clerk | |
| 1995 | A Walk in the Clouds | Bus Driver | |
| 1996 | Infinity | County Nurse #2 | |
| 1996 | The Crucible | Martha Corey | |
| 1996 | No Easy Way | Nurse Barb | |
| 2000 | Traffic | Witness #2 | |
| 2001 | Evolution | Customer | |
| 2002 | Hometown Legend | Tee Naters | |
| 2003 | Bruce Almighty | Heavyish Woman | |
| 2003 | Cliché | Francesca DePesto | Short |
| 2003 | Intolerable Cruelty | Nero's Waitress | |
| 2003 | Grand Theft Parsons | Nurse | |
| 2004 | 13 Going on 30 | Mrs. Flamhaff | |
| 2004 | A Cinderella Story | Eleanor | |
| 2005 | Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School | Natasha | |
| 2005 | The Island | Nutrition Clerk | |
| 2005 | Underclassman | Ms. Hagerty | |
| 2006 | Lies & Alibis | Operator #3 | |
| 2006 | One Sung Hero | Sara's Mom | Short |
| 2006 | Wristcutters: A Love Story | Eugene's Mother | |
| 2006 | Room 6 | Nurse Holiday | |
| 2007 | Because I Said So | Iris | |
| 2007 | The Memory Thief | Hospital Patient | |
| 2007 | Nobel Son | Ruby | |
| 2007 | I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry | Teresa | |
| 2007 | Moving McAllister | Margerie | |
| 2008 | Bottle Shock | Marge | |
| 2008 | Drillbit Taylor | Mrs. Farber | |
| 2010 | Santa's Apprentice | Beatrice Lovejoy | English version, voice |
| 2011 | Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star | Marge | |
| 2011 | I Love You Like Crazy | Yvette | Short |
| 2012 | Arcadia | Agnes | |
| 2013 | The Magic Snowflake | Beatrice Lovejoy | English version, voice |
| 2014 | Blended | Pharmacy Cashier | |
| 2014 | Earth to Echo | Dusty, Mullet Lady At Bar | |
| 2014 | Big Stone Gap | Alice Lambert | |
| 2016 | Why Him? | Joyce | |
| 2016 | Nina | Orderly | |
| 2016 | Ophelia | "Grumpy" | Short |
| 2017 | Fan Girl | Carla | |
| 2018 | Sierra Burgess Is a Loser | Counselor Stevens | |
| 2020 | Saving Paradise | Mary Williams | Posthumous release; final film role |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1982 | Texas | Doris Hodges | Episode: #1.617 |
| 1983-1984 | Guiding Light | Jane Hogan | 3 episodes |
| 1987 | Full House | Jennifer Sianski | Episode: "The Return of Grandma" |
| 1987 | Highway to Heaven | Lucille Perry | Episode: "Why Punish The Children" |
| 1988 | Mama's Family | Arlene Madison | Episode: "A Friend Indeed" |
| 1988 | Frank's Place | Mother Mae | Episode: "Night Business" |
| 1988 | The Secret Life of Kathy McCormick | Mary | Television film |
| 1989 | Those She Left Behind | Nurse Walker | Television film |
| 1989 | Murphy Brown | Olga | Episode: "Moscow on the Potomac" |
| 1989 | Peter Gunn | Nurse Pat | Television film |
| 1989 | Quantum Leap | Mrs. Eunice Thompson | Episode: "Camikazi Kid" |
| 1989 | Highway to Heaven | Eunice Thompson | Episode: "The Squeaky Wheel" |
| 1989 | Dear John | Eunice Thompson | Episode: "The Secret of Success" |
| 1989 | Life Goes On | Mrs. Martina Pasogian | Episode: "Pets, Guys and Videotape" |
| 1989 | Night Court | Sister Ruth Mae | Episode: "The Cop and the Lady" |
| 1990 | His & Hers | Mrs. Fishbain | Episode: "M Is for the Many Things She Lifted" |
| 1990 | Singer & Sons | Marilyn | Episode: "The Boxer Rebellion" |
| 1990 | Framed | Eunice | Television film |
| 1990 | Steel Magnolias | Janice Van Meter | Pilot (unsold) |
| 1990 | ABC Afterschool Specials | Mrs. Rupert | Episode: "Testing Dirty" |
| 1990 | Who's the Boss? | Diane | Episode: "Parental Guidance Suggested" |
| 1990 | Empty Nest | Nurse Bradford | Episode: "Honey, I Shrunk Laverne" |
| 1990 | Night Court | Eunice | Episode: "A Night Court at the Opera" |
| 1990 | L.A. Law | Edna Garth | Episode: "Vowel Play" |
| 1990 | Saved by the Bell | Madame Oeuf | Episode: "The Babysitters" |
| 1991 | Davis Rules | Rae | Episode: "Twisted Sister" |
| 1991 | In the Heat of the Night | Hostess | Episode: "Just a Country Boy" |
| 1991 | Perfect Strangers | Betty | Episode: "A Catered Affair" |
| 1991 | Top of the Heap | Mrs. Epstein | Episode: "The Agony and the Agony" |
| 1991 | Nurses | Off Duty Nurse | Episode: "Son of a Pilot" |
| 1991 | Murder, She Wrote | Reference Librarian | Episode: "Night Fears" |
| 1991 | Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion | Amanda Cooper | Television film |
| 1991 | The Story Lady | The Receptionist | Television film |
| 1992 | The Golden Palace | Lost and Found Woman | Episode: "Miles, We Hardly Knew Ye" |
| 1992 | A Child Lost Forever: The Jerry Sherwood Story | Mrs. Rory | Television film |
| 1993 | Getting By | Mrs. Hanover | 2 episodes |
| 1993 | Precious Victims | Waitress #1 | Television film |
| 1993 | The Secrets of Lake Success | Lady Diner | 3 episodes |
| 1993 | Coach | Winnie | Episode: "Piece o' Cake" |
| 1993 | Blossom | Woman | Episode: "Big Doings: Part 2" |
| 1994 | Children of the Dark | Lydia Fallbrook | Television film |
| 1994 | Good Advice | Carol | Episode: "Two Times Twenty" |
| 1994 | Friends | Nurse Sizemore | Episode: "The One with George Stephanopoulos" |
| 1994 | The 5 Mrs. Buchanans | Helen McConnell | Episode: "Nothing on Delilah" |
| 1995 | Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman | Postal Inspector | Episode: "Metallo" |
| 1995 | Sister, Sister | Snaggle-Toothed Woman | Episode: "Kid in Play" |
| 1995 | Step by Step | Ms. Butkus | Episode: "Maid to Order" |
| 2000-2017 | Will & Grace | Bridget / Sally | 4 episodes |
| 2001 | Malcolm in the Middle | Woman in Car | Episode: "Emancipation" |
| 2001 | Sex and the City | Lucille | Episode: "My Motherboard, Myself" |
| 2004-2012 | Desperate Housewives | Elenora Butters | 3 episodes |
| 2004 | NCIS | Nurse Wells | Episode: ”The Bone Yard” |
| 2008 | The Middleman | Ida | Main Character |
| 2009 | Mentalist | Charlotte McAdoo | S2 E2: "The Scarlet Letter" |
| 2010 | Good Luck Charlie | Rita | Episode: "Take Mel Out to the Ball Game" |
| 2012 | Bones | Crystal Jones | Episode: "The Bump in the Road" |
| 2012 | 2 Broke Girls | Blanche | Episode: "And the Cupcake War" |
| 2013 | Motive | Marion Reader | Episode: "Framed" |
| 2014-2019 | Mom | Mary | Recurring role |
| 2016 | How to Get Away with Murder | Robin Laforge | Episode: "What Happened to You, Annalise?" |
| 2018 | American Housewife | Mrs. Austin | Episode: "It's Not You, It's Me" |
| 2019 | The Blacklist | Agathe Tyche | Episode: "Lady Luck" |

### Animation

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2019 | What the F 101 | Professor Foxtrot | Season 1 |

### Theater

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2006 | Stopping Traffic | Herself | Vineyard Theatre |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Title | Result |
| 1986 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team | Guiding Light | Won |