Question:  Maude Findlay is a fictional character portrayed by an American actress who career spanned how long?

Context paragraphs:
Maude Findlay: Maude Findlay (née Chadbourne; formerly Hilliard) is a fictional character and the main title character on the controversial 1970s sitcom "Maude".  She was portrayed by the Emmy-winning actress Bea Arthur.

Adrienne Barbeau: Adrienne Jo Barbeau (born June 11, 1945) is an American actress, singer and the author of three books.  Barbeau came to prominence in the 1970s as Broadway's original Rizzo in the musical "Grease", and as Carol Traynor, the divorced daughter of Maude Findlay (played by Bea Arthur) on the sitcom "Maude".  In the 1970s and 1980s, Barbeau was a sex symbol, and in 1980 began appearing in horror and science fiction films, including "The Fog", "Creepshow", "Swamp Thing" and "Escape from New York".  During the 1990s, she became known for providing the voice of Catwoman on "" and subsequent Batman cartoon series.  In the 2000s, she appeared on the HBO series "Carnivàle" as Ruthie the snake dancer.

La India María: "La India María" (born María Nicolasa Cruz) is a fictional character portrayed and created by actress María Elena Velasco.  The character frequently endures situations of racial discrimination, classism, and corruption, although in all of these turmoils, María undoubtedly resolves them with hilarious acts of good-nature and morality.  She has represented the poor indigenous, the migrant worker, and even free-spirited nuns for over 30 years.  She has been the lead character in 16 films and in a spin-off television series entitled, "Ay María Qué Puntería".  Most recently, the character has appeared in cameo appearances in the television programs "Mujer, casos de la vida real" and "La familia P. Luche".

Tony Almeida: Anthony "Tony" Almeida is a fictional character portrayed by Carlos Bernard on the television series "24".  Almeida appeared in a total of 124 episodes (including ""), the third highest number of episodes of any character in the series behind Chloe O'Brian (125) and Jack Bauer (192), portrayed by Mary Lynn Rajskub and Kiefer Sutherland, respectively.

Edith Bunker: Edith Bunker (nėe Baines) is a fictional 1970s sitcom character on "All in the Family" (and occasionally "Archie Bunker's Place"), played by Jean Stapleton.  She was the wife of Archie Bunker (who often called her a "dingbat"), mother of Gloria Stivic, mother-in-law of Michael "Meathead" Stivic and after 1975, grandmother of Joey Stivic.  Her cousin was Maude Findlay (Beatrice Arthur) who was one of Archie's nemeses.

Bea Arthur: Beatrice "Bea" Arthur (born Bernice Frankel; May 13, 1922 – April 25, 2009) was an American actress, comedian, singer, and animal rights activist.  Her career spanned seven decades.

Gwen Cooper: Gwen Cooper is a fictional character portrayed by Welsh actress Eve Myles in the BBC science-fiction television programme "Torchwood", a spin-off of the long-running series "Doctor Who".  The lead female character, Gwen featured in every episode of the show's 2006–11 run, as well as two 2008 crossover episodes of "Doctor Who".  Gwen appears in Expanded Universe material such as the "Torchwood" novels and audiobooks, comic books and radio plays.

Tom (Lost): Tom Friendly, often referred to as Tom or Mr. Friendly, is a fictional character portrayed by M. C. Gainey on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television series "Lost".  The series follows the lives of around forty survivors from the crash of Oceanic Flight 815.  The survivors find themselves on a mysterious tropical island, and interact with a group known as the Others, who appear to have lived on the island since long before the crash.  Tom is an influential member of the Others, and is introduced in 2005 in the season one finale "Exodus: Part 2", where he kidnaps one of the survivors.  The character makes another fifteen appearances before being killed in the season three finale "Through the Looking Glass".  Tom appears twice in season four in the flashbacks of other characters.  Gainey was initially credited as playing "bearded man" and then as "Mr. Friendly" throughout season two before the character was given a first name.  In a montage of deceased characters shown at Comic-Con in 2009, the "Lost" producers present the character's full name as "Tom Friendly".

Lionel Luthor: Lionel Luthor is a fictional character portrayed by John Glover in the television series "Smallville".  The character was initially a recurring guest in season one, and became a series regular in season two and continued until being written out of the show in season seven.  The character returned to the show in season ten again as a recurring guest role as a parallel universe (Earth-2) version of the character.  In "Smallville", Lionel Luthor is the father of Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), and founder and CEO of LuthorCorp.  Lex Luthor's father was first introduced in "Superman" comics by Jerry Siegel in 1961 and has since appeared in other Superman-related media under different names.  "Smallville" is the first appearance in which the character has been an intricate part of a Superman adaptation.  Series developers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar created Lionel Luthor for "Smallville" to provide an antithesis to the parenting style of Jonathan Kent (John Schneider) and Martha Kent (Annette O'Toole).

Kraig Metzinger: Kraig Metzinger (born March 19, 1963) is an American child actor, who played the role of Maude Findlay's grandson Phillip Traynor on the sitcom "Maude" for the show's final season in 1977-1978.  He was born in Los Angeles, California.  Metzinger took over that role from Brian Morrison, who had played the character for the first five seasons.

Supporting paragraphs: Maude Findlay Bea Arthur
Answer: seven decades