Barbara Meek

Barbara Meek was an actress best known for her role on CBS sitcom Archie Bunker’s Place, a continuation of All in the Family, starring Carroll O’Connor.

The series ran for four seasons, from 1979 to ’83, after the end of All in the Family. It found the title character still infamously voicing his opinions, but as the owner of a local pub, amongst his regulars. Meek played Ellen Canby, Archie’s housekeeper. Her character was also the sister of his next-door neighbor, and she helped Archie raise Stephanie (Danielle Brisebois), the young daughter of a family member.

Meek also appeared as a regular on the television series Melba, as well as Big Brother Jake as Connie "Ma" Duncan, a widowed foster mother. Additionally, she had roles in the television movies See How She Runs, Jimmy B. André, The House of Mirth and Parole. She was also in a 1975 episode of PBS’s Great Performances, "Brother to Dragons,” adapted from Robert Penn Warren's book about slavery during the Jefferson era.

She was also a veteran stage performer and appeared in more than 100 productions with the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, R.I., which she joined in 1968. She most recently appeared as Cicero in the company’s production of Julius Caesar.

Meek died October 3, 2015, in Providence, Rhode Island. She was 81.