‘The Sopranos’ actress Rae Allen dies at 95

Los Angeles : Stage and screen veteran actress Rae Allen, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 95, reports ‘Variety’.A Tony Award winner, Rae is best remembered for her role as nosy reporter Gloria Thorpe in ‘Damn Yankees’ and as Quintina Blundetto on ‘The Sopranos’.The actress’s representative Kyle Fritz confirmed her death to ‘Variety’. Born in Brooklyn as Rae Julia Theresa Abruzzo, Allen began her career on the stage after graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1947. Her first Broadway credit was in 1948, as an ensemble member in the George Abbott directed and written ‘Where’s Charley?’Over the next few years, Rae would continue to appear in Abbott’s various musicals, including ‘Call Me Madam’ in 1950 and ‘The Pajama Game’ in 1954, where she played the small role of Poopsie, a union activist at the factory the show is set in.

On film and TV, Allen was a prolific character actor.Some of her most notable television appearances included ‘All in the Family’, where she portrayed Edith Bunker’s cousin Amelia, and ‘Soap’, where she had a stint as Judge Betty Small.She also had a main role in the short lived 1995 Fox horror series ‘The Fearing Mind’, where she played the grandmother of the main character, a famous horror writer who based his work on his family. Other shows she appeared in for guest roles included ‘The Untouchables’, ‘The Greatest American Hero’, ‘Lou Grant’, ‘Hill Street Blues’, ‘Head of the Class’ and ‘Seinfeld’.