Marcia Wallace: The Overlooked Voice Actor on the Simpsons

The cast of The Simpsons has been featured on Inside the Actors Studio with James Lipton. These voice actors are recognized as an integral part of the success of the show, especially the guys who do multiple voices like Dan Castelleneta, Harry Shearer and Hank Azaria. Likewise, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith have all received accolades for contributing the densely layered characterization enjoyed by their most famous characters. Indeed, the voice work contributed by these talented individuals is regularly acknowledged as just a vital element to the success of The Simpsons as the writers who are universally recognized by even the actors as the real power behind the show's amazing ability to seem more real than most live-action sitcoms. And yet, there is consistently one member of the cast whose contribution is hardly ever recognized.

Mrs. Krabappel is such an essential part of the daily life of Springfield that it is truly impossible to imagine the show without her. As much as I love such characters as Comic Book Guy, Kent Brockman and Dr. Nick Riviera, if they were removed from the show it would not significantly decrease the overall ambience of the show. The same cannot be said for Mrs. Krabappel; she is the perfect foil for Bart in the classroom and her laugh is one of the trademarks of the show. Marcia Wallace provides the voice of Mrs. Krabappel and to the best of my knowledge that is the only character she voices. Nonetheless, she deserves some recognition.

Marcia Wallace first came to attention in the 1970s as Bob Hartley's wisecracking and lovelorn-some might even see shadows of the sex-crazed Mrs. Krabappel of the early years-secretary on the Bob Newhart Show. She was also a frequent guest on the game shows of that period, as well as appearing on various other TV shows, B-movies and on stages across the country. In addition, she is also writer and lecturer on surviving breast cancer. But mostly, Marcia Wallace is one funny lady and her work on the Simpsons proves it.

Like most other major characters on the show, Mrs. Krabappel's character has deepened and been fleshed out over the course of the show. Recently, we even found out that upon first arriving in Springfield after breaking up with her husband, she had a relationship with Moe the bartender. About midway through the course of the show, Mrs. Krabappel fell in love with Principal Skinner and, in a strange of turn of events, almost wound up marrying Comic Book Guy in a Klingon wedding because Skinner can't cut the apron strings to his mother. What Marcia Wallace has accomplished over this long haul is turning Krabapple from merely being a villain in Bart's eyes and into one of the most fully realized characters on the show. I think the transformation really began when Bart pulled a prank on her by inventing a phony secret admirer. This episode is truly a showcase for Marcia Wallace. Krabappel up to that point had been little more than a sarcastic, bitter divorcee who slept around. In that episode, Marcia Wallace took her character from depression over being alone to confident hopeful for a new start to the depths of despair over being rejected to a kind of wistful acceptance of the vagaries of fate. It was truly amazing.

Marcia Wallace has over the years met ever challenge presented by the writers. It has been the writers of The Simpsons who are responsible for deepening the character, but what Wallace has done is to turn words on paper into emotional reality. The single greatest voice acting moment in Simpsons history, in my opinion, belongs to Julie Kavner and her heartbreaking message to Homer in The Simpsons Movie. But I would argue that perhaps the most fully successful voice performance of any one single character over the course of the Simpsons run might just possibly be Marcia Wallace and what she has done with Mrs. Krabappel.

Visit Marcia Wallace's web site here.