All In The Family star Sally Struthers says she feuded with creator and spent $40K on bid to leave show
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All In The Family actress Sally Struthers says she feuded with the show's creator Norman Lear, declaring she 'wasn't a huge fan of his.'. Lear died in 2023 at the age of 101, after decades being hailed as a TV legend who deftly wove political issues into situation comedy.
![[(top; left to right) Rob Reiner, Struthers, (bottom; left to right) Jean Stapleton holding Corey M Miller and Carroll O'Connor are pictured in a 1976 publicity still for All In The Family]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/16/00/94139667-14289979-_top_left_to_right_Rob_Reiner_Struthers_bottom_left_to_right_Jea-m-6_1736987858221.jpg)
All In The Family starred Carroll O'Connor as ornery patriarch Archie Bunker, whose right wing attitudes were used by the writers to poke fun at conservatism. Struthers, 77, featured as Archie's daughter Gloria, who clashes with her father politically and leans towards her liberal husband Michael, played by Rob Reiner.
![[Lear, pictured in 2019, died in 2023 at the age of 101, after decades being hailed as a TV legend who deftly wove political issues into situation comedy]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/16/00/78644255-14289979-Lear_pictured_in_2019_died_in_2023_at_the_age_of_101_after_decad-m-8_1736987878723.jpg)
Now Struthers has asserted that she had a troubled equation with Lear offscreen, and even spent $40,000 on a failed legal bid to leave his show after season five. She also claimed Lear once told her he only cast her because of she had 'blue eyes and a fat face,' on the podcast Let's Talk About That!.
![[Reiner and Struthers are pictured on an episode of All In The Family that aired in 1979, the year that she won her second Emmy Award for the series]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/16/00/91871191-14289979-Reiner_and_Struthers_are_pictured_on_an_episode_of_All_In_The_Fa-a-14_1736988035958.jpg)
All In The Family actress Sally Struthers says she feuded with the show's creator Norman Lear, declaring she 'wasn't a huge fan of his,' on the podcast Let's Talk About That!. During Struthers' new interview, Lear was mentioned as the creator of All In The Family, and she immediately objected to the characterization.
![[Struthers has asserted that she had a troubled equation with Lear offscreen, and even spent $40,000 on a failed legal bid to leave his show after season five; Lear pictured in 1979]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/16/00/78644767-14289979-Struthers_has_asserted_that_she_had_a_troubled_equation_with_Lea-m-10_1736987915053.jpg)
According to Struthers' version of events, Carroll O'Connor first came up with the idea of creating an American adaptation of the British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part, on which All In The Family was based. She said O'Connor and a 'full-fledged writer friend of his' collaborated on 'scripts' for a US version of Till Death Do Us Part, 'but they didn't have the producer power, money to make it happen, so after shopping it around for awhile it wound up in Norman's hands, and Norman pretended for the next 52 years that he created it.'.
![[Struthers felt that she was relegated to the position of a 'fourth banana' on the show whom the writers were unsure how to utilize; pictured on the show with Reiner (left) and O'Connor (right)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/16/00/91871187-14289979-Struthers_felt_that_she_was_relegated_to_the_position_of_a_fourt-m-15_1736988078814.jpg)
