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Marcia Wallace, easily known best as the voice of Bart Simpson’s boozin’, carousin’ 4th grade teacher Edna Krabappel, passed away last October after a decades-long battle with cancer. Animated shows can take up to a year to produce, but last night The Simpsons worked in a proper tribute to Wallace–who’d been with the series a remarkable 23 years.
Actually, this was the second tribute, since the show was able to rush this into an episode shortly after Wallace’s death…
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNlT3Qew7Cg]
But it was only a few short seasons ago that super-churchy Ned Flanders, who’d already lost one wife, made an honest woman out of Edna. Last night, after the show’s chief plot and subplot had played out, the show featured an epilogue of sorts, with Flanders and Krabappel sharing a tender slow dance. Ned then awakes to reveal that the dance was a mere dream. With pictures of both Krabappel and first wife Maude resting on a table, Ned lets out a wistful, “I sure do miss that laugh.” Another member of the Simpsons cast echoes the sentiment
The Simpsons’ fans surely do, too.
That any sitcom should be in production for 25 seasons boggles the mind; The Simpsons, at this point, would seem to have been around since the dawn of time, and poised to outlive the Apocalypse. So too must we marvel at the fact that Marcia Wallace, who died at the age of 70, joined the show at a relatively youthful 47. While the thought is macabre, we’ve got to wonder how many more voice actors the show can stand to lose before its impressive reign ends. Losing Edna was tough, but losing Homer, Marge, and the rest would be almost unthinkable.
So Long, Mrs. Krabappel: “The Simpsons” Salutes Marcia Wallace [VIDEO]
