Betty McGuire Dies: Broadway Actress & ‘Growing Pains’ Guest Star Was 100

Betty McGuire, the Broadway actress who also appeared on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains, has died. She was 100.

On Sunday, McGuire’s rep confirmed that the actress died of natural causes on Thursday, Oct. 8 at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills.

Born 1933 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, McGuire made her Broadway debut as Rebecca in the 1955 musical Plain and Fancy, also appearing on the Great White Way in Happy Hunting (1956) and Oh Captain! (1958), working with such talents as Ethel Merman, Barbara Cook, Bea Arthur and Tony Randall. She also starred in touring productions of Auntie Mame, Gypsy and Oliver!.

McGuire’s onscreen debut came in a 1973 episode of The Doris Day Show, before she went on to appear in shows like Columbo, Phyllis, Charlie’s Angels, Hart to Hart, Little House on the Prairie, Moonlighting, Matlock, MacGyver, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Murphy Brown, CSI: Miami, ER, 7th Heaven and more.

The actress was best known for her recurring guest role as grandmother Kate Malone on Growing Pains.

McGuire also starred in movies like Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke (1978), Hometown USA (1980), The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) and Wishmaster (1997).

Outside of acting, McGuire spent years volunteering for the Coalition for Economic Survival legal clinic in Los Angeles, offering support to low-income tenants fighting eviction. She also hosted GabFest, a segment of NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt that spotlit her fellow residents at The Motion Picture & Television Fund Home.