Bio

Anne passed away on May 23, 2015. 

Anne was known as half of the comedy team, “Stiller & Meara” but also boasted an impressive solo career.  After studying acting with Alfred Linder and Uta Hagen, Anne appeared with Zero Mostel in Ulysses In Nighttown and in the first season of the New York Shakespeare Festival in Central Park for Joe Papp.  Off-Broadway Anne created the role of Bunny in John Guare’s House of Blue Leaves and starred in Harvey Fierstein’s Spookhouse.  She played the 83-year-old mother in Guare’sBosom And Neglect and appeared as the ‘Nurse’ in The Public Theatre’s production of Romeo & Juliet.

On Broadway, Anne appeared in Richard Greenberg’s Eastern Standard and in the Roundabout’s production of Anna Christie for which she received a Tony Award nomination.

As “Stiller & Meara”, Anne and her husband Jerry, gained nationwide fame as a comedy team on the “Ed Sullivan Show”.  They performed together nationally in nightclubs and regional theatres and have made countless appearances on television.  Stiller and Meara received many awards for their radio and television commercials which include Amalgamated Bank, Blue Nun Wine and United Van Lines. Anne was featured in the films The Out of Towners, Fame, The Boys From Brazil, Lovers And Other Strangers, Awakenings, Like Mike, Night at the Museum (with her son Ben); independent films The Search for One Eyed Jimmy, MIA, Through an Open Window, Judy Berlin, The Daytrippers, Southie, Get Well Soon; and with her husband, Jerry, Fish in the Bathtub, The Independent and Chump Change. Anne was also featured in When the Evening Comes, Another Harvest Moon. On television Anne appeared for several years as Peggy Moody on ABC’s “All My Children”.  Other television appearances include the title role in the CBS series “Kate McShane” and recurring roles on “Rhoda”, “Archie Bunker’s Place”, “Alf”, “Sex in the City” and “King of Queens”.   Guest appearances include “Murder She Wrote”, “Heat of the Night”, “Homicide”,  “Ed”, “Will And Grace” and “Law and Order: SVU”.  Anne also guest starred with Jerry on an episode of NBC’s “Mercy.” Anne and Jerry were featured in the American Playhouse presentation of “The Sunset Gang” and Anne starred in “Avenue Z Afternoon on the A&E network.   She was also featured in the Lifetime network films  “Jitters” and “What Makes a Family.”   Anne received five Emmy nominations for her television work including a 1997 nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a drama series for “Homicide”.

Anne was co-writer (with Lila Garrett) and star of “The Other Woman”, a CBS Movie of the Week, which won a Writer’s Guild Award.  Anne’s script After-Play was produced by Manhattan Theatre Club and enjoyed a sold-out run.  After-Play then moved Off-Broadway to Theatre Four with Anne starring as “Terry” (and later as “Renee”) and Jerry as ‘Phil’.  She and Jerry also appeared in the show when it played at the Cape and Westport Playhouses.   Anne received the Outer Critic’s Circle John Gassner Award for Playwriting for After-Play.  Her last play, Down the Garden Paths, starred John Shea, Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson and was produced at The George Street Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre and Off-Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theatre.

Anne and Jerry were also the hosts of  “So You Want To Be An Actor?” an informational video on the business of acting.  She and Jerry were honored with the Fourth Annual Alan King Award in Humor presented by the National Foundation for Jewish Culture as well as the Productive Aging Award by the Jewish Council for the Aging in Washington, D.C. They also received the Thalia Award from Humber College in Toronto and were honored by ART NY for their contribution to non-profit theatre. In February 2007 Anne and Jerry were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, only one of four married couples to ever be honored with their own star.  In the summer of 2009, Anne received the prestigious WE CAN Woman of the Year Award on Cape Cod. Anne and Jerry hosted their own web series, Stiller and Meara.com on Yahoo and Hulu.  The series highlighted Anne and Jerry’s views on a variety of hot topics. In 2011 Anne completed a month-long Off-Broadway run in Nora and Delia Ephron’s Love, Loss, and What I Wore.