Florence Stanley

Florence Stanley has one of those faces that is hard to forget. The character actress had a long and varied career with Broadway, movies, and television performances. One of her best known performances is that of the long suffering Bernice Fish the wife of Phil Fish from the sitcom "Barney Miller" and its spin off "Fish".
Florence Stanley was born in Chicago in 1924 with the name Florence Schwartz. Her career started in the 1940's. In the 1950's she appeared in several live television productions. On stage Ms. Stanley appeared in "Clytemnestra" and "The Glass Menagerie" She took over the role of Yenta the matchmaker in "Fiddler of the Roof" from Bea Arthur performing in over 2,000 Broadway performances. One of her other great successes was in Neil Simon's "Prisoner of Second Avenue".
In film Ms. Stanley appeared in "Up the Down Staircase" with Sandy Dennis, Jean Stapleton and Bud Cort as well as "The Day of the Dolphin".
In the 1970's Florence Stanley was once again on television co-starring in the short run sitcom "Joe and Sons". It was while making Joe and Sons she was cast in one of her most famous roles that of Bernice on an episode of "Barney Miller". She played the long suffering wife of Fish played by Abe Vigoda. The producers of Barney Miller then created the spin off "Fish" with Vigoda and Stanley playing the roles of Fish and Bernice as foster parents of a group of mixed race kids. The series ran for two seasons. Ms. Stanley was later cast in the sitcom "My Two Dads" as Judge Margaret Wilbur a family court judge and curmudgeon. She also appeared of "Family Guy" as the voice of Thelma Griffin. She was replaced by Phyllis Diller after her death.
Florence Stanley died in 2003 from complications of a stroke.