Toluca Lake Resident and Veteran TV Actress Barbara Stuart Mourned

Barbara Stuart, a Toluca Lake resident and veteran actress who had a six-decade career in television and film, died on May 15, according to multiple media reports.

Stuart was a popular character actress known for her roles in the movie spoof Airplane!, The Twilight Zone, The Dick Van Dyke Show and Taxi. She was 81.

Stuart's death was confirmed by her brother, Richard McNeese. She died in St. George, Utah, the New York Times reported.

She appeared in nearly 80 television series, starting with I Led Three Lives in 1954 and concluding with the Showtime series  Huff in 2006.

She was Tom Hank's future mother-in-law in Bachelor Party in 1984. In Airplane! Stuart parlayed her familiarity to audiences as a character actress who frequently portrayed wives and mothers into the role of Mrs. Rex Kramer, who had an unusual libido.

Born Barbara Ann McNeese on Jan. 3, 1930 in Paris, Ill., she took acting classes at the Schuster-Martin School of Drama in Cincinnati after graduating from high school. She moved to New York, where she studied with Stella Adler and Uta Hagen.

To pay for her classes, she modeled on the side. For professional purposes, she took the last name Stuart, a family name, the New York Times reported.

Her marriage to actor Dick Gautier ended in divorce. In addition to her brother Richard, of Santa Clara, Utah, she is survived by three stepchildren: Diane Christine Chormicle of Rancho Cucamonga, Denise Michelle Gautier of Arcadia and Rand Robert Gautier of Santa Rosa.

On her Web site, the following message was posted: "We are sad to announce that Barbara Stuart passed away on Sunday, May 15, 2011. Barbara touched so many lives with her work of many years ... Thank you for being so supportive of Barbara throughout the years. She will be missed deeply."

No services have been announced.

The City News Service contributed to this report.