Walter’s death was confirmed Thursday by her daughter, Brooke Bowman, an entertainment industry executive. A cause of death and other details were not immediately provided.
“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of my beloved mom Jessica. A working actor for over six decades, her greatest pleasure was bringing joy to others through her storytelling both on screen and off,” Bowman said in a statement.
Walter will also be well-remembered for “her wit, class and overall joie de vivre,” or life of love, her daughter added.
“I loved you Jessica Walter. I grew up watching you AND admiring you. Always consistently excellent,” Viola Davis tweeted.
Younger fans of Walter will know her best for playing Lucille Bluth, who regularly stole scenes with absurdly cruel and cutting comments about her on-screen children in the critically acclaimed sitcom “Arrested Development.”
“She was a force, and her talent and timing were unmatched,” said “Arrested” co-star Tony Hale, who played her son, Buster Bluth. “Rest In Peace Mama Bluth.”
Walter also gained acclaim with contemporary audiences for her wry voiceover work in the animated FXX series, “Archer,” playing Malory Archer, the hard-drinking mother of super spy Sterling Archer.
Although Walter’s photogenic appearance qualified her for standard leading lady roles, she claimed no regrets about being viewed as a character actor.
She loved playing difficult women because “those are the fun roles. They’re juicy, much better than playing the vanilla ingénues, you know — Miss Vanilla Ice Cream,” Walter said in an AV Club website interview.
Her most memorable film part was in Clint Eastwood’s 1971 thriller “Play Misty For Me” — her first significant lead — in which she plays Evelyn Draper, the woman who becomes obsessed with Eastwood’s disc jockey character. Walter was widely praised for her unnerving performance.
A Roger Ebert review compared her to “something like flypaper; the more you struggle against her personality, the more tightly you’re held.”
She graduated from New York’s High School of the Performing Arts and by her early 20s was an established actress who would work steadily for the rest of her life. She made her Broadway debut in 1963’s “Photo Finish” and starred in the TV series “Love of Life” from 1962 to 1965.
She made numerous appearances on popular ’60s shows including “Naked City,” “Route 66,” “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,” “The Fugitive” and “Flipper.”
Walter earned an Emmy for best actress in a limited series in 1975 for “Amy Prentiss,” in which she played the title character, the first woman to become chief of detectives in the San Francisco Police Department. The show, a spin-off of “Ironside,” featured Helen Hunt as Walter’s teenage daughter.
