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Ann Morgan Guilbert, character actress and co-star of Dick Van Dyke Show, dies at 87

Ann Morgan Guilbert, character actress and co-star of Dick Van Dyke Show, dies at 87
Posted at 3:53 PM, Jun 15, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-15 17:24:45-04

NEW YORK (AP) — Ann Morgan Guilbert, beloved as the next-door neighbor on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and seen recently on CBS' comedy "Life in Pieces," has died.

Guilbert died of cancer in Los Angeles on Tuesday, her daughter Nora Eckstein said. She was 87.

Recent TV appearances included a starring role on the hospital comedy "Getting On" and a guest shot on "Grey's Anatomy." She was a regular as feisty Grandma Yetta on the 1990s sitcom "The Nanny," and in the early 1960s, played Millie Helper, Laura Petrie's perky pal, on the acclaimed "Van Dyke" series.

She starred in Nicole Holofcener's 2010 Sundance Film Festival selection, "Please Give."

Guilbert had extensive theater credits, including the 2005 Broadway play, "A Naked Girl on the Appian Way," and productions of "The Matchmaker," ''Arsenic and Old Lace," ''Waiting for Godot," ''To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Harvey."

A native of Minneapolis, Guilbert graduated from Stanford University's Department of Speech and Drama, where she met the late producer-actor George Eckstein. They married and had two daughters, actress Hallie Todd ("Lizzie McGuire") and Nora Eckstein, a writer, actress and acting teacher.

After her 1966 divorce, she married actor Guy Raymond, who died in 1997.

Guilbert is survived by her two daughters.