Marcia Ann Strassman (April 28, 1948 – October 24, 2014) was an American actress and singer. She had roles on the TV programs Welcome Back, Kotter and M*A*S*H, as well as in the film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
In 1967, she became a recording artist for Uni Records. Her debut single, "The Flower Children", was a top-40 hit in many West Coast U.S. markets, hitting #4 in San Diego and #2 in San Francisco; the track also hit #3 in Vancouver, British Columbia (both at CKLG 730 AM and CFUN 1410 AM in July 1967).[2] However, the single failed to break out nationally in either country; the record stalled at #105 in the United States, and just sneaked into RPM's Top 100 for Canada, peaking at #95.[3] The song also reached #95 on Cashbox Top 100 Singles chart [4]
Billboard advertisement for "The Flower Children", 1 April 1967
Her follow-up release, "The Groovy World of Jack and Jill", charted in Denver, Colorado, but virtually nowhere else.[5] A third single, "Star Gazer" (1968) (produced by Kim Fowley), failed to chart anywhere and brought Strassman's brief recording career to a close. Returning to acting after a gap of a few years, she landed the recurring role of Nurse Margie Cutler in six early episodes of M*A*S*H[6]
She landed the role of Julie Kotter, the wife of title character high school teacher Gabe Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) on the ABC comedy series Welcome Back, Kotter in 1975. The series lasted four years. Strassman was told that Kaplan wanted her off the series, and stated in an interview that working on the series made her "miserable".[7] Kaplan read the interview and realized that series producer James Komack was separately telling the two actors that they didn't like each other, and Kaplan informed Strassman that he actually wanted more balance between Kotter's work and home environments, which would have afforded her the chance to do more on the series. Kaplan, a guest host on The Tonight Show that week, had Strassman on to tell the story as an interview guest; she recalled the incident decades later on a Biography Channel special about the history of Kotter.[8]
In the 1970s, Strassman did guest spots on Time Express, The Rockford Files, and The Love Boat, among other shows. In 1980, she starred as Lenina Crowne in a television production of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. She co-starred in the short-lived sitcom Good Time Harry that year. She guest-starred on the Magnum, P.I. episode "Heal Thyself", where she played Dr. Karen Harmon, a former nurse with whom the title character served in Vietnam. In 1982, she played Maria Giannin in the romantic comedy Soup for One.[9]
In March 2007, Strassman was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer that had spread to her bones. Her memoir, in which she discussed her life, career, and illness, was published in 2008.[10] Strassman died of the disease at her home in Sherman Oaks, California, on October 24, 2014. She was 66 years old. She has a daughter, Elizabeth Collector (from her 1984 to 1989 marriage to Robert Collector).[11][9][12]
