Mariclare Costello, 1936 – 2026

Character actress Mariclare Costello, 90, died on April 17. In New York, she appeared at the Sheridan Square Theater, the Public Theater, the Actor's Studio, and Lincoln Center; she also acted on Broadway in After the Fall, Tartuffe, The Country Wife, Lovers and Other Strangers, and Harvey, among other shows. Costello also had small or supporting roles in such films and TV shows as Ordinary People, The Execution of Private Slovik, Kojak, Raid on Entebbe, The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, Lou Grant, and Chicago Hope. She was married (from 1977 till his 2013 death) to actor Allan Arbus (the former husband of photographer Diane Arbus). Her family wrote that “She led the drama program at St. Paul the Apostle Elementary School in Westwood, directed at Loyola High School and Loyola Marymount University, where she also taught acting for many years . . . Her basement was filled floor to ceiling with costumes and props, and her productions were works of extraordinary care and beauty. Her gift was rare; she knew how to get people out of their own heads, focused on a task rather than on themselves, and in doing so helped them access their own creative voices.”