Jessica Walter's Death Reignites Backlash Against Her 'Arrested Development' Co-Star Jeffrey Tambor

Daniel S. Levine

03/27/2021 03:21 pm EDT

Jessica Walter, the beloved actress whose career stretched back to the 1960s, died on Wednesday at her New York City home at 80. Her death inspired an outpouring of tributes from Hollywood and her fans, many of whom shared some of her best-known quotes from Arrested Development. Others praised her for speaking out about Jeffrey Tambor's inappropriate behavior onset, with many hoping Tambor, 76, would not speak out on his co-star's death.

In November 2017, Tambor was accused of sexual misconduct by a former assistant, which led to him leaving Amazon's Transparent series. At the time the allegation surfaced, Tambor had already completed work on the fifth and final season of Arrested Development. In May 2018, after leaving Transparent, Tambor sat down for an interview with The Hollywood Reporter and acknowledged outbursts of anger on set while filming other shows, including Arrested Development. He said there was one "blowup" with Walter and claimed he "profusely apologized." At the time, Walter refused to comment.

Just weeks after the THR interview was published, the Arrested Development press tour began with the cast sitting down with The New York Times. In the interview, Tambor again claimed he "profusely" apologized to Walter, and co-star Jason Bateman defended Tambor. Alia Shawkat jumped in, noting, "But that doesn't mean it's acceptable. And the point is that things are changing, and people need to respect each other differently."

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"Let me just say one thing that I just realized in this conversation. I have to let go of being angry at him. He never crossed the line on our show, with any, you know, sexual whatever. Verbally, yes, he harassed me, but he did apologize. I have to let it go," Walter told the Times as she turned to Tambor." And I have to give you a chance to, you know, for us to be friends again."

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Walter noted that Bateman told her that this "happens all the time," but Walter said Tambor's behavior was unlike anything she had ever encountered before. "In like almost 60 years of working, I've never had anybody yell at me like that on a set," Walter said. "And it's hard to deal with, but I'm over it now. I just let it go right here, for The New York Times."

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After the interview was published, Bateman, Tony Hale, and David Cross were called out for defending Tambor's behavior. Netflix went on to cancel other press events related to Arrested Development Season 5 and Bateman apologized for his comments on Twitter. "I'm incredibly embarrassed and deeply sorry to have done that to Jessica," Bateman wrote in one tweet. "This is a big learning moment for me. I shouldn't have tried so hard to mansplain, or fix a fight, or make everything okay. I should've focused more on what the most important part of it all - there's never any excuse for abuse, in any form, from any gender. And, the victim's voice needs to be heard and respected. Period."

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Hale also issued an apology. "I have reached out to Jessica personally to apologize," he wrote. "Arrested Development is one of my families. Regardless of my intentions, it is clear that my words, both said and unsaid, served to minimize Jessica's pain and for that I am extremely sorry."

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"I will unequivocally apologize to Jessica," Cross told The Gothamist at the time. "I'm sorry that we behaved the way we behaved. Whatever the criticisms are, I will own up. I don't even know what they are, as I said, I saw the initial thing but I jumped off at the behest of various people. And also I had to put my daughter to bed, so it was time to, you know, focus on what's really important in the moment."

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Arrested Development was only one part of Walter's extraordinary career. The Brooklyn-born actress began working on the stage and television in the early 1960s and went on to star in several important movies throughout the '60s and '70s, including Grand Prix, Lilith, The Group, and Bye Bye Braverman. In 1971, she starred in Clint Eastwood's directorial debut, Play Misty For Me. In 1975 she won an Emmy for Amy Prentiss. She was also known for her role as Malloy Archer on FX's animated spy comedy Archer. She is survived by daughter Brooke Bowman and grandson Micah Heymann.

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