Jean Stapleton Made All In The Family Change A Key Edith Bunker Scene

The "All in the Family" episode "Archie's Brief Encounter" initially aired as a one-hour special, as it dealt with some pretty heavy subject matter. Notably, it was the episode wherein it looked like Edith Bunker (Jean Stapleton) was going to leave her husband Archie (Carroll O'Connor) once and for all. Archie loves Edith, of course, but he has a selfish streak a mile wide, along with many, many other character flaws that require a lot of patience to withstand (although O'Connor himself was a stalwart union man). After its first airing, "Brief Encounter" was presented in two parts.

In the episode, Archie is feeling neglected by Edith, as she is putting in a lot of hours at Sunshine Home, the retirement home where she works. Then, one evening, Archie receives romantic attention from a waitress named Denise (Janis Paige). When Edith catches Archie flirting with Denise, she is incensed and heartbroken. Other details about Archie's whereabouts eventually lead her to believe that he is having an affair. In one heart-wrenching scene, Edith, unable to speak a word, packs her bag and goes to live at Sunshine Home; it's all become too much to bear. The episode continues apace, with their peers working overtime to save the Bunkers' marriage. For a moment, though, it did seem that everything was falling apart.

Stapleton, it seems, was the one who conceived of that scene. In a 1981 interview with the San Francisco Examiner, the actor revealed that the original script for "Archie's Brief Encounter" contained a long, angry, very wordy screed wherein Edith scolded Archie and poured her heart out. Stapleton, who had been playing Edith for six seasons on "All in the Family" by that point, argued that an angry rant was very out of character.

Stapleton noted that "All in the Family" creator Norman Lear was always very open to story and character suggestions from his cast, so she had no issues bringing up Edith's out-of-character moment to him. When it came to catching Archie with another woman (potentially), Stapleton said that Edith wouldn't have reacted the way she was initially written. As she put it: 

"They have a confrontation at home. [Edith] has found out that he went to [the waitress'] apartment. He tries to lie his way out of it. [...] She wouldn't have been able to cope, or release a great flood of words. [...] [So, instead, Edith] went to the closet, got her coat on, and very solidly left."

Edith was often depicted as something of a naif, but she was emotionally honest and definitely had her breaking point. Archie, meanwhile, was such a popular character that he became a new TV archetype: the lovable misanthrope. Poor Edith was constantly stifled by him (with Archie often demanding that she stifle herself). "All in the Family" lasted nine seasons (!), so of course Archie had to soften at some point. Edith remained patient through the whole series, though, and Archie would lose his rudder altogether when Edith died, as revealed in the spinoff series "Archie Bunker's Place."

Edith was so good-natured that when she was mad, you knew things were bad. When she wrestled with serious personal issues like faith (as she did in the episode "Edith's Crisis of Faith"), she was really wrestling. Stapleton's silent outrage at Archie's potential infidelity was enough. Stapleton knew what she was doing.