Celebrity Biographies
Conchata Ferrell
She developed a prolific career in theater, film and television, but was best known for playing Berta, a housekeeper on “Two and a Half Men.” Conchata Ferrell, she died on October 12, 2020, at the age of 77, of cardiac arrest, after several months of hospitalization after suffering a myocardial infarction, at the Sherman Oaks Hospital in California. “She was one of the greats, we called her Chatty, and we were very fond of her. Twelve years of ups and downs and lots of laughs,” said Chuck Lorre, creator of the hit sitcom. “An absolute love. A great professional. A genuine friend. A painful loss. Berta, your care of the home was always a bit suspicious, but your care of people was perfect,” said Charlie Sheen, the protagonist.
Born in Charleston (West Virginia) on March 28, 1943, Conchata Galen Ferrell –her full name– graduated in History from Marshall University in Huntington, in her home state. She began her career in the theater, as part of the cast of “Hot L Baltimore”, a New York Off-Broadway production in which she played a prostitute who lived in a dilapidated hotel. In 1975 she reprized the role in a sitcom inspired by the play.
She then played small roles in successful feature films such as Network, Edward Scissorhands , Erin Brockovich and Blank Love , although on the big screen Conchata Ferrell stood out above all in Mystic Pizza , where she played Leona, a pizzeria owner who recruited three young waitresses ( Julia Roberts , Annabeth Gish and Lili Taylor). “I loved playing a woman who had her own business and managed her own life, yet still had time for her husband and family. And I learned how to throw pizza dough, which my daughter thought was the most impressive thing she’s ever done.” I had learned in my life”, he recalled.
He also participated in series such as El sheriff Lobo and Buffy the vampire slayer . His popularity came from Two and a Half Men. “They told me they wanted the character to be an emigrant from Eastern Europe. I prepared for the test with that accent, but also with my own voice and I realized that it worked better the second way,” he recalled in an interview. When I got to the audition, I saw that I was competing with thirty-two actresses, and I thought that they were only going to listen to me once, so I told myself that I would do my best, that is, with my natural voice. They took me for the first two chapters, because she gave up being the maid when the brother of Charlie Sheen’s character and her son were moving in. However, when I finished shooting them I realized that I quite fit in with the house, and I wasn’t the only one who thought that because they called me back and I became a permanent actress.”
For the famous sitcom, she achieved two Emmy nominations, in addition to a third, achieved by Los Angeles Law , where she gave life to a lawyer. Married to Arnie Anderson in Arnie Anderson, the couple had a daughter, Samantha.