Mary Pat Gleason, actress who played Mary on the hit show ‘Mom,’ dies at age 70

Actress Mary Pat Gleason, 70, lost her battle with cancer this week, according to FOX News.

A report by ET stated that Gleason died Tuesday following a recurrence of uterine cancer. She is survived by a “large, loving extended family” according to Gleason’s nephew, John Brostrom.

Brostrom stated that Gleason had beaten uterine cancer back in 2015, but the disease had recently returned. It led to Gleason spending a month in the hospital and then time at a friend’s house.

Gleason recently played the character of Mary on the hit show “Mom,” starring Allison Janney and Anna Farris. She appeared on a total of seven episodes spread from 2014 to 2019. Her character, Mary, suffered a brain aneurysm during an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and died on the show. It was an impactful moment for viewers and for the show itself, with the rest of the characters on the “Mom” cast living through the shock.

Following the news of her death, Allison Janney (who plays Bonnie on “Mom”) went on Instagram with a tribute.

Gleason appeared on episodes of many top television shows over the years. That included “Full House,” “Murphy Brown,” “Friends,” “Saved by the Bell,” “Sex and the City,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Bones,” and both installments of “Will & Grace.”

One of her earlier roles was playing Jane Hogan on long-running CBS soap “The Guiding Light.” She went on to win a Daytime Emmy Award in 1986 for writing in the category of Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team for “The Guiding Light.”

In addition to her television appearances, Gleason had roles in more than 50 films, including the popular “A Cinderella Story,” George Clooney‘s “Intolerable Cruelty,” “The Crucible” and “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.”

In all, Gleason has credits for more than 160 different television shows and films that she appeared in during her lifetime. The film “Pencil Town,” set to be released some time in 2020, will serve as her final appearance.

In a sadder note, Gleason had gone in for treatment around the time of the coronavirus outbreak. This led to family and friends not being able to visit her during the final weeks of her life.

"They took wonderful care of her. It was really bittersweet, but her family could not have asked for better care," Brostrom said, describing the first three and a half weeks of Hospice with his aunt as "loving and communicative."

Mimi Kennedy, the actress who plays Marjorie on “Mom” payed tribute to Gleason on Twitter:

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