Character actress Mary Pat Gleason, recognized for her guest spots on many TV shows, died this week. She was 70 years old.

Gleason had nearly 175 credits to her name, often playing stern or authoritarian figures. Born on February 23, 1950 in Lake City, Minnesota, her acting career started in 1982 with an episode of Texas. Throughout the ‘80s, she was in Guiding Light, Full House, Murphy Brown, and Quantum Leap.

Her TV work in the ‘90s included Night Court, L.A. Law, she played the French teacher on Saved by the Bell, Perfect Strangers, Blossom, she was the sarcastic nurse on Friends, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, ER, NYPD Blue, and Family Matters, among many others.

From the 2000s to now, Gleason was in Will & Grace, Sex and the City, Malcolm in the Middle, NCIS, Desperate Housewives, The Mentalist, Bones, Grey’s Anatomy, How to Get Away With Murder, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, American Housewife, and The Blacklist.

On Mom she played Mary, a member of Bonnie’s AA group who participated in a regular gag of Bonnie interrupting her.

Her film career included starring as Martha Corey in The Crucible and diner waitress Eleanor in A Cinderella Story, plus Troop Beverly Hills, Basic Instinct, Bottle Rocket, Intolerable Cruelty, 13 Going on 30, The Island, and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.