Married With Children’s Amanda Bearse and Ed O'Neill’s Longtime Feud

FOX’s Married With Children was one of the fledgling networks first big hits when it debuted in 1987, airing for 11 seasons over 10 years. It’s no secret that series co-stars Ed O’Neill (Al Bundy) and Amanda Bearse (Marcy) didn’t get along, here’s the story in their own words:

Amanda Bearse when asked about the feud at a convention: “I follow the Thumper Rule: if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all. I will share… he [Ed O’Neill] was unhappy towards the end of the series and so that affected everything. That's really why the show didn't go off the air with a big finale. The company wasn't quite sure whether we were going to come back for a season 12.

“We were 10 years, 11 seasons, because it's Fox… But it was also produced by Sony, so you have that entity as well as the distributor. They really weren't a hundred percent sure that it was the end, but then they just decided that that was best. It's interesting, some of the folks that have been working on this show behind the camera had been there the whole run, so that was hard to say goodbye. I was ready to go. I love the character, but it just stopped being fun...”

Ed O’Neill was more direct in his answer when asked by the Television Academy Foundation: “But we didn't get along that well, we argued about certain things... She changed a bit. I have to say that when she started out, she was gay, she was gay a long time. She was more or less the female in the couple; she was very, very feminine and cute. And then as the show... 11 years it went, as it progressed, the change took place where she then was the more masculine of the two. She had several relationships over that time, and that became kind of interesting because then as she became more masculine, she became a little more snarky. She could grow a tooth, as we used to say.

“I remember one instance where she was getting married to the more female... a lovely girl by the way, and the invitations went out and I didn't get one, and neither did David Faustino.

“[She said] ’This was a very tough call, but I just feel that you would find it amusing that me and Becky would come in tuxedos in a church and walk down the aisle, and you and David would be snickering and finding it funny.’ I said, ‘Amanda, what is funny about two women in tuxedos, walking down to church?’ I started laughing and she said, ‘See!’ And I said, ‘Well, you know why? Because it is fucking funny and I'm not going to be the only one that doesn't think so.’ But it was funny. She had a little white tux and, to me, it was funny. But in other words, she may not have been wrong in excluding me.

“Another time we got in a big fight over something stupid in the makeup room. And she said something about you're a bully or something, and I said, ‘Well, you're miserable.’ It was just bad... In front of everybody, by the way. And then I said, ‘You're not very bright, is your problem.’ And she was bright, but in a way she wasn't because I said look... She said, ‘I’m not bright?’ And I could just see her gearing up, like ‘I’m smarter than you.’

“And I said ‘No, because I'll tell you why. I have a button I could push. That button says ‘Get rid of Amanda Bearse.’ You don't have a button that says get rid of it Ed O'Neill. Your button doesn't work. Mine works.’ Now, this was a mean thing to say: I never was going to push that button, but it was true. I could go to them and say ‘I can't work with her. I go or she does.’ Who goes? So that was kind of bad.”

Al Bundy’s Greatest Insults…

THE EIGHTIES: EARLY EIGHTIES NETWORK PROMOS / TV 1986 / WOODY HARRELSON AS WOODY ON CHEERS / FALCON'S GOLD: CABLE TV'S FIRST MOVIE / BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURES SITCOM / CREATORS & CAST OF IT'S A LIVING THAT HAVE PASSED AWAY / MOST UNEXPECTED MOMENT IN TV HISTORY / NORMAN LLOYD TRIBUTE / ORSON WELLES INTERVIEWS ANDY KAUFMAN / EARLY MTV STARS MISSING PERSONS / FALCON CREST / PEE-WEE HERMAN / THE TWO OF US / MURDER SHE WROTE / 1981 CHARLES GRODIN INTERVIEW / THERE ARE FUNNY EPISODES OF MAMA'S FAMILY - HONEST! / HANGING WITH SEAN PENN 1986 / 1985 GEORGE CLOONEY INTERVIEW! / IT'S A LIVING / EDDIE MURPHY AS JAMES BOND? IT ALMOST HAPPENED! / AUNT BEE'S DYING WORDS TO ANDY GRIFFITH / THE GOLDEN PALACE / MARRIED WITH CHILDREN'S ED O'NEILL & AMANDA BEARSE'S LONGTIME FEUD / PAUL McCARTNEY vs MICHAEL JACKSON / HOW NBC GOT ITS GROOVE BACK / 1980's WCW WRESTLING / ALAN ALDA DISCUSSES THE M*A*S*H FINALE / I WAS ALMOST CUJO IN THE STEPHEN KING MOVIE / 1986-87 TV SEASON / 1988-89 TV SEASON / 1990-91 TV SEASON / 1991-92 TV SEASON / WHY SHELLEY LONG LEFT CHEERS? / JASON ALEXANDER BEFORE SEINFELD / PEOPLE vs JEAN HARRIS / TROUBLED 1980-81 TV SEASON / "KISS MY GRITS" FLO HAD HER OWN SHOW? / CULLY HOLLAND / ONE SEASON WONDERS... THAT GOT RENEWED! / DWIGHT SCHULTZ ON WORKING WITH GEORGE PEPPARD / DEMPSEY & MAKEPEACE / THE BAXTERS / G.L.O.W. / FRIDAYS / GREATEST AMERICAN HERO / Great 1983 Carson Tonight Show / EARLY '80s TV COMMERCIALS / LOST MOVIE POSTERS /RICH HALL / FILTHY RICH / 1980's TV WRESTLING STARS / TV DADS / FOX'S JOAN RIVERS / CHEVY CHASE DEBACLES

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