Barrie Youngfellow, Actress on ‘It’s a Living,’ Dies at 75

Barrie Youngfellow, who played the spunky waitress Jan Hoffmeyer Gray on every episode of the 1980s sitcom It’s a Living, has died. She was 75.

Youngfellow died Monday, her family announced. No cause of death was revealed.

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“She was the best of friends and had many loyal ones,” they wrote. “Loved a good story and a nice bottle. Had a great laugh that confirmed her sense of life. Even during her decline, she could shoot off a good one-liner.”

Youngfellow also portrayed Joan Crawford opposite Tony Curtis as David O. Selznick, Morgan Brittany as Vivien Leigh and Sharon Gless as Carole Lombard in the 1980 NBC telefilm The Scarlett O’Hara War, and played Mayim Bialik’s mom in the 1990 pilot for NBC’s Blossom.

Survivors include her second husband, actor Sam Freed (Kate & Allie, The Wire). They were married for 39 years.

It’s a Living, from Witt/Thomas Productions, was set in a high-class restaurant called Above the Top at the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles. It aired for 27 episodes over two seasons on ABC from 1980-82, then returned for 93 episodes in first-run syndication from 1985-89.

Youngfellow was one of only four castmembers to appear in every episode. In the third season, Jan got married to Richie Gray, played by Richard Kline of Three’s Company fame.

Born Barrie Sarah Rivchun in Cleveland on Oct. 22, 1946, Youngfellow performed in local productions of Peter Pan, then made it to primetime in 1973 on The New Temperatures Rising Show and The Streets of San Francisco.

Youngfellow played a doctor on the 1978 ABC sitcom A.E.S. Hudson Street, starring Gregory Sierra, but that series lasted just five episodes.

She also showed up on Police Woman, Fernwood Tonight, Barney Miller, WKRP in Cincinnati, The Jeffersons, Three’s Company and, in her final onscreen role in 1998, Law & Order.

In addition to her husband, survivors include her sisters, Heide and Kim.

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