Actress Alice Playten has died at age 63.



She worked in TV, film, commercials, animated cartoons and theater for over forty years.

Her claim to TV immortality came in 1970, when she played the part of a young newlywed in a commercial for Alka-Seltzer. Sitting in bed, she enthused rapturously over her first home-cooked meal, while her husband suffered the after-effects of her cooking. She talked about "marshmallowed meatballs," then a huge dumpling that "really sticks to your ribs!" Her husband muttered, "That's right about where it's stuck!" as he goes for the Alka-Seltzer. After he returns from the bathroom, she gets an idea for her next meal: "Poached oysters!" she exclaims, prompting her poor spouse to make a quick U-turn back to the bathroom.

A classic TV commercial. The husband was played by a young Terry Kiser, who later went on to play the title corpse in Weekend At Bernie's (and the sequel).

She died of heart failure in NYC at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital on June 25.

R.I.P.

Signor V

"For me, there's only my wife..."

"Sure I cook with wine - sometimes I even add it to the food!"

"When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies?"

"It was a grass harp... And we listened."

"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? Every, every minute?"

"No. Saints and poets, maybe... they do some."