Background
Walter was born in Brooklyn to Esther (née Groisser) and David Walter, a musician of note who was a member of the NBC Symphony, and the NYC Ballet Orchestra. She was born Jewish and raised in Queens, New York.
Walter was born in Brooklyn to Esther (née Groisser) and David Walter, a musician of note who was a member of the NBC Symphony, and the NYC Ballet Orchestra. She was born Jewish and raised in Queens, New York.
She graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts.
Jessica Walter began her on-screen acting career as Julie Murano on the television series, Love of Life, which ran from September 1951 until February 1980. During Walters's stint on Love of Life, she also acted in many other popular television series, namely Naked City, East Side/West Side, Ben Casey, Route 66, Lilith, The Doctors and the Nurses, The Rogues, and The Defenders. Amongst those series is Walter's notable role as Lorna Richmond on "The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow" episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour which aired on April 14, 1964.
Walter appeared in the first episode of Flipper, shown in in September 1964. Also in 1964, she guest-starred with Jack Lord, Nick Adams, and Herb Edelman in the episode "How Much for a Prince?" of CBS's short-lived drama The Reporter, with Harry Guardino in the title role. In 1966 she appeared in an episode of The Fugitive entitled "The White Knight."
Her earliest notable film role was in the 1971 movie Play Misty for Me, in which she played a young woman with borderline personality disorder stalking a disc jockey (played by Clint Eastwood who was also making in his directorial debut), for which she received a Golden Globe nomination in the Best Motion Picture Actress - Drama category. Walter's other film credits from that era include Lilith, Grand Prix, The Group, Bye Bye Braverman, Number One, and Dr. Strange.
In 1974, Walter co-starred with Peter Falk, Jose Ferrer and Lew Ayres in the Columbo episode "Mind Over Mayhem." During the 1974-75 TV season, she was the star of Amy Prentiss, a spinoff of Ironside that became an element of the NBC Mystery Movie. Walter had a recurring role on Trapper John, M.D. as Melanie McIntyre, Trapper John's former wife. She was the producers' first choice for the role of "Alexis Carrington" in the primetime soap opera Dynasty. In 1983, she had a role in the short-lived NBC primetime soap opera Bare Essence as "Ava Marshall."
Since then, she has worked most frequently in television and theater, though she did appear in some films including The Flamingo Kid in 1984 and the 1994 film PCU. In the 1990s, Walter voiced Fran Sinclair on the ABC comedy Dinosaurs and appeared on Just Shoot Me! as Eve Gallo, the mother of Maya and the ex-wife of magazine publisher Jack Gallo (George Segal).
From 2003 to 2006, she appeared in a regular role as the scheming, alcoholic socialite matriarch Lucille Bluth on Fox's critically acclaimed comedy series, Arrested Development. Despite her convincing portrayal of Lucille (in 2005, Walter received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for the role), the actress has maintained that "I'm nothing like Lucille. Nothing. My daughter will tell you. I'm really a very nice, boring person." Despite acclaim from critics, Arrested Development received low ratings and viewership on Fox, which canceled the series in 2006.
Walter played Tabitha Wilson, a similar character, on the first thirteen episodes of the first season of 90210, and then the character was written off. She also guest-starred on the situational comedy Rules of Engagement in Season 1, Episode 5 titled "Kids."
Walter guest-starred in an episode of Law & Order: SVU in the fall of 2009. She appeared in the third episode of Season 11, which is titled "Solitary," as a legal-aid lawyer named Petra Gilmartin.
In the last years of her life, she voiced spymistress Malory Archer on the FX network's animated show Archer; Walter was drawn to the role after learning that the script for the pilot explicitly drew comparisons between Malory and Walter (as Lucille Bluth). She also starred as Evangeline Harcourt in the Broadway revival of Anything Goes, which began previews in March 2011 and officially opened on April 7, 2011.