Selma Archerd, ‘Melrose Place’ Actress, Dies at 98
Selma Archerd, who appeared in more than two dozen episodes of Melrose Place, has died at age 98.
A resident of Los Angeles’ Westwood neighborhood, Archerd peacefully passed away on December 14, according to a Legacy.com obituary published by the Los Angeles Times.
Archerd’s screen career lasted more than a quarter-century, starting with a role as “2nd P.T.A. Lady” in a 1973 episode of The Brady Bunch, her IMDb filmography shows. She also guest-starred on the TV shows Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Marcus Welby, M.D., Hotel, Knots Landing, Cagney & Lacey, The Love Boat, and Roseanne.
She played Nurse Amy across 25 episodes of Melrose Place, recurring on the Fox primetime soap between 1995 and 1999.
On the big screen, Archerd took small roles in Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, Scrooged, and Lethal Weapon 3. She also played a neighbor in 1995’s The Brady Bunch Movie, marking a full-circle moment for her career.
Archerd’s final screen appearance came in a 2000 episode of Charmed.
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Born Selma Helene Fanning in Newark, New Jersey, on February 26, 1925, Archerd attended UCLA and married their first husband, Howard Rosenblum, in 1943, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Archerd and Rosenblum divorced in 1968, and the following year, she wed the late Army Archerd, who wrote Variety’s “Just for Variety” column for more than a half-century. Army died in 2009 at age 87.
As Variety reported on Saturday, Selma and Army — pictured above with Merv Griffin in 2002 — frequented Hollywood premieres, award shows, and charity dinners during their 39-year marriage.
“I am very proud of him, and I am very fierce about protecting the status of what he is,” Selma said of Army in a 1999 interview with the Los Angeles Times. “He isn’t the richest man in the world, or the most powerful … but what he has, I want respected. And I’ll take the title of pain in the ass so that he will be respected.”
Sons Richard S. Rosenblum and James M. Rosenblum and grandson Ryan C. Rosenblum survive Selma. Memorial donations may be made to the Exceptional Children’s Foundation, her obituary notes.
