Elmarie Wendel, who is best known for playing the role of Mrs. Mamie Dubcek in the American sitcom “3rd Rock from the Sun,” has died at the age of 89 years. Her daughter Jennifer "JC" Wendel, who is also an actress, announced the news on Instagram, saying Elmarie had been a “great mom” and a “badass dame.”

Wendel’s role was as the landlady to the extra-terrestrial family living on the upper floor of her home, where they were posing as humans in order to observe human behavior on what they believed to be an insignificant planet.

Other TV appearances by Elmarie Wendel

The hilarious comedy show ran on NBC for six seasons between 1996 and 2001. As reported by the BBC, the show won the most Emmy awards for a TV series in 1997. Wendel also starred in a variety of other TV shows, including “Murder She Wrote” and the comedy show “Seinfeld.” TV Line reports that Wendel also had guest appearances in other popular series, such as “Knight Rider,” “The Facts of Life,” “The Jeffersons,” “Major Dad,” “Empty Nest,” “Santa Barbara” and “Weird Science.”

When the series ended in 2001, Elmarie had guest star appearances in four episodes of “NYPD Blue”. She also had a role in “George Lopez” as the flirtatious Gina. Wendel later had guest appearances in several episodes of “Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour” and “General Hospital.” Later on Wendel reunited with Kristen Johnston and Wayne Knight, two of her co-stars on “3rd Rock from the Sun,” in one episode of “The Exes.”

Prior to appearing in “3rd Rock from the Sun,” Wendel had a successful acting and singing career on Broadway.

Other fellow actors mourn Wendel

After JC Wendel made the announcement on Instagram, others paid tribute to the actress. John Lithgow, who played the leader of the group of aliens, sent out a tweet, saying Elmarie Wendel was gone and adding that the whole “3rd Rock from the Sun” family mourned the passing of their dear landlady, Mrs.

Dubcek.

Jim Beaver, who starred in the role of Happy Doug, said Elmarie was raucous, funny and endearing, as well as being “terribly sweet.” Beaver went on to with goodnight to Mrs. Dubcek, wherever she is.

Fans of the show posted comments on JC’s Instagram post, mourning Wendel’s passing with one saying JC was lucky to have had Wendel as a mother and that she was lucky to have had JC as a daughter. Other’s mentioned what a treasure Elmarie was and said it was a tremendous loss to the comedy world, offering condolences to the whole family.
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