Gloria Stroock dead at 99: Hollywood actress starred alongside Rock Hudson and was on Broadway

Hollywood actress Gloria Stroock, who starred alongside legendary actor Rock Hudson, has died at 99. Gloria Stroock played the role of his secretary in the TV series McMillan & Wife.

Gloria Stroock’s daughter Kate Stern told The Hollywood Reporter that her mother had passed away from natural causes in Tucson, Arizona on May 5, 2024. Gloria Stroock was born in Manhattan, New York on July 10, 1923, her father Jimmie owned the Brooks Costume and Uniform Co and her mother Bianca designed modern clothes for the stage. 

Gloria Stroock starred in the NBC series McMillan & Wife, which was created by her husband, Leonard B. Stern, who was an Emmy-winning writer-producer on the likes of Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion, The Phil Silvers Show, Get Smart and The Honeymooners. They were married from 1956 until he passed away in 2011. 

In McMillan & Wife, Gloria played the role of Maggie, the secretary of Rock Hudson’s  character, San Francisco police commissioner Stewart McMillan. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gloria also “portrayed the wife of Richard Dysart’s art director in John Schlesinger’s The Day of the Locust (1975) starring Donald Sutherland and Karen Black, the wife of Ed McMahao’s embezzling boss in Ted Kotcheff’s FunWith Dick and Jane (1977), starring George Segal and Jane Fonda; and the mother of Richard Dreyfyss’ struggling pianist in Joel Oliansky’s The Competition (1980).”

Gloria Stroock wrote a memoir entitled ‘Cast of Characters’ which was published when she was 93 and is available to buy on Amazon. The synopsis for the book on Amazon says “The book includes memories of her growing up in the theatre world of Broadway, working in the Golden Age of Television, travelling abroad and enjoying a long marriage to the comedy writer and co-creator of Mad Libs, Leonard Stern. From her earliest memories of when she was 3 years old to her most recent memory of telling her life stories on stage at 93 years old, Gloria paints a picture of a life filled with fascinating people in and out of the limelight.”

Gloria also performed on Broadway as the character of Meg in a revival of Little Women and in Oh, Brother. She also sat for portraits painted by artist Eugene Speicher, modelled for magazines and worked on TV anthology shows. Gloria Stroock also appeared in plays such as Driving Miss Daisy and was 95 when she had a solo exhibition of her sculpting work. 

Gloria Stroock passed away at the home of her son, Michael Stern who is an Emmy-nominated film editor on the likes of The X-Files. Her survivors include her son and daughter, daughter-in-law Laura, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.