Ben Stiller's actress mom Anne Meara dead at 85

Ben Stiller's actress mom Anne Meara has died, aged 85.

Stiller's father, comedian Jerry Stiller, has confirmed she passed away on Saturday (23May15).

The couple, who performed as Stiller & Meara on The Ed Sullivan Show and other variety programs in the 1960s, were married for 61 years.

Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1928, Meara studied drama at HB Studio in Greenwich Village, and enjoyed a rich career on stage and TV.

She picked up a Tony Award nomination in 1993 for her role in the revival of Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie, and she also starred in the hit off-Broadway play Afterplay. She also won an Obie Award for the 1955 off-Broadway production Madchen in Uniform.

On TV, she appeared in shows like the King of Queens, which also starred her husband, Archie Bunker's Place and Rhoda, for which she won a Golden Globe nomination in 1977.

She also portrayed Mary Brady on Sex and the City.

Meara shares a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with her husband. The couple was honored in 2007.