Margaret Virginia "Bibi" Osterwald (February 3, 1920 – January 2, 2002) was an American actress.
Life and career
Osterwald was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the daughter of Dagmar (Kvastad) and Rudolf August Osterwald, a hotel owner.
As a student, Osterwald appeared in the Catholic University semi-pro revue in Washington, D.C., in August 1942. She gained acting experience in five years of work in summer stock theatre in Rockville, Maryland. She starred in Ten Nights in a Barroom at the Willard Hotel for 8 weeks starting in mid-August 1943. She then pursued a career on the New York stage. The Central Opera House [NYC], seating 2000, introduced Osterwald leading in Broken Hearts of Broadway in June 1944. "Miss Osterwald is on Broadway as one of the outstanding participants in 'Sing Out, Sweet Land.' What is more, next to stars Alfred Drake and Burl Ives, she has received the loudest praise of those critics who saw the play out of town. Its road tour Included Hartford, Boston and Philadelphia." -December 28, 1944.
Osterwald went on to appear in such Broadway shows as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Bus Stop, Three to Make Ready, and The Golden Apple, for which she won an Outer Critics Circle Award in 1953.
She was a standby for the title role on Broadway in the musical Hello Dolly!. This fact is referenced in the song "Playing Second Fiddle" from the Off-Broadway musical Nunsense. The lyric says, "Who here knows that Dolly Levi's also Bibi Osterwald? Carol Channing wasn't sick, so Bibi wasn't called."
Starting in the late 1940s, Osterwald began appearing on television, continuing to do so through the end of 2001. She was best known for her television role of Stella O'Brien, the cranky housekeeper for the Hathaway family on the soap opera, Where the Heart Is in the 1970s and also as Mrs. Sophie Steinberg, the mother of David Birney and mother-in-law of Meredith Baxter on the comedy series, Bridget Loves Bernie. She played Anita, who becomes an avid fan of The Amazing Alonzo (Vincent Price) in "The Love Boat" S2 E6 "Ship of Ghouls" (1978).
