She was 67 years old.
Born Nov. 30, 1949, in Philadelphia, Whitton began her acting career on stage.
She made her off-Broadway debut in 1973 withBaby Goya, which also starred Olympia Dukakis (Steel Magnolias).
She hit Broadway proper in 1982 with Nell Dunns Olivier Award-winning comedySteaming.
Whitton found a broader audience with her turn as the villainous Rachel Phelps in the 1989 baseball comedyMajor League.
She fails in the original movie and again in the 1994 sequel, in which she seeks revenge.
On the small screen, she starred inHometown,A Fine Romance, andGood & Evil.
No one could deliver a one-liner like Margaret, wrote Tabakin.
No one could be more scathing one minute and more vulnerable the next she played all the notes.
Girls wanna be her.
Those incredible eyes, that delicious laugh, Tabakin wrote.
Whitton is survived by her husband of 23 years, Warren Spector.
A memorial will be held in New York in early 2017.
