Please excuse this interruption of The Second Disc's regular programming to allow for a personal remembrance of the late Anne Meara (Fame, Rhoda, The King of Queens, All My Children).

Anne Meara was so much more than "mother of Ben Stiller."  Though that famous credit - of which she was incredibly, enormously proud - adorns many of the headlines about her passing this weekend at the age of 85, let it be known that Anne was also a comedienne, an actress, a humorist, a playwright, an artist, a raconteur, a humanist, a champion for equality for all, the wife and partner to Jerry Stiller and the mother to Amy Stiller.  Besides all that, she was one of the kindest, funniest, saltiest, most generous, most down-to-earth, most genuine and most gifted people I've ever met in this business we call show.

I had the tremendous privilege of sharing a journey with Anne between 1999 and 2001, when her play Down the Garden Paths was staged at New Jersey's George Street Playhouse, Connecticut's Long Wharf Theatre, two venues in Florida, and ultimately at New York's Minetta Lane Theatre.  Anne's moving, entertaining and provocative comedy looked at the choices we all make in life, and explored how our lives might be different had we chosen another path.  Her characters were the members of the Garden family, portrayed by a remarkable company of actors including Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, John Shea, Adam Grupper, Leslie Lyles, and, keeping it all in the family, Amy Stiller and Roberta Wallach.  Angela Pietropinto and Jerry Stiller, in a video appearance, rounded out our cast under the deft and passionate direction of George Street's Artistic Director, David Saint.  As Assistant Director for all of these stagings, I had a front-row seat as these masters of American theatre plied their craft and worked their magic.

Memorable as the play was - and it is, indeed, a play worthy of rediscovery all these years later - my strongest memories are of our shared experiences backstage.  Anne was generous with her time, generous with her stories, generous with her rewrites, generous with her kindnesses that would inevitably bring a smile.  She was a master of comic timing, offstage as well as on, and was both warmly nurturing and completely outrageous.  Upon my arrival in Connecticut, Anne wouldn't let me take my seat at the creative team's table until she was certain I had called my loved ones at home to let them know I had arrived safely.  Family meant everything to her...and so did her friends.

Throughout the run of the show at Long Wharf, we shared many dinners at New Haven's late, lamented Rusty Scupper restaurant.  On one particularly memorable occasion, the fiercely loyal Anne discovered that a close friend of hers had been ill-treated by an Academy Award-winning actress.  "F--k [Famous Actress' Name]!" she exclaimed in earshot of all dining that evening, not eliminating the name to protect the guilty!  Suddenly, you could hear a pin drop.  Anne just raised her glass and slyly, conspiratorially smiled.  The restaurant erupted in laughter and applause.  On any given night, she would patiently entertain anybody who approached her table at the Rusty Scupper or elsewhere, signing autographs, chatting up the play, and making each stranger feel like a long-lost member of the family.  Though Anne hosted artists, celebrities and personalities including Jack Klugman, Rue McClanahan, John Guare and even Monica Lewinsky backstage at the Minetta Lane, she was just as at home making the cast and crew's family and friends feel welcome.

From Anne Meara, I learned about comedy and about compassion.  She was, simply, one of a kind, with a bitingly funny, sharp wit and an amazingly big, open heart.  I have a feeling Anne wouldn't want her fans - of which I unabashedly am one - to mourn her passing tonight.  Instead, she would want us to celebrate by living, laughing and loving as we travel down our own garden paths.  I'm raising my glass now.   Here's to you, Anne.