‘The Simpsons’ season 25: Bart Simpson voice actor tributes Marcia Wallace

Over the weekend, the news first broke that the beloved voice of Edna Krabappel on “The Simpsons” in Marcia Wallace had passed away after suffering from an undisclosed illness, and as we said, this death hits this cast possibly more so than most other shows. This is not just a group that worked for seven or eight years in a vacuum; we’re talking about a quarter of a century of television. Many loyal viewers to the show now were not even alive when it first came on the air and changed primetime television forever.

One of those voice actors who remembered her the most was Nancy Cartwright, who voices a variety of other characters on the show including most notably Bart Simpson. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, she offered up what was both her own memory of the actor, and also her legacy in the context of “The Simpsons” as a whole:

“Marcia would come in and she was always a ray of light … She’s in 178 episodes — a lot more than people might think. That’s more episodes than most standard shows. Marcia was always a very big part of the group. Always a treat. The room was always a little bit better with her in it.”

Meanwhile, executive producer Al Jean tells TMZ that we will continue to hear more of Wallace as Bart’s instructor throughout the rest of this season. Thanks to the lengthy animation process, “The Simpsons” tends to record its voices earlier than almost any other show on television. Eventually, the Krabappel character will be written out of the show, but there has not been any indication that the character will pass away. There is a story out there about a death coming to Springfield over the next year or two, but it was not meant to be Wallace’s character.

In addition to “The Simpsons,” the actress was best known for a long-running role on “The Bob Newhart Show,” which may be a sign that she is one of the most-lucky performers in the industry to get to be a part of two genre-defining shows.

We imagine that there will be a tribute to Wallace during the next new episode of “The Simpsons,” but we will have more on that soon. The show will return to Fox with new episodes on Sunday night.

Photo: Fox