Carroll O'Connor of Bunker's long-suffering wife, Edith Bunker, whom Lear remembered from seeing in the play and film "Damn Yankees". The producer sent the show over to ABC twice, but it did not get picked up. They then approached CBS with more success, and accordingly, "All in the Family" was retooled and debuted early in 1971. The show also starred unknown character actors, such as Rob Reiner as Archie's liberal son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic, and Sally Struthers as Archie and Edith's only child and Mike's wife, Gloria. The cast had a unique on- and off-camera chemistry, especially Reiner, who became O'Connor's best
Archie Bunker "dead from the neck up". During the show's first five seasons, Mike and Gloria are living with Archie and Edith, so that Mike could put himself through college. Upon Mike's graduation, he and Gloria move into their own home next door, allowing Archie and Mike to interact nearly as much as they had when they were living in the same house. Archie was born on May 20, 1924 (EDIT: in the episode "Archie & the Miracle" Archie explains to Mike that he believes he has the winning church raffle ticket #18 because " the Lord saved me on the 18th,