Best known for playing voluptuous Mildred “Boom-Boom” Turner in classic 1970s sitcom All in the Family, Gloria LeRoy has signed on to join the cast of Desperate Housewives.  According to Entertainment Weekly‘s Michael Ausiello, the 77-year-old actress will serve as a longtime neighborhood fixture whom fans will first meet next month, right around the time cast member Nicollette Sheridan takes her exit on the ABC dramedy.

The question is: Is Gloria LeRoy Nicollette Sheridan’s replacement?

That’s not the case, according to a Desperate Housewives insider.  In fact, LeRoy will be playing a character named Rose who “will figure into Edie’s exit in a surprising way.”  Ausiello teases that the plot involves a brutal act, an increasingly cuckoo Orson, and a touch of dementia, which are not necessarily in that order.

Prior to joining Desperate Housewives, Gloria LeRoy has had a diverse career, with a number of roles in film, TV and stage.  She recurrently played Queenie on Days of our Lives, as well as Ruth on the thriller soap Passions.  In the big screen, she appeared in Welcome to Arrow Beach, The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight, The Night They Raided Minsky’s, Flash III: Deadly Nightshade, Sordid Lives, and All You Need.  Her most recent credits include guest roles on Rules of Engagement, Las Vegas, and Malcolm in the Middle.

Aside from Gloria LeRoy, actress Sarah Knowlton will also be gracing Wisteria Lane as she has been tapped to play a woman who may or may not be having an affair with Tom.  Knowlton is credited for her roles on House, Medium and Ugly Betty.  She has also been cast in several upcoming projects including Sensored where she plays the character Gail, and the TV movie Anatomy of Hope as Caitlin.

Desperate Housewives
airs every Sunday on ABC.

-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: EW
(Image courtesy of mielofon.com)

Kris De Leon

Staff Writer, BuddyTV