Doris Grau

Doris Grau (October 12, 1924 − December 30, 1995) was an American actress, script supervisor and voice actress who served as script supervisor on The Simpsons from 1991 through 1994. She also put her distinctive, raspy voice to use on the series as Lunchlady Doris who was named after her. She was also heard as Della in "Bart Gets Hit by a Car", a waitress in "Like Father, Like Clown" and Lurleen Lumpkin in "Marge vs. the Monorail".

Prior to The Simpsons, Grau had served as script supervisor and made occasional appearances The Tracey Ullman Show. She was heard regularly on The Critic as another character named Doris, the make-up lady. As an actress, Grau had a recurring role as waitress Corrinne on Cheers, appeared in the film The Distinguished Gentleman (1992) and dubbed the voice of Australian actress Mary Acres in Babe (1995).

Following Grau's death from emphysema, Lunchlady Doris was temporarily retired as a speaking character (although archival audio of Grau was used in "Lisa's Sax"), but returned to the series in 2006 (voiced by Tress MacNeille), renamed to "Lunchlady Dora". The episode "Team Homer" was dedicated to her memory.