The eldest of four children born to Russian Jewish immigrant parents in Brooklyn who owned a used furniture store, Stoler made her stage debut in 1955 and gained experience as a member of New York's experimental La Mama and Living Theatre companies. She had become a key underground player by the time she earned film fame in 1970 at age 41.[citation needed]
Throughout her career, Stoler, a large and powerfully built woman who rarely smiled onscreen, often played scary villains in such films as Seven Beauties and The Honeymoon Killers and on television in an episode of Charlie's Angels. A character actress, as well as an occasional lead, Stoler appeared in small roles in Klute, The Deer Hunter, and Desperately Seeking Susan.
A highlight of her film career was her performance as the unnamed Nazi female prison commandant in Lina Wertmüller's Seven Beauties (1975), in which she played a cat-and-mouse game of seduction with the concentration camp inmate played by Giancarlo Giannini. A profile of Stoler was featured on the front page of the New York Times Arts section.

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