Thelma Harper (original) (raw)

dbo:abstract

Thelma Mae Harper (nee Crowley), better known as Mama, is a fictional character played by American actress Vicki Lawrence. Mama is a purse-lipped, thickset senior citizen in her mid-to-late 60s. She has lived in an unspecified part of the Southern United States called "Raytown" for her entire life, evident from the southern drawl of her speech and customs. Mama is an exaggerated version of a prototypical middle twentieth century lower middle class grandmother in the United States South. The character was originally created for Carol Burnett, however, Burnett preferred to play Mama's daughter Eunice Harper Higgins, resulting in Mama as Lawrence's claim to fame. The Mama character first appeared in "The Family" sketches on The Carol Burnett Show (1974–1978) and Carol Burnett & Company (1979); followed by Eunice (a 1982 made-for-TV movie expanding on "The Family" sketches); then peaking as lead character on Mama's Family (first on NBC 1983–84, then revolutionized in first-run syndication 1986–1990); and finally in Lawrence's ongoing untelevised stand-up comedy routine, Vicki Lawrence & Mama: A Two-Woman Show since 2001. With Lawrence continuing to play the role into the present day, Mama has also made numerous other post-television show guest appearances, such as on Hollywood Squares; The Talk; "Larry the Cable Guy's Christmas Spectacular" (2007); "Betty White's 2nd Annual 90th Birthday" (February 5, 2013); The Queen Latifah Show (May 20, 2014); etc. In the late 1970s, Vicki appeared as Mama along with her daughter, Eunice (portrayed by Burnett), in an episode of Password Plus. In her autobiography, Vicki called Thelma "the only role which I got to go to makeup to get ugly!" It is Lawrence's most well-known role. (en)

dbo:alias

Thelma Mae Crowley (maiden name) (en)

dbo:child

dbo:creator

dbr:Dick_Clair

dbo:firstAppearance

"Phillip's Visit" (The Family sketch)

dbo:lastAppearance

dbr:The_Queen_Latifah_Show

dbo:occupation

dbr:Housewife

dbo:portrayer

dbr:Vicki_Lawrence

dbo:relative

dbr:Fran_Crowley

dbo:thumbnail

wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Thelma_Harper_Mama's_Family.png?width=300

dbo:wikiPageID

1943686 (xsd:integer)

dbo:wikiPageLength

26685 (xsd:nonNegativeInteger)

dbo:wikiPageRevisionID

1113011318 (xsd:integer)

dbo:wikiPageWikiLink

dbp:alias

Thelma Mae Crowley (en)

dbp:caption

Vicki Lawrence as Thelma Harper from her kitchen on an episode of Mama's Family (en)

dbp:children

dbp:colour

#B180E1 (en)

dbp:creator

dbr:Dick_Clair
Jenna McMahon (en)

dbp:family

dbr:Fran_Crowley
Frank Crowley (en)
Billy Joe Higgins (en)
Sonja Harper (en)
Tiffany Thelma Harper (en)
Bubba Higgins (en)
Clyde Crowley (en)
Grandma Crowley (en)
Vinton "Buzz" Harper, Jr. (en)

dbp:first

"Phillip's Visit" (en)

dbp:gender

Female (en)

dbp:last

The Queen Latifah Show (en)

dbp:name

Thelma Mae Crowley Harper (en)

dbp:nickname

"Mama" (en)

dbp:occupation

10 (xsd:integer)
dbr:Housewife
Cashier at McRays Burgers (en)
Customer Consultant at Food Circus (en)
Mayor of Raytown (en)
Secretary at the Raytown Travel Agency (en)
Worked for "Meals on Wheels" (en)

dbp:portrayer

dbr:Vicki_Lawrence

dbp:relatives

Cora (en)
Lorraine (en)
Lydia (en)
Don (en)
Evelyn (en)
Willis (en)
Oscar (en)
Vivian (en)
Dooley (en)
Leroy (en)
Bertram (en)
Verne (en)
Roy Harper (en)
Fern (en)
Eloise (en)
Leota (en)
Ada (en)
Mae (en)
Izzy (en)
Minnie (en)
Sonya (en)
Penelope (en)
Lucille (en)
Ina (en)
Myrtis (en)
Gert Corey (en)
Effie Harper (en)
Grandma Harper (en)
Grandpa Harper (en)
Ida Sue (en)
Ludie (en)

dbp:spouse

Carl Harper (en)

dbp:title

Mayor of Raytown (en)
President of Church Ladies League (en)

dbp:wikiPageUsesTemplate

dbp:wordnet_type

http://www.w3.org/2006/03/wn/wn20/instances/synset-character-noun-4

dct:subject

gold:hypernym

dbr:Character

rdf:type

rdfs:comment

Thelma Mae Harper (nee Crowley), better known as Mama, is a fictional character played by American actress Vicki Lawrence. Mama is a purse-lipped, thickset senior citizen in her mid-to-late 60s. She has lived in an unspecified part of the Southern United States called "Raytown" for her entire life, evident from the southern drawl of her speech and customs. Mama is an exaggerated version of a prototypical middle twentieth century lower middle class grandmother in the United States South. The character was originally created for Carol Burnett, however, Burnett preferred to play Mama's daughter Eunice Harper Higgins, resulting in Mama as Lawrence's claim to fame. (en)

rdfs:label