Estelle Harris, who played George Costanza’s mother on Seinfeld and riffed on that role in the Toy Story movie, has passed away. Despite the fact that she only featured in 27 of the 180 episodes of the long-running series, her portrayal of the ne plus ultra of insane comedy mothers left an indelible impression. She died just days before her 94th birthday, at the age of 93.
Known by birth as Estelle Nussbaum, she was born in 1928 in New York City to Polish-Jewish immigrants. She relocated with her family to Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, when she was seven years old, where she reportedly faced racist comments but found an outlet in theatrical projects. She eventually returned to New York and married Sy Harris, a “window treatments salesman,” putting her acting career on hiatus while raising three children. Prior to joining Seinfeld, she had roles in a number of national advertisements, as well as a cameo in Sergio Leone’s 1984 film Once Upon a Time In America, and guest appearances on Night Court, Married…with Children, and Brooklyn Bridge.
Her debut appearance on Seinfeld wasn’t your typical episode. The Contest, which aired in November 1992, was the water cooler phenomenon from the fourth season. Variety ranks it sixth among all Seinfeld episodes, the Guardian second, and Vulture first. Harris chastises Jason Alexander for committing the Sin of Onan with a copy of Glamour magazine from his hospital bed. “Treating his body like an amusement park,” without a doubt, is one of the best line reads in television history. And that’s just the start of the story.
Mrs. Costanza (before Harris was cast, the character was known as Estelle) immediately became a fan ideal as she yelled about surplus paella, her Waterpik, and her fashion sense. Seinfeld’s creators, in contrast to Jerry Stiller, took every cliche about crazed TV parents of unknown ethnicity and exaggerated it to absurd proportions. Even when Harris shouted or degraded her son, observers would see that her torpedoes of judgment were still encased in a strange kind of love.
Mrs. Potato Head, one of the pre-existing IPs in the Toy Story franchise, helped her to receive her unique voice in 1999. In the first picture, Don Rickles voiced Mr. Potato Head alone, but she joined him for the second, third, fourth, and other short films.
A number of fans took twitter to pay a tribute to the veteran actress. Many of them considered her glorious laughter as a treat and others were mourning over the great loss for industry.
