Thelma Harper

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Thelma Harper, 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. 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, which resulted in Lawrence being cast as Mama. 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.