Estelle Harris, who hollered her way into TV history as George Costanza’s short-fused mother on Seinfeld and voiced Mrs Potato Head in the Toy Story franchise, has died. She was 93.
As middle-class matron Estelle Costanza, Harris put a memorable stamp on her recurring role in the smash 1990s sitcom. With her high-pitched voice and humorously overbearing attitude, she was an archetype of maternal indignation.
Trading insults and absurdities with her on-screen husband, played by Jerry Stiller, Harris helped create a parental pair that would leave even a psychiatrist helpless to do anything but hope they’d move to Florida as their son, played by Jason Alexander, fruitlessly encouraged them to do.
One of my favorite people has passed – my tv mama, Estelle Harris. The joy of playing with her and relishing her glorious laughter was a treat. I adore you, Estelle. Love to your family. Serenity now and always. #RIPEstelleHarris
— jason alexander (@IJasonAlexander) April 3, 2022
Harris’ agent Michael Eisenstadt confirmed the actor’s death in Palm Desert, California, on Saturday evening.
Viewers of all backgrounds would tell her she was just like their own mothers, Harris often said.
“She is the mother that everybody loves, even though she’s a pain in the neck,” she told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 1998.
The career-defining role came after decades on stage and screen. Born April 22, 1928, in New York City, Harris grew up in the city and later in the Pittsburgh suburb of Tarentum, Pennsylvania, where her father owned a candy store.
She started tapping her comedic talents in high school productions where she realised she “could make the audience get hysterical”, as she told People magazine in 1995.
After the nine-season run of Seinfeld ended in 1998, Harris continued to appear on stage and screen.
She voiced Mrs Potato Head in the 1999 animated blockbuster Toy Story 2 and played the recurring character Muriel in the popular Disney Channel sitcom The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, among other roles.
Estelle Harris, THEE icon, has left us. pic.twitter.com/wwSkDe15he
— Cole Barrett (@barrettjcole) April 3, 2022
She had stopped pursuing show business when she married in the early 1950s but resumed acting in amateur groups, dinner theatre and commercials as her three children grew.
Eventually, she began appearing in guest roles on TV shows including the legal comedy Night Court, and in films including director Sergio Leone’s 1984 gangland epic Once Upon a Time in America.
Her Seinfeld debut came in one of the show’s most celebrated episodes: the Emmy Award-winning 1992 ‘The Contest’.
She is survived by her three children, three grandsons, and a great grandson.
AAP
