Thelma Harper, better known as Mama, is a fictional character played by American actress Vicki Lawrence. Mama is a … See more

Carol Burnett was originally intended to play the "Mama" character while Lawrence was to play her daughter, but because of Burnett's desire to swap roles, Lawrence played Mama.
In the seve… See more

Mama's appearance is based on that of a stereotypical elderly woman. She is a thickset, pursed-lipped widow, with silvery blue curls. All of her outfits have consisted of various short-sleeved, floral-print dresses that carry l… See more

The character of "Mama" was originally based, at least in part, on the relationship between Carol Burnett's mother and grandmother and was intended to be a maternal, elderly version of Eunice. Lawrence h… See more

Unlike the ill-tempered and stormy personalities alongside Mama in "The Family" sketches and the assertive and forceful personalities in the first incarnation of Mama's Family, the supporting characters … See more

In "The Family" sketches, Thelma and her late husband, Carl Harper, have five children: Ellen, Eunice, Philip, Larry, and Jack. This created marked plotholes as in the "Eunice" TV movie, they have three children: Ell… See more

Lawrence has resurrected the character of Thelma (still in her late sixties) several times on the game show Hollywood Squares, on stage in her two-woman show, on her talk show in the early 1990s, on the TNN talk s… See more