Thelma Mae "Mama" Harper

Mrs. Harper, formerly Crowley, is the star of the show Mama's Family and supporting character of The Carol Burnett Show. She is the stay at home mother of at least six children. This amount of children depends on the script. Also she married young and had her first child even younger. She was 51 years old when we first see her on The Carol Burnett Show, and is now 61 years old before Mama's Family begins. As a stay at home mother who had to tolerate her incompatible and morbidly ill husband as well as her own parents and in laws, eventually inheriting both real estate properties. Thelma became severely socially awkward and painfully shy. She did not learn to drive a car successfully until age 63. It took her even longer for her to finish High School. And despite being a valued contributor which would make her the perfect job candidate, her time at home as a shut in makes her unable to cope with unfamiliar surroundings, and is unable to improvise in most employment situations. She also has terrible luck at various Home Economics tasks, depending on her family for repairs. In The Carol Burnett Show, she is completely dependent on Eunice, eventually compelling Eunice to write a story in which Mama died anyways. In Mama's Family, she her self must take care of her entire family in their inherited real estate properties. She is still very dependent on them for the bills as she is frequently depicted as penniless. However, she eventually learns that she is an heiress of "Bernice Corporation". She spends most of her free time with The Boylan Family, particularly fellow Church Lady Iola Boylan. Thelma also takes care of the elderly Aunt Effie and started a dance academy together. Later, Thelma considers converting to being a Vegetarian, and learned how to cook an Impossible Goose that the family enjoyed. Their pet goose Leland is also under the care of Aunt Effie. In addition to being painfully shy, and burned out by her family constantly, Thelma also worries due to other horrors in her life, such as The Bathroom Curse. Everybody in her family has died in a bathroom. She occasionally drinks your average Beer. Either way she is going to be aggressive and hostile. She often tells others off and even smacks them with her purse. She has several times knocked down armed criminals, and does many other heroic deeds that makes her highly respected.