If you hear the name Estelle Harris, you probably won’t put two and two together at first as to who that actually is. But if you hear the name “Estelle Constanza” you’ll know immediately who I’m talking about, or at least everyone who was alive in the 90s will know what I’m talking about.
Estelle Harris, who played Estelle Costanza, George Costanza’s Mom, unfortunately, passed away. It looks like she passed away on the evening of April 2nd at around 6:25 PM after giving us over forty years of laughter through movies and TV.
Actress Estelle Harris Dies At 93
What movies, you ask? This is where the younger generation might recognize her name, apparently, she portrayed Mrs. Potato Head in the Toy Story movies! In fact, her last role as a voice actress was in 2019 in the last Toy Story movie.
She didn’t start off in Hollywood, in fact, she was 50 when she started appearing in movie and television roles starting in the 70s and ’70s. While she was never a leading lady, she played some really iconic characters and who can forget that voice? It was so distinct and unique, one word out of her mouth and you could always place the face with the actress, it was that iconic. The world got a little less iconic, and a lot less funny today.
As for her Seinfeld days, she said that fans would still come up to yell at her for her actions as Mrs. Costanza even years after her TV role had ended! She said that she didn’t take it personally because she said that for her, Mrs. Costanza was a role that was written for her, and that the writing was wonderful. So, she wasn’t mad at the fans for having beef with her for whatever reason.
The Seinfeld episode that sticks out in my mind is the time that George discovered that there was a doll in his girlfriend Susan’s (yes, that Susan) collection that looked exactly like his mother and he was determined to get rid of it. I remember my Mom and I being both amused and freaked out by how much the doll actually did look like Harris. She will be sorely missed.
