 This is the SF Productions Podcast Network. Haven't I seen her before? From the pop culture bunker, I'm Indy. And I'm Mark. You can check out our audio podcast, How I Got My Wife to Read Comics on iTunes, or on our website SFPodcastNetwork.com. There are many roles on TV and in the movie. There's the lead roles that get all the attention, and the big bucks. But you can make a nice career out of being a character actor. Someone who might appear mostly in the background, or in a scene or two. Character actors can sometimes steal a major moment from right under the lead. We've recently done two episodes covering character actors. But what about character...actresses? You may not know their names, but you probably recognize their faces. Oh, that girl! No, no, no! Mary Wicks made a career out of wisecracking housekeepers, secretaries, nurses, and other service jobs. She started on the stage working with Henry Fonda than with Orson Welles as part of Radio's Mercury Theatre. She would go on to repeat her stage role in The Man Who Came to Dinner in the film version. Other films, Now Voyager, Higher and Higher, On Moonlight Bay, White Christmas, The Trouble with Angels, and the reference model for Cruella DeVille in 101 Dalmatians. Wicks moved to TV early, starring in a version of Mary Poppins, and then became a mainstay starring or recurring on Studio One in Hollywood, The Halls of Ivy, Annette, The Danny Thomas Show, The Gertrude Berg Show with an Emmy nomination, Dennis the Menace, Temple Houston, The Lucy Show, Julia, The Jimmy Stewart Show, Here's Lucy, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Doc, The Father Dowling Mysteries, and Life with Louie. Later in life, she got a role in the Sister Act franchise, a total of 144 IMDb credits before passing in 1995. Hamzee Striplin started in radio in the 30s before moving to a ton of mostly uncredited film roles, and then TV, where she made over 650 appearances. She recurred, or was a regular, on Dragnet, which is the law and order of its day, everybody was on it. The Danny Thomas Show, Wagon Train, The Bill Dana Show, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, Gunsmoke, Ironside, and Carter Country. Films include Harbor Valley PTA, Pretty Woman, Doc Hollywood, and Krippendorf's Tribe. Striplin generated 269 IMDb credits before retiring in 2001 and passing in 2006. Alice Ghostley played Nervousness to Perfection. She started on the stage in New Faces of 1952 before moving primarily to TV, recurring, or a regular, on Jackie Gleason's American Scene Magazine, Captain Nice, Mayberry RFD, Bewitched as Esmerelda, Love American Style, the New Temperatures Rising, Small Wonder, Designing Women, Evening Shade, and Passions. She also played one of the wicked stepsisters in a 1957 TV musical of Cinderella starring Julie Andrews. Ghostley had 110 IMDb credits before passing in 2007. Pat Carroll actually enlisted in the Army as a civilian actress technician and would later serve as a nurse. She would go on to win an Emmy for her work on Caesar's Hour in 1956. Carroll spent the 60s in recurring roles on Make Roof for Daddy and the Red Skelton Hour. She also played the other wicked stepsister in Cinderella. Later TV included Busting Loose, The Ted Knight Show, and She's the Sheriff. She's also done a number of animated voice roles. She was Ursula in The Little Mermaid, Galaxy High School, Foofer, Pound Puppies, House of Mouse, Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure. She also created a one-woman show about Gertrude Stein, which would result in a Grammy-winning recording and did a lot of variety and game shows. Still active at 92 and has racked up 93 IMDb credits. Hope Summers was the daughter of a congressman who originally taught speech and diction while doing one-woman shows. In her 50s, she moved to Hollywood and became a character actress, generally playing spinsters and gossips. She had recurring roles on The Rifleman and Another Day, but is best remembered as Clara Edwards and Bee's best friend on The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry RFD. She passed in 1979 after amassing 109 IMDb roles. Kathleen Freeman was an expert at being a battle-axe. She got into the biz as a child, dancing in her parents' vaudeville act. She moved from the stage to film, getting an uncredited role in Singing in the Rain as a diction coach, then going into a long partnership with Jerry Lewis, appearing in 11 of his films. Other film work includes The Fly, Wild Harvest, Support Your Local Sheriff, Which Way to the Front, The Sting, Gremlins 2, Blues Brothers 2000, and Shrek. She recurred or was a regular on TV's Firesight Theater, The Topper, Mayor of the Town, The Loretish Young Show, The Bob Cummings Show, 77 Sunset Strip, The Donna Reed Show, Wagon Train, The Lucy Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Hogan's Heroes, Funny Face, Love American Style, Lots of Luck, Generations, Growing Pain, Stuck Tales, Married with Children, Detention, and, as told by Ginger, over a half a century she wrecked up 299 IMD credits before passing in 2001. Bernie Watson has played opinionated black women since the early 70s with regular or recurring roles on Welcome Back Cotter, Carter Country, The Love Boat, Foley Square, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Sister's Sister, The Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives, Suit Up, Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, General Hospital, and she's currently on Bob Hart's Abishola. She also has done voice work, Captain Caveman, Baby Talk, and various parts on Hannah Barbera and Warner Brothers cartoons. Watson has won two daytime Emmys and has 177 IMDb roles so far. Eddie McClure started out as a teacher of radio at a Kansas City University. She became a DJ, newswoman, and producer for the local NPR affiliate. She later moved to the West Coast and joined the Groundlings Improv Troop, which led to variety shows and somehow, the film carry. McClure was a regular or recurred on The Calacax, The Richard Pryor Show, Harper Valley PTA, No Soap Radio, Small Wonder, Valerie, Drexel's Class, Seventh Heaven, and Higgly Town Heroes. She did voice work on Madam's Place, The Dukes, The Snorks, The Addams Family, Bobby's World, Life with Louie, The Kids from Room 402, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Rocket Power, The Life and Times of Tim, and Fish Hooks while doing voice work in films The Secret of Nim, Little Mermaid, A Bug's Life, Cars and Cars 2, Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen. And she ran the 80s game show circuit and appeared in films Oh God Book 2, Ferris Bueller's Days Off, Plains, Trains and Automobiles, Curly Sue, A River Runs Through It, and Natural Born Killers. Just some of her 209 IMDb credits. McClure also co-wrote this stage show that became Pee Wee's Playhouse along with Paul Rubens. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with dementia this year. CCH, Carol Christine Hilaria Pounder, was born in what is now Guyana and educated in England. She got a role in the film All That Jazz, but then concentrated mostly on TV. Regular or recurring on, Women in Prison, Cop Rock, LA Law, Return to Lonesome Dove, ER, Millennium, The Shield, Brothers, Law and Order Special Victims Unit, Warehouse 13, Sons of Anarchy, and is currently on NCIS New Orleans. Pounder is also well known for her voice work, Gargoyles, Rocket Power, Witch, the voice of Amanda Waller in the DC shows, and movies for a decade plus a voice role in the Avatar franchise. She's wrecked up four Emmy nods and 139 IMDb credits so far. Catherine Hahn is an up-and-coming character actress, generally playing pushy people. After getting a degree in theater, she found herself doing a puppet show on Cleveland TV when producer Tim Klink discovered and wrote a role for her in the TV series Crossing Jordan. This led to films How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Anchorman, Stepbrothers, Wanderlust, We're the Millers, Bad Moms, and regular or recurring roles on Free Agents, Girls, Chosen, The Crawl Show, Parks and Rec, Happiest, I Love Dick, and Transparent with an Emmy nod, Mrs. Fletcher and the Upcoming, I Know This Is True, and WandaVision, 74 IMDb credits so far. So you can see there's a lot of character actresses, and I really have not even scratched the surface. No, I can think of three or four right now. One thing that's interesting, I think, is that there's a lot more women doing this character actor role now, I think, than there are men. Yes. Well, I think that's partly because Hollywood will not hire lead actresses that are like over 30, basically. I could hope that would be true. I mean, once you get to that point, it's like, well, if you want a role, either you need to produce your own movies and have the power to do so, or you've got to accept character roles. So I think that's what you see a lot of. And if you want to work, you'll want to work. Exactly. And we want to work, we work hard. We work on this show, and we work on our audio podcast, how I got my wife to read comics on iTunes at the site, SFpodcastnetwork.com. Go and listen to that. From the Pop Culture Bunker, I'm Indy. And I'm Mark. Thanks for watching.