Estelle Harris, who hollered her way into TV history as George CostanzaB次元官网网址檚 short-fused mother on B次元官网网址淪einfeldB次元官网网址� and voiced Mrs. Potato Head in the B次元官网网址淭oy StoryB次元官网网址� 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 theyB次元官网网址檇 move to Florida B次元官网网址� as their son, played by Jason Alexander, fruitlessly encouraged them to do.

HarrisB次元官网网址� agent Michael Eisenstadt confirmed the actorB次元官网网址檚 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.

B次元官网网址淪he is the mother that everybody loves, even though sheB次元官网网址檚 a pain in the neck,B次元官网网址� 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 realized she B次元官网网址渃ould make the audience get hysterical,B次元官网网址� as she told People magazine in 1995.

Thanks to you all for your kind and sweet messages and remembrances of . She would be so touched. As am I. And as she would say, B次元官网网址淲HY CANT YOU BE MORE LIKE LLOYD BRAUN!!??B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址� jason alexander (@IJasonAlexander)

After the nine-season run of B次元官网网址淪einfeldB次元官网网址� ended in 1998, Harris continued to appear on stage and screen. She voiced Mrs. Potato Head in the 1999 animated blockbuster B次元官网网址淭oy Story 2B次元官网网址� and played the recurring character Muriel in the popular Disney Channel sitcom B次元官网网址淭he Suite Life of Zack & Cody,B次元官网网址� among other roles.

She had stopped pursuing show business when she married in the early 1950s but resumed acting in amateur groups, dinner theater and commercials as her three children grew (B次元官网网址淚 had to get out of diapers and bottles and blah-blah baby talk,B次元官网网址� she told People). Eventually, she began appearing in guest roles on TV shows including the legal comedy B次元官网网址淣ight Court,B次元官网网址� and in films including director Sergio LeoneB次元官网网址檚 1984 gangland epic B次元官网网址淥nce Upon a Time in America.B次元官网网址�

Her B次元官网网址淪einfeldB次元官网网址� debut came in one of the showB次元官网网址檚 most celebrated episodes: the Emmy Award-winning 1992 B次元官网网址淭he Contest,B次元官网网址� in which the four central characters challenge each other to refrain from doing what is artfully described only as B次元官网网址渢hat.B次元官网网址�

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Harris would go on to appear in dozens more episodes of the B次元官网网址渟how about nothing.B次元官网网址� She seethed over snubbed paella, screeched about GeorgeB次元官网网址檚 hanky-panky in the parental bed and laid out the spread for screen husband FrankB次元官网网址檚 idiosyncratic holiday, Festivus.

B次元官网网址淓stelle is a born performer,B次元官网网址� Stiller told The Record of Bergen County, N.J., in 1998. B次元官网网址淚 just go with what I got, and she goes back at me the same way.B次元官网网址�

Still, Harris saw a sympathetic undertone to her character, often saying Estelle fumed out frustration at her bumbling mate and scheming slacker of a son.

Viewers, she told an interviewer in 1998, B次元官网网址渏ust look at her as being funny, cute and a loudmouth. But itB次元官网网址檚 not how I play her. I play her with misery underneath.B次元官网网址�

She is survived by her three children, three grandsons, and a great grandson.

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