Elizabeth "Betty" Hofstadt Francis
(formerly Draper) is a fictional character on
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** ...
's
television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...
''
Mad Men
''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its f ...
'', wife of
Don Draper
Donald Francis Draper, born Richard “Dick” Whitman, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the AMC television series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015), portrayed by Jon Hamm. Up to the Season 3 finale, Draper was creative director of fict ...
(
Jon Hamm
Jonathan Daniel Hamm (born March 10, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Don Draper in the period drama television series '' Mad Men'' (2007–2015), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Televis ...
) and mother of his three children. Blonde and beautiful but emotionally distant and immature, she spends the bulk of the series slowly growing as a person amid the social and political turmoil of the 1960s. The character's appearance is often compared to that of
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American actress who, after starring in several significant films in the early to mid-1950s, became Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III in April 1956.
Kelly ...
, with the similarities between the two also drawn
during the first season of the series.
Jones received two
Golden Globe nominations and a
Primetime Emmy Award nomination for her performance. She also won the
twice along with the cast of ''Mad Men''.
Casting and character development
The character of Betty Draper was not originally part of the pilot episode, though she did appear in the pilot. The script established that lead character
Don Draper
Donald Francis Draper, born Richard “Dick” Whitman, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the AMC television series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015), portrayed by Jon Hamm. Up to the Season 3 finale, Draper was creative director of fict ...
(
Jon Hamm
Jonathan Daniel Hamm (born March 10, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Don Draper in the period drama television series '' Mad Men'' (2007–2015), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Televis ...
) was married, but only by a mention in dialogue, and there was no intention to show his home life. January Jones was instead initially considered, along with
Elisabeth Moss
Elisabeth Singleton Moss (born July 24, 1982) is an American actor. She is known for her work in several television dramas, earning such accolades as two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, which led ''Vulture'' to name her the ...
, for the character
Peggy Olson
Margaret "Peggy" Olson is a fictional character and the female lead of the AMC television series ''Mad Men'', and is portrayed by Elisabeth Moss. Initially, Peggy is secretary to Don Draper (Jon Hamm), creative director of the advertising agency ...
; Moss was ultimately cast as Peggy. Show creator
Matthew Weiner
Matthew Hoffman Weiner () (born June 29, 1965) is an American television writer, producer, and director best known as the creator and showrunner of the television series ''Mad Men'', and as a writer and executive producer on ''The Sopranos''. ...
then wrote two scenes featuring Betty, and Jones successfully auditioned for the part two days later. Although there were no full scripts or even plot ideas involving the character at the time, Weiner promised Jones that the character would be developed.
Weiner has attributed ''Mad Mens visual style to the influence of film director
Alfred Hitchcock, who featured a signature "
icy blonde" female character in many of his films. Betty Draper's character has also been compared to that of
''Peyton Place'''s
Constance MacKenzie
Constance MacKenzie (née Standish) is a fictional character in the 1956 novel '' Peyton Place'' by Grace Metalious. In the subsequent film adaptation, she was played by Lana Turner; in the sequel '' Return to Peyton Place'', by Eleanor Parker; ...
: "cold, remote, and emotionally unavailable."
Fictional character biography
Backstory
Betty was born Elizabeth Hofstadt in 1932.
According to her son's birth certificate, she was born in
Cape May, New Jersey
Cape May is a city located at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the country's oldest vacation resort destinations, and part of ...
, where her wealthy family summered. In season two the character is said to have been raised in the home rule Philadelphia suburb of
Elkins Park
Elkins Park is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is split between Cheltenham and Abington Townships in the northern suburbs outside of Philadelphia, which it borders along Cheltenham Avenue roughly from Ce ...
, in
Cheltenham Township. Betty is of
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
ancestry. Betty attended
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United ...
, an exclusive Seven Sister college majoring in anthropology, after which she briefly modeled in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
before moving to Manhattan. It was during this time that she met
Don Draper
Donald Francis Draper, born Richard “Dick” Whitman, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the AMC television series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015), portrayed by Jon Hamm. Up to the Season 3 finale, Draper was creative director of fict ...
– he was writing ad copy for a fur company, and she was one of their models. He began courting her by buying her the fur coat she wore at a shoot. Betty and Don were married in May 1953. Betty's mother Ruth died early in 1960, three months before the events of the episode "
Ladies Room". Her father,
Gene
In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...
(
Ryan Cutrona), has a girlfriend named
Gloria (
Darcy Shean), whom Betty dislikes and whom her father marries sometime in the 18 months between seasons 1 and 2; Gloria leaves Gene when he begins showing signs of mental deterioration in Season 3. He moved in with the Drapers during season 3 and later died in that season, set in 1963. Betty has a brother,
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
(
Eric Ladin
Eric Steven Ladin (born February 16, 1978) is an American actor.
Early life and education
Ladin studied at the USC School of Dramatic Arts.
Career
Ladin has guest starred as William Hofstadt on multiple episodes of the AMC show ''Mad Men'' a ...
), who is married to
Judy (
Megan Henning) and whose daughters Don and Betty consider to be "rowdy." Betty's confidantes have included her neighbor
Francine Hanson (
Anne Dudek) and
Glen Bishop (Marten Holden Weiner), the young son of divorcée
Helen Bishop (
Darby Stanchfield
Darby Leigh Stanchfield (born April 29, 1971) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Abby Whelan in the ABC political drama series ''Scandal'' (2012–2018). Stanchfield is also known for roles as April Green in the CBS po ...
). Ill-suited for parenting, Betty has a strained relationship with her children, particularly with her daughter Sally (
Kiernan Shipka
Kiernan Brennan Shipka (born November 10, 1999) is an American actress, best-known for her roles as Sally Draper in the AMC drama series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015), Sabrina Spellman in the Netflix series '' Chilling Adventures of Sabrina'' (2018 ...
).
Season one
Betty and
Don Draper
Donald Francis Draper, born Richard “Dick” Whitman, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the AMC television series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015), portrayed by Jon Hamm. Up to the Season 3 finale, Draper was creative director of fict ...
live in a large house in suburban
Ossining, New York, with their children Sally and
Bobby
Bobby or Bobbie may refer to:
People
* Bobby (given name), a list of names
* Bobby (actress), from Bangladesh
* Bobby (rapper) (born 1995), from South Korea
* Bobby (screenwriter) (born 1983), Indian screenwriter
* Bobby, old slang for a constabl ...
(Maxwell Huckabee). In the second episode, set in the spring of 1960, Betty starts to see a psychiatrist to address repeated spells of numbness in her hands, which medical doctors have indicated are
psychosomatic. It was during these meetings that, after having discovered the psychiatrist was giving reports of her sessions to Don, she voiced her suspicion that her husband was unfaithful. By the start of the second season, set in February 1962, she had discontinued the consultations.
Season two
During the second season episode "
A Night to Remember", Betty and Don seem to have reached an agreement, but after a dinner party where Betty is embarrassed to be considered a "demographic" by Don and his associates, she confronts her husband for the first time about his adultery, specifically with
Bobbie Barrett (
Melinda McGraw
Melinda McGraw (born October 25, 1968) is an American actress. She has starred in movies such as ''The Dark Knight'' (2008), '' Wrongfully Accused'' (1998), and ''Skateland'' (2010), and is also known for her television performances on ''Mad Men' ...
). Don, however, denies having an affair. The next day, with a glass of wine in hand, Betty searches through Don's belongings for proof of his indiscretions but does not find any. Betty awakens Don - who is sleeping on the couch - that night and explains that she doesn't want things to "be like this." He repeats that he did not do anything, and when she asks if he hates her, he insists that he loves her and doesn't want to "lose this." When preparing dinner the next day, an
Utz commercial featuring
Jimmy Barrett (
Patrick Fischler) airs on television, reminding Betty of Don's infidelity. After seeing this, Betty calls Don at work and tells him she doesn't want him to come home.
Betty does turn to Don when she learns her father has suffered a stroke. She and Don leave the children with a neighbor and drive to visit Gene. Betty is visibly impatient with Gloria and William, but she and Don are careful to present a united front. At the end of a stressful day, Betty makes Don sleep on the floor of the guestroom, but later joins him on the floor, where they make love. The next morning, Gene mistakes Betty for her late mother Ruth, suggesting they "go upstairs." Betty is shocked and frightened, but tries to pretend that everything is all right. When she and Don return to New York, Betty surprises Don by asking him to leave again.
In the Season 2 finale, Betty discovers she is pregnant. Although she brings up the subject of
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...
with her doctor and has sex with a random man she picks up at a bar, at the end of the episode she asks Don to return home, and tells him she is pregnant.
Season three
Season 3
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In tempera ...
begins with Betty in her third trimester, seemingly reconciled with Don. In Episode 5, she gives birth to
Eugene Scott Draper, whom she names after her father. After giving birth, Betty comes to the quick realization that her dream of everything being perfect will never come true.
During Episode 3, Betty and Don attend a country club party hosted by
Roger Sterling
Roger H. Sterling Jr. is a fictional character on the AMC television series '' Mad Men''. He formerly worked for Sterling Cooper, an advertising agency his father co-founded in 1923, before he became a founding partner at the new firm of Sterling ...
(
John Slattery
John M. Slattery Jr. (born August 13, 1962) is an American actor and director widely known for his role as Roger Sterling Jr. in the AMC drama series ''Mad Men'' (2007–15), for which he was nominated four times for the Primetime Emmy Award fo ...
) and his new wife,
Jane Siegel Sterling (
Peyton List), where Betty meets
Henry Francis (
Christopher Stanley
Christopher Stanley (born December 1965) is an American film and television actor. He appeared in the Ben Affleck-directed film ''Argo'' and in ''Zero Dark Thirty''.
His most notable TV role was as politician Henry Francis, the second hus ...
), who is later revealed to be an advisor to then-New York governor
Nelson A. Rockefeller. Henry is infatuated with Betty, and though she seems reluctant to return his feelings at first, as the season progresses, their affair intensifies. Betty eventually ends it, feeling guilty.
In Episode 11, Betty corners Don, after getting into a locked drawer in the desk in his home office that contains pictures and documents of Don's past life. (Don had inadvertently left his keys in his clothes, and Betty heard them jingling in the dryer). She forces him to give her an explanation, and he haltingly tells her about his life as Dick Whitman, how he came to exchange dog tags with Lieutenant Don Draper, and his half-brother
Adam's (
Jay Paulson) suicide. While apparently sympathetic to his feelings of guilt about Adam's death, Betty is conflicted about Don's having hidden this aspect of his life from her.
After
President John F. Kennedy's assassination and
Margaret Sterling's (
Elizabeth Rice
Elizabeth Ellen Rice (born November 5, 1985) is an American actress, performing in television and film.
Awards and nominations
She won the Grand Jury Award in the 2008 Solstice Film Festival for Best Actress for '' From Within'' (2008
File ...
) wedding the following day, Betty meets with Henry, who confesses his desire to marry her. They passionately kiss, and after the encounter, Betty returns home to tell Don she no longer loves him, leaving him stunned. This culminates in her seeing a divorce lawyer in the season 3 finale. During the same episode, Roger, whose daughter is friends with Henry's daughter, unintentionally reveals to Don that Betty and Henry are involved. An incensed Don confronts Betty. After calling her a whore, he assures her that she "won't get a nickel" in the ensuing divorce, and he intends to seek sole custody of the children. The next morning, Don and Betty inform the children they are separating, and both older children react badly.
After moving into Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce's new office, Don calls Betty and tells her he will not fight her, and he wishes her the best. She tells him he'll always be their children's father. The season ends with Betty taking a plane to
Reno
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
with baby Gene and Henry.
Season four
Betty's presence in
season four is diminished compared to the previous seasons. Season 4 opens with Betty, Henry, and the children still living in the former Draper residence (which Don owns) following Betty's marriage to Henry. The residence is a point of contention for Don and Betty, as Don is still paying the mortgage, and Betty is required by their divorce agreement to move out but has not.
Throughout Season 4, Betty finds her marriage to Henry strained by tensions with Don and by deteriorating relations with Sally. When she discovers Sally has become friends with her old confidant,
Glen Bishop, Betty forces them to end the friendship. Glen's reappearance is the catalyst for Betty to finally insist to Henry that it's time for them to move because of the "low-caliber people" taking over the neighborhood, much to Sally's distress.
In the season finale "
Tomorrowland
Tomorrowland is one of the many themed lands featured at all of the Magic Kingdom styled Disney theme parks around the world owned or licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Each version of the land is different and features numerous attractions t ...
", Betty and Francis are packing to move out of the Ossining house and into a new home in nearby
Rye, New York
Rye is a coastal suburb of New York City in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is separate from the Town of Rye, which has more land area than the city. The City of Rye, formerly the Village of Rye, was part of the Town until it r ...
. When the children's nanny,
Carla
Carla is the feminized version of Carl, Carlos or Charles, from ''ceorl'' in Old English, which means "free man". Notable people with the name include:
* Carla, French singer and former member of the children's music group Kids United
* Carla Abe ...
(
Deborah Lacey
Deborah Lacey is an American actress.
Career
Lacey had a recurring role in the final season of ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' as Sarah Sisko, the mother of Benjamin Sisko. More recently, Lacey had the recurring role of Carla in ''Mad Men''. Lace ...
), lets Glen into the house to say goodbye to Sally, Betty becomes upset and fires her, refusing to give her a reference. This angers Henry, with whom Betty feels increasingly dissatisfied. At the end of the episode Betty waits for Don at the now-empty Ossining house, telling him she is unhappy with her new life. Don senses her desire to try and repair things between them, but instead informs her of his engagement to
Megan Calvet
This is a list of fictional characters in the television series ''Mad Men'', all of whom have appeared in multiple episodes.
Overview
;Cast notes:
* Maxwell Huckabee and Aaron Hart have split the role of Bobby Draper in the first season, whil ...
(
Jessica Paré
Jessica Paré (born December 5, 1980) is a Canadian actress and singer known for her co-starring roles on the AMC series ''Mad Men'' and the CBS series '' SEAL Team''. She has also appeared in the films ''Stardom'' (2000), '' Lost and Delirious'' ...
). Betty congratulates him, but is visibly disheartened and angry that he has moved on. They leave the house through opposite doors.
Season five
Betty's presence in
season five is further reduced due to
January Jones
January Kristen Jones (born January 5, 1978) is an American actress and model. She played Betty Draper in ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015), for which she was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress – Television Series Drama and a Pr ...
' pregnancy. In the episode, "
Tea Leaves
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...
", Betty and her family are now shown to be living in a large
Victorian estate in
Rye, New York
Rye is a coastal suburb of New York City in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is separate from the Town of Rye, which has more land area than the city. The City of Rye, formerly the Village of Rye, was part of the Town until it r ...
. Since the season four finale, she has put on a significant amount of weight and dislikes leaving the house. Her mother-in-law,
Pauline (
Pamela Dunlap), advises Betty to take diet pills since Pauline believes Henry is unhappy in the marriage, even though he repeatedly tells Betty that he loves her regardless of her appearance. Betty goes to her doctor to get a prescription, but he finds a lump in her throat that could be cancerous. When it turns out to be benign, Betty is barely relieved and returns to focusing on her physical condition. By the episode "
Dark Shadows
''Dark Shadows'' is an American gothic soap opera that aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show depicted the lives, loves, trials, and tribulations of the wealthy Collins family of Collinspo ...
", Betty attends
Weight Watchers meetings to attempt to regain her old form but receives mixed results; she notes that it is difficult to take the weight off. Betty is often seen eating very little in an attempt to lose weight but appears to weaken when she consumes
whipped cream
Whipped cream is liquid heavy cream that is whipped by a whisk or mixer until it is light and fluffy and holds its shape, or by the expansion of dissolved gas, forming a firm colloid. It is often sweetened, typically with white sugar, an ...
directly from the can and occasionally sneaks sweets. Betty regresses further when she goes to Don's NYC apartment to pick up her kids and becomes jealous and bitter over the lovely, modern accommodations and Megan's lissome beauty. She then tries to stir up rancor by mentioning Don's deceased friend
Anna Draper (
Melinda Page Hamilton
Melinda Page Hamilton (born August 22, 1974) is an American actress, best known for her role as Odessa Burakov in the Lifetime comedy-drama series ''Devious Maids'', and for her leading role in the independent film '' Sleeping Dogs Lie'' (2006) ...
) to Sally, but after Megan and (particularly) Don tell Sally more about Anna, Betty is defeated; Sally expresses visible contempt for her mother, further straining their relationship. However, when Sally begins
menstruating
The menstrual cycle is a series of natural changes in hormone production and the structures of the uterus and ovaries of the female reproductive system that make pregnancy possible. The ovarian cycle controls the production and release of eggs a ...
for the first time while visiting her father in New York, she immediately returns to Rye and seeks out her mother for help. Here, Betty is finally shown to be a caring mother to Sally; showing what is at this point uncharacteristic warmth, Betty recognizes that Sally needs her and provides comfort and guidance to her daughter.
Season six
Betty spends most of the beginning of the
sixth season losing the weight she gained over the past year. After visiting the
Lower East Side in search of one of Sally's friends and being snidely dismissed by one of the young people there as a "
bottle blonde", she dyes her hair brunette. Betty's hair later reverts to its original blonde color. When Henry announces that he wants to run for public office, she has mixed feelings about the idea (still being concerned about her weight).
In episode 8 ("The Better Half"), Betty is back to her original weight and actively campaigning alongside her husband. Henry sees the excess attention that Betty receives and is turned on by it, as is Betty, who is beginning to feel more confident about herself. When one of Henry's colleagues makes a pass at her at a fundraising dinner, she informs him that she's had three children, to which he replies that he doesn't care. But he's misunderstood her meaning; she then tells him triumphantly, "No, look at me. Can you ''believe'' I've had three children?" before leaving with Henry.
Betty goes to Bobby's summer camp for a family weekend in "The Better Half", driving down without Henry. Don, also on his way to the camp, sees the newly svelte Betty lost at a gas station, and they go down to the campground together. They spend the afternoon with Bobby, and everyone has a wonderful time. That night Don visits Betty's cabin, and they share a drink, reminiscing about the early years of their marriage and the kids. Don accepts Betty's tacit invitation to enter her cabin, and they make love. Betty and Don talk afterward, and Betty admits that she's happy with Henry, is no longer as mad at Don as she once was, and feels sorry for Megan, who doesn't know that loving Don is the worst way of getting to him. The next morning Don wakes up alone and goes down to the cafeteria, where he sees Betty and Henry eating together. Don says hello to them and goes off to eat, alone, at the other side of the room.
In "The Quality of Mercy", Betty takes Sally on an overnight trip to interview at
Miss Porter's boarding school. She detects Sally is troubled by something but doesn't realize it's because Sally saw Don in bed with his downstairs neighbor,
Sylvia Rosen (
Linda Cardellini). Sally is accepted at Miss Porter's, but Betty soon calls Don with the news that Sally has gotten suspended because she bought beer with a fake I.D. and got drunk with some other girls. Betty sadly blames herself for Sally's troubles and tells Don, "the good isn't beating out the bad."
Season seven
In episode 3, "Field Trip," the distinctly un-maternal Betty questions if she is a good mother, and if her children love her, after a field trip with Bobby to a farm goes sour. Bobby trades Betty's sandwich for a bag of gumdrops, leaving Betty with no food. Betty orders Bobby to eat the candy and is visibly irritated with him for the rest of the day. When they return home, neither is willing to talk about what happened. Henry insists that the children love her, but Betty believes it will change in time.
In episode 5, "Runaways", Betty speaks her mind about the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
, causing a rough patch between herself and the conservative Henry during a dinner party. Bobby overhears the arguing and sees Henry sleeping in the den. When Sally comes home after getting hurt faux sword-fighting at Miss Porter's, Bobby asks her if Betty and Henry are getting a divorce. Sally assures him they aren't, and Bobby tells her he wishes he could go with her to school. At the end of the episode, Betty resents Henry for telling her what to do, say, and think.
In episode 9, "New Business," Betty is revealed to be pursuing a master's degree in psychology at
Fairfield University in Connecticut.
In episode 13, "The Milk and Honey Route," Betty begins to feel dizzy and winded at school and falls down while climbing the stairs, fracturing her rib. When she sees her doctor, Betty is shocked to discover that her recent lightheadedness is a sign of aggressive, advanced
lung cancer
Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...
that has begun to spread throughout her body. Both Henry and Sally pressure her to undergo
chemotherapy
Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...
, but she stoically refuses, saying "I've learned to believe people when they say it's over." She writes a letter to Sally, telling her in a matter-of-fact way how she wants to be dressed and made up for her funeral, and then stating: "Sally, I always worried about you because you marched to the beat of your own drum, but now I know that's good. I know your life will be an adventure. I love you, Mom."
In the series finale, "Person to Person," Betty insists to Don (and apparently to Henry) that her children should live with her brother William and his wife after her death, so that the boys will have a woman in their lives. Betty is last seen reading a newspaper at her kitchen table while smoking a cigarette, as Sally is in the background, washing dishes.
Reception
Betty Draper appeared in
Comcast's list of TV's Most Intriguing Characters. ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news.
The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008.
Corpora ...
'' named her one of the most fashionable TV characters. She was also included in ''
Glamour''s list of the 12 Most Stylish TV Characters. ''
HuffPost
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' named her as one of the Worst TV Characters in 2012, saying "her unchanging
narcissism
Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others.
Narcissism exists on a co ...
and her selfish petulance simply bore us to tears".
Betty has been considered an embodiment of “the problem that has no name” chronicled in the seminal 1963 feminist novel ''
The Feminine Mystique
''The Feminine Mystique'' is a book by Betty Friedan, widely credited with sparking second-wave feminism in the United States. First published by W. W. Norton on February 19, 1963, ''The Feminine Mystique'' became a bestseller, initially selling o ...
'' by
Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan ( February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book ''The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the se ...
. The novel examined the epidemic of unhappiness and dissatisfaction experienced by many upper middle class housewives in the 1960s (like Betty) due to their inability to form their own identity and life outside the home. This cultural phenomenon is explored in the series through Betty, who, unlike female characters such as Peggy and Joan, is trapped and "exiled from the career world" due to her upbringing, social class, education, and marital status.
Awards and nominations
January Jones earned nominations and accolades for her portrayal of Betty Draper. She was jointly nominated on six occasions for the
, in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2015, winning twice in 2009 and 2010. In 2009 and 2010, Jones was nominated for the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series (Drama).
In 2010, Jones was nominated for the
.
References
External links
AMC Character PageGuardian.co.uk Profile
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Draper, Betty
Draper, Elizabeth "Betty"
Fictional models
Fictional characters from Philadelphia
Fictional housewives
Fictional German American people
Fictional characters from New York (state)
Television characters introduced in 2007
Fictional characters with cancer
American female characters in television