It has now been widely reported that the wonderful Carol Ann Susi has passed away. Some of you may not recognize her name, but you certainly know her voice: She has portrayed Howard’s mother, Mrs. Wolowitz on “The Big Bang Theory.”
This tragedy leaves the series with two options: recast (simple enough) or kill her off.
I think they should take a third route: They should actually introduce the character on screen. That will so startle the audience that the fact that her voice will sound a bit different won’t even register. She won’t be shouting, after all. I dunno who the hëll you’d get to play an obese woman with a Brooklyn accent; it would be challenging.
PAD
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I can only assume that last sentence is sarcasm.
Harvey Fierstein.
I know that I probably shouldn’t have, but I just did a laughing spit take when I saw your reply George.
So apropos an answer though, if you could get him to shave the beard.
He’d need to shave…why, precisely?
Yeah, Bernadette’s dad indicated that Debbie Wolowitz’s mustache was bigger than his own in the wedding episode.
I agree, and I hereby volunteer for the role. 🙂 I lived in Brooklyn for enough years that I can approximate the accent…
She’s become almost like Maris Crane.
But if they want to really mess with the viewers’ expectations, how about Fran Drescher? Or Maggie Wheeler, who played Janice (“Oh. My. God!”) on Friends? They got the accent…
And I’m still waiting for Felicia Day to have her guest appearance…
Or Vera Peterson.
I think the Maris Crane comparison is accurate — and the reason they *shoudn’t* show her onscreen. If they leave her as a disembodied voice (with occasional glimpses that confirm her massive obesity), viewers can imagine her however they want. Once they show her, all the fans’ imagining goes away — and probably not for the better. It’s the comedy equivalent of a horror movie when the monster seems so scary when we only get glimpses, only to be disappointed when we finally see it. (The exception to this is ALIEN; thanks, H.R. Giger!)
As for who could take over as the voice, considering three cast members can imitate her perfectly — and two of those are men — it shouldn’t be too hard to find someone who can bellow abrasively.
Definitely should never show her. The ‘real’ person will never equal what your mind imagines and would be a disappointment.
@JamesLynch: considering three cast members can imitate her perfectly — and two of those are men
For the longest time I honestly wondered if Simon Helberg were actually doing the voice. That the arguments were actually him yelling back at his own (pre-recorded, obviously) voice.
Well, they did find a cook for Downton Abbey.
I don’t understand…
Did the actress that played the cook died and was replaced by a look alike?
I wouldn’t say it’d be hard to find an “obese” woman with a Brooklyn accent. The real problem would be in finding a MORBIDLY obese woman for the part.
After all, if it had just been Howard’s descriptions of his mother being really all askew over the years, the viewers could be rightfully taken aback if a woman of lesser size actually appeared on screen. However, both Bernadette and Raj have had episodes where they’ve basically confirmed Mrs Wolowitz’s morbid obesity rather than it just being Howard’s warped view of his mother.
We’d need an actress heftier than Melissa McCarthy or Gabourey Sidibe to REALLY embody (no pun intended) the image we’ve been given of Mrs Wolowitz.
From how they describe her, they might have to combine Melissa and Gabourey for the proper weight.
Sheldon has seen her in the all-too-solid flesh as well – see the episode where Howard was making him jump through hoops (for a chance to meet Stephen Hawking, as I recall), and at one point Sheldon accompanied Mrs. W. on a shopping trip and had to help stuff her into a garment.
Me, I wonder if they will kill off the character and retire her, out of respect to Susi. That of course, would require them to quickly tie up the Debbie-Stewart storyline in the series.
Option 4) She runs off to marry that dentist who Howard caught sneaking out the window, letting Howard know in a letter. (With Stewart saying “SEE? I told you there wasn’t anything between us!”)
From then on, the only communication is by letter/e-mail or one-sided phone conversation.
I did like that the vanity card last night was an in memory of for her, with a picture of her as well!
As for the character, if they just recast, then she can choke on a chicken bone or something and need throat surgery to explain any difference. Maybe she will be unable to eat for a month, and loose 300 pounds even… 😉