Estelle Harris, Mrs. Costanza on Seinfeld, Dies at 93

Estelle Harris, beloved guest star on Seinfeld and the voice of Mrs. Potato Head in Pixar’s Toy Story franchise, has died. Harris’ son Glen confirmed the news with The Hollywood Reporter, saying his mother passed died of natural causes. She was 93, and set to turn 94 later this month. In total, she appeared in 27 episodes of the beloved sitcom, playing the mother Jason Alexander’s George Costanza.

Harris’ first appearance on Seinfeld came during “The Contest,” one of the comedy’s most infamous episodes. The character finds herself in the hospital after inadvertently coming home to find her son George (Alexander) pleasuring himself. The four main characters then have a contest to see which one can last the longest without doing the same.

“I looked at the script and I said to myself, ‘Oh, that couldn’t be,’” the actor told a Canadian news outlet in 2012. “I asked them, ‘What did he do?’ and they all started laughing. I said, ‘Oh, no, it’s impossible. On TV? It’s impossible.’ But it was very possible, and it was funny.”

She added she thought the character — which she says was named Estelle even before she auditioned — was funny due to the haphazard relationship she had with her husband and son.

“Nobody had a past like that! I mean, that poor woman. She lived in that apartment that they got married in with the same furniture and the same husband and one son that was a loser,” she continued. “I mean, she had everything bad! I thought it was funny.”

She ended up joining the Toy Story franchise in Toy Story 2 (1999) opposite Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles) before reprising the role in both Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4. Her role in the latter was the last work on her resume.