Carol Ann Susi, the very loud grating voice of Howard Wolowitz’s Jewish mother on the long-running TV series “The Big Bang Theory,” has died of cancer at the age of 62, the Associated Press reports.
Described by TV Guide as “one of television’s great unseen characters,” Mrs. Wolowitz is most frequently heard yelling at the top of her lungs at her geeky rocket-scientist son — who, as far as she’s concerned, is still in middle school struggling with puberty.
Here are some typical exchanges:
Mrs. Wolowitz: Howard! What are you doing in there?
Howard: I’m taking a bath!
Mrs. Wolowitz: I hope that’s all you’re doing! We share that tub!
Howard: Don’t remind me!
Mrs. Wolowitz: Who’s there? Are you a sex criminal?
Howard: Sex criminals don’t have keys, Ma!
Mrs. Wolowitz: Howard, help! My hand is caught in the garbage disposal!
Howard: Just let go of whatever food you’re holding!
Mrs. Wolowitz: Are you kidding? It’s a perfectly good chicken leg!
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Howard: Sheldon’s sick!
Mrs. Wolowitz: Were you playing with him?
Howard: For God’s sake, Ma, I’m 26 years old!
Mrs. Wolowitz: Excuse me, Mr. Grownup! What do you want for breakfast?
Howard: Chocolate milk and Eggos, please!
Her role is most often compared to Carlton, the unseen doorman in the 1970s sitcom “Rhoda,” and Orson, Mork’s superior on “Mork and Mindy.”
“The Mrs. Wolowitz character became a bit of mystery throughout the show’s eight seasons,” the show’s executive producer Chuck Lorre told TMZ. “What was not a mystery, however, was Carol Ann’s immense talent and comedic timing.”
Share this articleShareIn fact, he said, she made one actual appearance on the show — at Howard’s wedding. Mrs. Wolowitz, or someone purporting to be Mrs. Wolowitz, also appeared in this episode:
Susi was cast in a variety of roles on TV shows throughout her career, including “Kolchak: The Night Stalker,” “Cheers,” “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” “Mad About You,” “Just Shoot Me!” and “Seinfeld.”
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None were as memorable as Mrs. Wolowitz. Her voice was so distinctive she reported that she occasionally got “outed” by people who recognized her entirely from her voice.
“I once got outed by a waitress while having dinner,” she told TV Guide. “She started screaming, ‘Oh, my God! How-ard!’ And I’ve even been outed by a bus driver. I don’t drive. I live in L.A., but I take the bus. I know, I’m weird!”
Susi didn’t even object to remaining offscreen.
“It didn’t bother me that they’d never show Howard’s mother,” Susi said in an interview with Cleveland.com. “I absolutely didn’t care. A job’s a job. You just go in wanting to get the job, so I read for the casting director. They called me back. I read for the producers, and that was it.” Asked where the voice came from, she said: “I really don’t know. It just hit me that they wanted someone who was screaming at him all the time, so that’s what I did. So what’s not to be fun about this? It’s a great job. Are you kidding? I have a ball.”
The voice seemed to come naturally. Here she is in a scene from Seinfeld:
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