Sharona Fleming
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| Sharona Fleming | |
|---|---|
 Bitty Schram as Sharona Fleming |
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| First appearance | Mr. Monk and the Candidate |
| Last appearance | Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine (episode) Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants (book) |
| Portrayed by | Bitty Schram |
| Information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Age | Early 40s |
| Occupation | nurse |
| Family | Gail (sister) Trevor Howe (husband) Douglas (father) Cheryl (mother) |
| Children | Benjy (son) |
| IMDb profile | |
Sharona Fleming is a fictional character in the award-winning series Monk. Sharona is a divorced practical nurse from New Jersey and a single mother with a young son named Benjy. She was played by Bitty Schram. Bitty Schram was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance.[1]
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[edit] Overview
Sharona's childhood is only mentioned in one episode. Her father, Douglas, owned a hardware store and died when she was a child. This left her mother, Cheryl, to raise Sharona and her younger sister, Gail, who is an actress and appeared in two episodes.
What is known was that she had married out of high school but it did not last leaving her with an infant son to raise on her own. As a result being a very attractive woman she did some nude modeling under a pseudonym in Atlantic City. It was something that would come back to haunt her in "Mr. Monk Meets the Playboy" when the murderer obtained the photos and used them to get Monk to back off or else he would publish them. She later became a registered nurse.
[edit] Appearance on Monk
Monk was in a catatonic state for three and a half years until Sharona began taking care of him. Monk was able to resume detective work and remarked, "She found me when I was drowning and saved my life." The series started a while after she took the assistant's job, and just how she got it and what their early relationship was are never explained, although it is revealed that Captain Leland Stottlemeyer originally engaged her as a nurse for Monk.
When Monk becomes a consulting detective, Sharona helps out, sometimes doing independent investigations and sometimes even using her sex appeal to get information that Monk cannot. She also does all kinds of things that Monk's OCD's and phobias prevent him from doing as she has few such reservations herself. It was revealed in the episode "Mr. Monk Goes to the Circus," however, that she has a fear of elephants, due to seeing a girl falling into an elephant pit when she was seven years old.
She has 'quit' her job as Monk's assistant at least twice; in the episode "Mr. Monk and the Candidate" and "Mr. Monk and the Billionaire Mugger" (this was due to a pay dispute; she temporarily got a job at a lamp store). Sharona's 'quitting' became a running gag in the show, until she finally left in 2004.
Sharona was mentioned again after her character left the show in "Mr. Monk Is on the Run (Part Two)", having sent flowers for the presumed deceased Monk and flying in with Benjy to attend his funeral.
[edit] Contract dispute
Schram left the show halfway through the third season due to a contract dispute.[1] It was explained in the show that her character had moved back to New Jersey and remarried her ex-husband, Trevor Howe.
[edit] Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants
The Lee Goldberg novel "Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants" has Sharona returning to San Francisco after her husband, Trevor, was arrested for murder. She planned to return to work with Monk and thus clashed with Natalie. Eventually, Monk discovered that Sharona's husband had been framed for the murder and after exonerating him (and Sharona and Natalie who had also been framed by the real killer), she went back to Trevor. By this point, she and Natalie had become friends and Sharona was sure Monk was in good hands, thus serving more closure than on the televison episode. The novel ends with Sharona moving back to Los Angeles with her husband and son, leaving her character in a better position to be able to return into Adrian's life, e.g. visits, than it would if her character was in New Jersey, perhaps hinting at a possible return of her character.
[edit] Trivia
- Sharona was seen in some episodes to have a fondness for animals: Darwin the chimp in "Mr Monk and the Panic Room", Daniel's dog in "Mr Monk and the Psychic", The circus horse in "Mr Monk goes to the Circus", the murderer's dog in "Mr Monk and the Captain's Wife"; but she has a phobia of elephants which she eventually gets over as shown in "Mr Monk goes to the Circus."
- Randy was shown several times to have a certain attraction to Sharona; however, when Bitty Schram left the show Sharona moved back to New Jersey to marry her ex-husband Trevor.
[edit] References
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