Christine Estabrook

Christine Estabrook (born September 13, 1952) is an American stage, television and film actress, known for her roles on the television series The Crew, Nikki, Desperate Housewives and American Horror Story; she had a recurring role on the drama Mad Men during that show's fifth season, and continuing into the sixth. She has received Obie Award and Drama Desk Award.^[1]

Life and career

She has been featured in several motion pictures mostly in supporting roles. Her more recent films include Grind, Spider-Man 2 and Catch That Kid.

She had a recurring role on the popular ABC television series, Desperate Housewives playing Martha Huber, the widowed, nosy neighbour of the street and best friend of Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan). Other appearances include a 2002 episode of the HBO original series, Six Feet Under where she played Emily Previn, a woman who died alone without any family or friends. The episode sparked much discussion in the following days about the character's death. Estabrook has also guest starred on 7th Heaven, Dharma and Greg, The Guardian, Veronica Mars and NYPD Blue. In 2009 she guest-starred in two episodes of the CBS drama Ghost Whisperer as Evelyn James, Eli's mom.

Christine attended the Yale School of Drama in the 1970s with fellow students Wendy Wasserstein, Christopher Durang, Meryl Streep, and Albert Innaurato, among others. Known for her comic abilities, she was Lidia in the student production of Durang's Titanic, and played a radical feminist in Durang and Wendy Wasserstein's When Dinah Shore Ruled the Earth. At Yale Repertory Theatre she was in Durang-Innaurato's The Idiots Karamazov, and played Hermia (opposite Meryl Streep's Helena) in Alvin Epstein's acclaimed production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. She also received critical praise for her moving portrayal of a troubled girl in Robert Auletta's Walk the Dog, Willie, also at Yale Rep.

At the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, she created the role of the young daughter in Kevin O'Morrison's Ladyhouse Blues, which then moved to off-Broadway. On Broadway she was in The Inspector General and Andrei Șerban's production of The Cherry Orchard. She won an Obie award for her performance in Deborah Eisenberg's Pastorale at the Second Stage, off-Broadway. She also created the role of Helen opposite William H. Macy in Durang's Baby with the Bathwater at Playwrights Horizons. And on Broadway she took over the role of Feni in Wendy Wasserstein's The Sisters Rosensweig. In the fall of 2006, she returned to Broadway in the musical Spring Awakening playing all the adult female roles.

Since the 1990s, she has lived in Los Angeles and mostly done TV and movies. Some of her movies include Second Sight, Sea of Love, and Presumed Innocent.

In 2011 she appeared as Marcy on the first season FX series American Horror Story.

She can currently be seen in the AMC cable television series Mad Men, playing Joan Harris's mother, Gail Holloway.

Filmography

Theater

Film

Television

References

External links

• Christine Estabrook at the Internet Movie Database
• Christine Estabrook at the Internet Broadway Database
• Christine Estabrook at the Internet Off-Broadway Database