Betty Draper

Betty Draper b.1932
Mad Men character
Betty Draper, as portrayed by January Jones.
First appearance	"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" (1.01)
Created by	Matthew Weiner
Portrayed by	January Jones
Information
Nickname(s)	"Betty" "Betts" "Birdie"
Aliases	Elizabeth Hofstadt (maiden name) Elizabeth Draper (first married name) Elizabeth Francis (second married name)
Occupation	Housewife
Family	Gene Hofstadt (deceased father) Ruth Hofstadt (deceased mother) Gloria Hofstadt (step-mother)
Spouse(s)	Don Draper (1953-1964) Henry Francis (m. 1964)
Children	Sally Draper (daughter with Don Draper) Robert Draper (son with Don Draper) Eugene Draper (son with Don Draper) Eleanor Francis (step-daughter from Henry Francis)
Relatives	Judy Hofstadt (sister-in-law) Herman (deceased grandfather) Emma (deceased aunt)

Elizabeth "Betty" Hofstadt Francis^[1] (formerly Draper) is a fictional character on AMC's television series Mad Men, portrayed by January Jones. The character's appearance is often compared to Grace Kelly.^[2]

Blonde and beautiful but insecure, Betty Draper is introduced as the wife of lead character Don Draper, a philandering advertising executive secretly living under a false identity. Subplots in the first three seasons of Mad Men involve Betty's struggles with depression, parenting their children, and her husband's infidelity. In the third season, Betty finds herself attracted to Henry Francis, an older man who is the public relations director for New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. After discovering Don lied to her about his identity and past, Betty divorces him and marries Henry. In the fourth season, Betty is a less central character and now has a contentious relationship with Don, communicating with him only in regard to their children and the house Don still owns but she and Henry live in. In the fifth season, Betty and Henry are in their own house, but Betty gains weight and continues to have a contentious relation with Don and his new wife Megan, whom the children prefer. In the sixth season, Betty sheds her excess weight and tentatively forms more positive relationships with her ex-husband and daughter.

Casting and character development

The character of Betty Draper was not originally part of the pilot episode though she did appear in the pilot. The script established that lead character Don Draper was married, but only by a mention in dialogue, and there was no intention to show his home life. January Jones was instead initially considered, along with Elisabeth Moss, for the ambitious workplace character Peggy Olson; Moss was ultimately cast as Peggy. Show creator Matthew Weiner then wrote two scenes featuring Betty Draper, and Jones successfully auditioned for the part two days later. Although there were no full script or any plots written for Betty Draper at the time, Jones was promised by Weiner that the character would be developed.^[3]

Weiner has attributed Mad Men's visual style to the influence of film director Alfred Hitchcock, who featured a signature "icy blonde" female character in many of his films.^[4]

Fictional character biography

Backstory

Betty was born Elizabeth Hofstadt in 1932.^[1] According to her son's birth certificate, she was born in Cape May, New Jersey where her wealthy family summered. She grew up in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia located on the "Main Line". She is of German ancestry. Betty graduated from Bryn Mawr College with an anthropology degree, and briefly modeled in Italy (where she learned fluent Italian) before moving to Manhattan. It was during this time that she met Don Draper – he was writing ad copy for a fur company, and she was one of their models. He began courting her by buying her the fur coat she wore at a shoot. Betty and Don were married in May 1953. Her favorite movie is Singin' in the Rain. Betty's mother died early in 1960, three months before the events of the episode "Ladies Room". Her father, Gene (Ryan Cutrona), had a girlfriend named Gloria, whom Betty dislikes and whom her father married sometime in the 18 months between seasons 1 and 2; Gloria left Gene when he began showing signs of mental deterioration in Season 3. He moved in with the Drapers during season 3, and later died in that season, set in 1963. She has a brother, William, who is married to Judy and whose daughters Don and Betty consider to be "rowdy". Her confidantes have included her neighbor Francine Hanson and Glen Bishop, the young son of divorcée Helen Bishop. Ill-suited for parenting, Betty has a strained relationship with her children, particularly with her daughter Sally.

Season one

Betty and Don Draper live in a large house in suburban Ossining, New York, with their children Sally (played by Kiernan Shipka) and Bobby. In the second episode, set in the spring of 1960, Betty starts to see a psychiatrist to address repeated spells of numbness in her hands, which medical doctors have indicated are psychosomatic. It was during these meetings that, after having discovered the psychiatrist was giving reports of her sessions to Don, she voiced her suspicion that her husband was unfaithful. By the start of the second season, set in February 1962, she had discontinued the consultations.

Season two

During the second season episode "A Night to Remember", Betty and Don seem to have reached an agreement, but after a dinner party where Betty is embarrassed to be considered a "demographic" by Don and his associates, she confronts her husband for the first time about his adultery, specifically with Bobbie Barrett. Don, however, denies having an affair. The next day, with a glass of wine in hand, Betty searches through Don's belongings for proof of his indiscretions, but does not find any. Betty awakens Don - who is sleeping on the couch - that night and explains that she doesn't want things to "be like this". He repeats that he did not do anything and when she asks if he hates her, he insists that he loves her and doesn't want to "lose this". When preparing dinner the next day, an Utz commercial featuring Jimmy Barrett airs on the television. After seeing this, she calls Don at work and tells him she doesn't want him to come home.

Betty does turn to Don when she learns that her father Gene has suffered a stroke. She and Don leave the children with a neighbor and drive to visit her father. Betty is visibly impatient with both her father's wife Gloria and her brother William. She and Don are careful to present a united front. At the end of a stressful day, Betty makes Don sleep on the floor of the guestroom, but later joins him on the floor where they make love. The next morning, Betty's father mistakes Betty for her mother Ruth, suggesting they "go upstairs". Betty is severely shocked and frightened, but tries to pretend that everything is all right. When she and Don return to New York, Betty surprises Don by asking him to leave again.

In the Season 2 finale, Betty discovers she is pregnant. Although she brings up the subject of abortion with her doctor, and has sex with a random man she picks up at a bar, at the end of the episode she asks Don to return home and tells him she is pregnant.

Season three

Season 3 begins with Betty in her third trimester, seemingly reconciled with Don. In Episode 5, she gives birth to Eugene Scott Draper, whom she names after her father. After giving birth, Betty comes to the quick realization that her dream of everything being perfect will never come true.

During Episode 3, Betty and Don attend a country club party hosted by Roger Sterling and his new wife, Jane Siegel Sterling, where Betty meets Henry Francis, who is later revealed to be an advisor to then-New York governor Nelson A. Rockefeller. Henry is infatuated with Betty, and though she seems reluctant to return his feelings at first, as the season progresses, their affair intensifies. Betty eventually ends it, feeling guilty.

In Episode 11, Betty corners Don, after getting into a locked drawer in the desk in his home office that contains pictures and documents of Don's past life. (Don had inadvertently left his keys in his clothes and Betty heard them jingling in the dryer.) She forces him to give her an explanation, and he haltingly tells her about his life as Dick Whitman, how he came to exchange dog tags with Lieutenant Don Draper, and his half-brother Adam's suicide. While apparently somewhat sympathetic to his feelings of guilt about Adam's death, Betty is highly conflicted about Don's having hidden this aspect of his life from her.

After President Kennedy's assassination and Margaret Sterling's wedding (the following day), Betty meets with Henry, who confesses his desire to marry her. They passionately kiss, and after the encounter, Betty returns home to tell Don she no longer loves him, leaving him stunned. This culminates in her seeing a divorce lawyer in the season 3 finale. During the same episode, Roger, whose daughter is friends with Francis' daughter, unintentionally reveals to Don that Betty and Francis are involved. An incensed Don confronts Betty. After calling her a whore, he assures her that she "won't get a nickel" in the ensuing divorce and he intends to seek sole custody of the children. The next morning, Don and Betty inform the children they are separating and both older children react badly.

After moving into Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce's new office, Don calls Betty and tells her he will not fight her, and he wishes her the best. She tells him that he'll always be their children's father. The season ends with Betty taking a plane to Reno with baby Gene and Henry.

Season four

Betty's presence in season four is diminished compared to the previous seasons. Season 4 opens with Betty's still living in the former Draper residence (which Don owns) following her marriage to Henry Francis. The residence is a point of bitter contention for Don and Betty, as Don is still paying the mortgage, although Betty is required to move out and has not.

Throughout Season 4, Betty finds her marriage to Francis strained by tensions with Don and by deteriorating relations with Sally. When she discovers Sally has become friends with her old confidant, Glen Bishop, Betty forces them to end the friendship.

In the season finale "Tomorrowland", Betty and Francis are packing to finally move out of the Ossining house and into a new home in nearby Rye, New York. When the children's nanny, Carla, lets Glen into the house to say goodbye to Sally, Betty becomes upset and fires Carla, refusing to give her a reference. This angers Henry, with whom Betty feels increasingly dissatisfied. At the end of the episode Betty waits for Don at the now-empty Ossining house, telling him she is unhappy with her new life. Don senses her desire to try and repair things between them, but instead informs her of his engagement to Megan Calvet. Betty congratulates him but is visibly disheartened. They leave the house through opposite doors.

Season five

Betty's presence in season five is further reduced due to January Jones' recent pregnancy. In the episode, "Tea Leaves", Betty and her family are now shown to be living in a large Victorian estate in Rye, New York. Since the season four finale, she has put on a significant amount of weight and dislikes leaving the house. Her mother-in-law, Pauline, advises Betty to take diet pills since she believes Henry is unhappy in the marriage. Betty goes to her doctor to get a prescription, but he finds a lump from her throat that could be cancerous. When it turns out to be benign, Betty is barely relieved and returns to focusing on her dumpy physical condition. By the episode "Dark Shadows", Betty attends Weight Watchers meetings to attempt to regain her old form but receives mixed results; she notes that it is difficult to take the weight off. Betty is often seen eating very little in an attempt to lose weight but appears to weaken when she consumes whipped cream directly from the can and occasionally sneaks sweets. Betty regresses further when she goes to Don's NYC apartment to pick up her kids and becomes bitter over the lovely accommodations and Megan's lissome beauty. She then tries to stir up rancor by mentioning Anna Draper to Sally, but after Megan and (particularly) Don tell Sally more about Anna, Betty is defeated as Sally expresses visible contempt for her mother, further straining their relationship. However, when Sally begins menstruating for the first time while visiting her father in New York, she immediately returns to Rye and seeks out her mother for help. Here Betty is finally shown to be a caring mother to Sally. Showing what is at this point uncharacteristic warmth, Betty recognizes that Sally needs her and provides comfort and guidance to her daughter.

Season six

Betty spends most of the beginning of the sixth season losing the excess weight she gained over the past year. After visiting the Lower East Side of New York while searching for one of Sally's friends, and being snidely dismissed by one of the young people there as a bottle blonde, she dyes her hair brunette. Betty's hair later reverts to its original blonde color. When Henry announces that he wants to run for public office, she has mixed feelings about the idea (still being concerned about her weight).

In episode 8 "The Better Half", Betty is back to her original weight and actively campaigning alongside her husband. Henry sees the excess attention that Betty receives and is turned on by it, as is Betty, who is beginning to feel more confident about herself.

Betty goes to Bobby's summer camp for a family weekend in "The Better Half", driving down without Henry. Don sees her lost at a gas station and they go down to the campground together. They spend the afternoon with Bobby and everyone has a wonderful time. That night Don visits Betty's cabin and they share a drink, reminiscing about the early years of their marriage and the kids. Don follows Betty into the cabin and they make love. Betty and Don talk afterward and Betty admits that she's happy with Henry and is no longer as mad at him as she once was, and that she feels sorry for Megan, who doesn't know that loving Don is the worst way of getting to him. The next morning Don wakes up alone and goes down to the cafeteria to see Betty and Henry eating together. Don says hello to them and goes off to eat at the other side of the room.

In "The Quality of Mercy," Betty takes Sally on an overnight trip to a boarding school, Miss Porter's. She detects Sally is troubled by something, but doesn't realize it's because she saw Don in bed with Sylvia. Sally gets in to Miss Porter's, but Betty soon calls Don with the news that Sally has gotten suspended because she bought beer with a fake I.D. and got drunk with some other girls. Betty sadly blames herself for Sally's troubles and tells Don, "the good isn't beating out the bad."

Season seven

In episode 3, "Field Trip," the distinctly un-maternal Betty questions if she is a good mother, and if her children love her, after a field trip with Bobby to the farm goes sour. Bobby trades Betty's sandwich for a bag of gumdrops, leaving Betty with no food. Betty orders Bobby to eat the candy. When they return home, neither are willing to talk about what happened. Henry insists that the children love her, but Betty believes it will change in time.

In episode 5, "Runaways," Betty speaks her mind about the Vietnam War, causing a rough patch between herself and the conservative Henry during a dinner party. Bobby overhears the arguing and sees Henry sleeping in the den. When Sally comes home after getting hurt faux sword-fighting at Miss Porters, Bobby asks her if Betty and Henry are getting a divorce. Sally assures him that they aren't, and Bobby tells her that he wishes he could go with her to school. At the end of the episode, Betty resents Henry for telling her what to do, say, and think.

Reception

Betty Draper appeared in Comcast's list of TV's Most Intriguing Characters.^[5] TV Guide named her one of the most fashionable TV characters.^[6] She was also included in Glamour‍ '​s list of the 12 Most Stylish TV Characters.^[7] The Huffington Post named her as one of the Worst TV Characters in 2012, saying "her unchanging narcissism and her selfish petulance simply bore us to tears".^[8]

Awards and nominations

January Jones has earned nominations for multiple accolades for her portrayal of Betty Draper. She was jointly nominated on five occasions for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2013, winning twice in 2009 and 2010. In 2009 and 2010, Jones was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series (Drama). In 2010, Jones was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

References

External links

• AMC Character Page
• Guardian.co.uk Profile

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Mad Men

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Mad Men Matthew Weiner Characters Don Draper Peggy Olson Betty Draper Pete Campbell Joan Holloway Roger Sterling Lane Pryce Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Related Awards and nominations "Zou Bisou Bisou" Category