Christine Estabrook (born Mary Christine Estabrook; September 13, 1952) is an American actress, known for her roles on the television series '' The Crew'', '' Nikki'', '' Desperate Housewives'', and ''

American Horror Story ''American Horror Story'' (''AHS'') is an American horror film, horror anthology series, anthology television series created by Ryan Murphy (producer), Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the Cable television, cable network FX (TV channel), FX. Th ...

''; she had a recurring role on the drama '' Mad Men'' during the show's fifth, sixth, and seventh seasons. Estabrook has received an

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...

and

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards are among the most esteemed honors in New York theater, recognizing outstanding achievements across Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions within the same categories. The awards are considered a signific ...

Early life

Estabrook was born to Julianne Shed in East Aurora, New York, and graduated from East Aurora High School. She has three brothers and one sister.

Career

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 An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

. On Broadway, she was in ''The Inspector General'' and Andrei Șerban's production of ''The Cherry Orchard''. She won an

for her off-Broadway performance in Deborah Eisenberg's ''Pastorale'', at the Second Stage Theater. She created the role of Helen opposite William H. Macy in Durang's ''Baby with the Bathwater'' at Playwrights Horizons. 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 mostly done TV and movies, the latter including include ''Second Sight'', ''Sea of Love'', ''Presumed Innocent'', and '' Spider-Man 2''. She had a recurring role on the ABC

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

, '' Desperate Housewives'' playing Martha Huber, the widowed, nosy neighbor of the street. Her other appearances include a 2002 episode of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

series, '' Six Feet Under'', wherein 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 ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''

Veronica Mars ''Veronica Mars'' is an American teen neo-noir Mystery fiction, mystery Drama (film and television), drama television series created by screenwriter Rob Thomas (writer), Rob Thomas. The series is set in the fictional city, fictional town of Ne ...

'', and ''

NYPD Blue ''NYPD Blue'' is an American police procedural television series set in New York City, exploring the struggles of the fictional 15th Precinct detective squad in Manhattan. Each episode typically intertwines several plots involving an ensemble ca ...

''. In 2009, she guest-starred in two episodes of the CBS drama ''

Ghost Whisperer ''Ghost Whisperer'' is an American supernatural television series, which ran on CBS from September 23, 2005, to May 21, 2010. The series follows the life of Melinda Gordon ( Jennifer Love Hewitt), who has the ability to see and communicate w ...

'' as Evelyn James, Eli's mom. In 2011, she appeared on the first season of FX series '' Murder House'' as Marcy. She later appeared in a recurring role in the AMC cable-television series '' Mad Men'', playing Joan Harris' mother, Gail Holloway.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Estabrook, Christine Place of birth missing (living people) American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses Drama Desk Award winners Obie Award recipients Living people David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni American musical theatre actresses 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Pennsylvania Actors from Erie, Pennsylvania 1952 births