Television Had A Very Different Kind Of Marriage
The 70s gave us some of the most memorable wives in television history. Some were sweet. Some were glamorous. Some were funny, fiery, or endlessly patient with the men they married.
Looking back now, we were wondering...which one would you have married?
Carol Brady (The Brady Bunch)
Florence Henderson made Carol Brady look almost impossibly calm. She had six kids under one roof, a husband with a demanding career and a household where some strange crisis seemed to erupt every week. Somehow, Carol usually handled it all with a smile and immaculate 70s hair.
ABC Television., Wikimedia Commons
Edith Bunker (All In The Family)
Archie Bunker called her a “dingbat,” but viewers knew Edith was far wiser than Archie gave her credit for. Jean Stapleton made Edith funny, kind and enormously compassionate. She could tolerate Archie’s bluster better than almost anyone while occasionally proving she was much stronger than he realized.
CBS Television, Wikimedia Commons
Louise Jefferson (The Jeffersons)
George Jefferson could fill an entire room all by himself, yet Louise never disappeared beside him. Isabel Sanford gave “Weezy” a sharp sense of humor and enough confidence to call George out whenever necessary. She loved her husband dearly. She just wasn’t particularly impressed by his nonsense.
CBS Television Uploaded by We hope at en.wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons
Helen Willis (The Jeffersons)
Roxie Roker’s Helen Willis was one of the few people who could give George Jefferson exactly as much as he dished out. She and Tom were already a long-married couple when The Jeffersons began, and Helen’s friendship with Louise gave the show another terrific female pairing.
CBS Television, Wikimedia Commons
Marion Cunningham (Happy Days)
Mrs. C was the kind of TV wife who seemed capable of making anyone feel welcome. Marion Ross gave her warmth, humor and a surprisingly mischievous side. She adored Howard, loved her family and even earned a special privilege most people didn’t have: calling Fonzie “Arthur.”
ABC Television, Wikimedia Commons
Florida Evans (Good Times)
Florida Evans wasn’t living in sitcom luxury. Money was constantly tight, and the Evans family faced problems far heavier than most television families. Esther Rolle made Florida loving, principled and extraordinarily resilient. When things went wrong, she was usually the person holding everyone else together.
CBS Television, Wikimedia Commons
Maude Findlay (Maude)
Nobody was going to mistake Maude Findlay for the quiet little wife sitting politely beside her husband. Bea Arthur’s character was outspoken, opinionated and ready to debate almost anyone about almost anything. Walter loved her, but winning an argument against Maude was another matter entirely.
CBS Television, Wikimedia Commons
Vivian Harmon (Maude)
Rue McClanahan was already showing flashes of the comic timing she’d later become famous for. Vivian started as Maude’s old college friend, then married Arthur Harmon during the show’s run. Sweet, scatterbrained and frequently caught between Arthur and Maude, she fit perfectly into that wonderfully argumentative neighborhood.
CBS Television, Wikimedia Commons
Olivia Walton (The Waltons)
Michael Learned’s Olivia Walton was raising seven children during the Great Depression, so suddenly most sitcom parenting problems don’t sound quite so bad. She was devoted to John and the family, but she was no pushover either. Olivia had a quiet strength that made her one of television’s most beloved wives and mothers.
CBS Television, Wikimedia Commons
Phyllis Lindstrom (The Mary Tyler Moore Show)
Cloris Leachman’s Phyllis could be vain, nosy, competitive and completely convinced she was more sophisticated than everyone around her. She was also married to the never-seen Lars for most of her Mary Tyler Moore Show run, making their off-screen marriage one of the show’s funniest running jokes.
CBS Television, Wikimedia Commons
Emily Hartley (The Bob Newhart Show)
Suzanne Pleshette’s Emily Hartley seemed like exactly the kind of woman Bob needed. She was smart, independent and could deliver a perfectly dry comeback whenever her husband deserved one. Their marriage also felt surprisingly real for a sitcom of the era, which was a big part of what made Emily so likable.
CBS Television, Wikimedia Commons
Gloria Stivic (All In The Family)
Sally Struthers’ Gloria grew from Archie and Edith’s daughter into a wife and mother with plenty of opinions of her own. Her marriage to Mike wasn’t exactly peaceful. The two could argue almost as fiercely as Mike and Archie, but Gloria was never afraid to stand her ground.
CBS Television, Wikimedia Commons
Irene Lorenzo (All In The Family)
Betty Garrett’s Irene arrived in the Bunkers’ neighborhood in 1973 with husband Frank and immediately gave Archie someone new to argue with. Irene could fix things Archie couldn’t, worked alongside him at the plant and had no problem challenging his old-fashioned ideas. Naturally, Archie loved that.
Screenshot from All in the Family, Columbia Pictures Television (1971-1979)
Caroline Ingalls (Little House On The Prairie)
Karen Grassle’s Caroline Ingalls was gentle without ever seeming weak. Life on the prairie brought illness, money problems, dangerous weather and plenty of other challenges, yet Caroline remained the steady center of the Ingalls family. Charles may have gotten the dramatic adventures, but Caroline kept the household running.
Helen Roper (Three’s Company)
Poor Helen Roper spent much of Three’s Company trying to get her husband Stanley to show even a little romantic enthusiasm. Audra Lindley turned the running joke into one of the show’s funniest relationships. Helen was colorful, friendly and usually much more interested in having fun than Stanley was.
ABC Television, Wikimedia Commons, Enhanced
Bernice Fish (Barney Miller)
Florence Stanley’s Bernice was married to Abe Vigoda’s permanently exhausted Detective Fish on Barney Miller, then joined him in the 1977 spinoff Fish. Their marriage was wonderfully unglamorous: bickering, affection and plenty of complaints about getting older. Somehow, that made them feel more real than most TV couples.
ABC Television, Wikimedia Commons
Julie Kotter (Welcome Back, Kotter)
Marcia Strassman’s Julie Kotter had to share her husband with the Sweathogs, whether she particularly wanted to or not. She was intelligent, sarcastic and often the person bringing Gabe back down to earth. Considering how much time those students spent around their apartment, Julie was remarkably patient.
ABC Television, Wikimedia Commons
Sally McMillan (McMillan & Wife)
Susan Saint James had an advantage here: being a wife was literally part of the show’s title. Sally McMillan was married to San Francisco police commissioner Stewart McMillan, but she wasn’t content to stay home while he solved cases. She frequently became involved in the mysteries herself.
Universal Television, Wikimedia Commons
Mary Hartman (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman)
Louise Lasser’s Mary Hartman was unlike almost any television wife before her. She lived in a bizarre version of suburban America where everyday domestic problems collided with increasingly strange events. Mary frequently seemed overwhelmed by everything around her, which somehow made the whole thing even funnier.
NBC Television, Wikimedia Commons
Loretta Haggers (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman)
Mary Kay Place’s Loretta Haggers was Mary Hartman’s best friend, an aspiring country singer and the very devoted wife of the much older Charlie “Baby Boy” Haggers. In a show where practically everyone was unraveling, Loretta’s cheerful determination somehow made her one of Fernwood’s most memorable residents.
Screenshot from Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Rhodes Productions (1976-1977)
Jessica Tate (Soap)
Katherine Helmond made Jessica Tate lovable even while Soap threw one ridiculous family crisis after another at her. She was wealthy, sheltered and wonderfully eccentric, and somehow still seemed almost innocent compared with everyone around her. Being married to Chester certainly wasn’t making her life any easier.
ABC Television, Wikimedia Commons, Enhanced
Mary Campbell (Soap)
Cathryn Damon’s Mary Campbell was Jessica Tate’s sister and the other great wife at the center of Soap. Her household wasn’t any less chaotic. Between husband Burt, their children and the show’s increasingly outrageous storylines, Mary somehow remained one of the more grounded people in the entire series.
ABC Television, Wikimedia Commons
Rhoda Morgenstern (Rhoda)
Valerie Harper’s Rhoda finally got her big romantic moment when she married Joe Gerard in one of the biggest television events of 1974. The marriage ultimately didn’t last, but for a time Rhoda became one of the decade’s most recognizable TV wives, without losing the personality viewers had loved on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
CBS Television, Wikimedia Commons
Georgette Franklin Baxter (The Mary Tyler Moore Show)
Georgia Engel made Georgette seem sweet and almost impossibly innocent, but there was more going on beneath that soft voice. She eventually married pompous anchorman Ted Baxter, and somehow the pairing worked. Georgette saw something in Ted that practically nobody else could find, which may have been her greatest talent.
CBS Television, Wikimedia Commons
Kate Lawrence (Family)
Sada Thompson’s Kate Lawrence came from a very different kind of show than most of the wives on this list. Family was a drama, and Kate’s marriage to Doug actually felt like a real marriage, complete with disagreements, frustrations and plenty of family problems. She felt less like a TV wife and more like someone you might actually know.
ABC Television, Wikimedia Commons
Abby Bradford (Eight Is Enough)
Betty Buckley joined Eight Is Enough as Abby Abbott, a widowed schoolteacher who eventually married Tom Bradford and suddenly found herself becoming stepmother to eight children. That is not exactly easing into married life. Abby brought warmth and stability to the enormous Bradford household without trying to replace their mother.
ABC Television, Wikimedia Commons
So...Who Would You Have Married?
So, you only get one. Which unforgettable TV wife from the 70s gets your vote (and ring)?
ABC Television., Wikimedia Commons
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