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Estelle Harris, whose acting credits include 'Seinfeld' and 'Toy Story,' has died

Estelle Harris, who hollered her way into TV history as George Costanza's short-fused mother on TV's "Seinfeld" and voiced Mrs. Potato Head in the "Toy Story" franchise, has died. She was 93.
Katy Winn
/
AP
Estelle Harris, who hollered her way into TV history as George Costanza's short-fused mother on TV's "Seinfeld" and voiced Mrs. Potato Head in the "Toy Story" franchise, has died. She was 93.

Updated April 3, 2022 at 3:38 PM ET

Estelle Harris, who made TV history as George Costanza's mother on "Seinfeld" and provided the voice of Mrs. Potato Head in the Toy Story franchise, has died at age 93.

Her death was confirmed by her son in a statement to NPR on Sunday.

"Her kindness, passion, sensitivity, humor, empathy and love were practically unrivaled, and she will be terribly missed by all those who knew her," Glen Harris said in the statement.

The actress died of natural causes in Palm Desert, Calif., according to the statement.

Harris spent decades on stage and screen before making her "Seinfeld" debut as Estelle Costanza, partnering with Jerry Stiller as the parents of George Costanza on "a show about nothing."

"She is the mother that everybody loves, even though she's a pain in the neck," Harris told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 1998.

After "Seinfeld" ended, she would go on to voice Mrs. Potato Head in the Toy Story franchise and played the recurring character Muriel in the Disney Channel sitcom "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody."

Harris was born in Manhattan to Jewish immigrant parents and was raised in Pennsylvania, where her family ran a candy and soda shop, according to her agent.

She is survived by three children, three grandsons and a great-grandson.

Material from The Associated Press was included in this report.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Nicole Hernandez

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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