Ellen Jackson

Ellen Jackson (nee Harper) is a fictional character who made sporadic appearances in The Family sketches on The Carol Burnett Show and its spinoff sitcom, Mama's Family. She was portrayed by Betty White.

Character history
Born on December 19, Mary Ellen Harper is the oldest of Carl and Thelma Harper's three children. Even as a child, her snobbish tendencies asserted themselves. She prefers not to associate with anyone in her family—-unless it benefits her in some way. She was married to the often-spoken-of-but-never-seen Bruce Jackson, whom she later divorced. Her ability to do anything well irritated her resentful younger sister Eunice Higgins endlessly. This, added to the fact that Ellen was Thelma's clear favorite, added to the explosive rivalry between the two sisters. Ellen later learned of Bruce's infidelity from Eunice, who gleefully exposed it to her face. Ellen's relationship with her brother, Vinton Harper, tends to be amicable, although like the rest of the family, she usually dismisses him as bit dim.

Shortly after her divorce from Bruce Jackson, Ellen began to date a much younger man, Glen, to which Thelma vehemently objected. She later began seeing Alvin Tutweiler, mayor of Raytown and Ellen's ticket back into the high society that she missed since her divorce. When confronted on this conniving by her mother, she flippantly replied: "it worked for Nancy Reagan."

When the show went into syndication, it was presumed that Ellen still lived in Raytown, but she wasn't seen much after the second season (Betty White was, by this time, starring in The Golden Girls.)

Despite being her mother's favorite, Ellen (like her siblings) isn't spared Thelma's criticism, insults or wrath. When she failed to attend her aunt Fran's funeral, this caused a huge rift in Thelma and Ellen's relationship, and Thelma threatened to not speak to her again. Afterwards, Ellen made an attempt to mend fences with her mother by showing up with a peace offering, but Thelma remained unmoved and ordered her out of the house. Thelma let go of her animosity when she soon after learned that Ellen had been checked into the hospital for surgery (in reality, she had a mere fanny tuck). It was there that Thelma admitted to Ellen that she had always favored her over her other children.

Ellen was chosen as the Raytown Country Club's Woman of the Year, and was embarrassed when Thelma, Vint, and Naomi showed up at the awards ceremony. She also dated successful businessman Glenn, who was so young that Thelma observed "She's old enough to have lived two of his lives."In "The Family" sketches on The Carol Burnett Show, Ellen has no qualms about snapping back at her mother when she is annoyed with her. In those sketches, she was also nearly gleeful when she got something that Eunice wanted, such as a Tiffany lampshade or a box of fine china.

In the television series, it is implied that Thelma was in her late teens when Ellen was born. Evidence of this is that Ellen is about fifty while her mother is still in her sixties. Also, a flashback shows that when Thelma turns thirty years old, Ellen is already eleven or twelve years old.