I've pictured a few different actresses in the role
Kiera Knightley - although she was born in 1985 so she was only 8 when the show started. I just picture her in the part as she is now.
Minnie Driver
Lara Flynn Boyle
Meg Ryan - most perfect in my opinion, though she was never really a TV actor, AND Niles actually dated someone who was the very spitting image of Meg Ryan (and oddly, not even a relation)
Juliet Landau. In an interview once, David Hyde Pierce said something to the effect of 'imagining Maris looking like something out of Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. I immediately thought of the character Drusilla played by Landau.
shareAhhh yes. My guiltiest of all TV pleasures. I can see that.
shareWow. I've never heard of her, but I looked her up. If any one woman could embody Maris' various characteristics, it would have been this actress. Good call.
Most importantly, though, could she pretend to have a fetching little underbite that's perfect for doing the Barracuda? ; )
Good choice. I've met her too, we have a mutual friend. Nice lady.
shareValerie Mahaffey.when ever niles would describe her she's always who I envisioned.she has a small frail build and often plays sophisticated characters.
shareI have always liked her! I can see that! I still remember her on Seinfeld. Very affected!
I especially loved her appearances on Wings when she played crazy Sandy!
She was the actress I always pictured as Maris. "Crazy Sandy" seemed like a version of Maris. The actress could always play someone slightly unhinged.
I've been watching a lot of Frasier lately and the unseen Maris aspect of the show is getting on my nerves. LOL Several shows have done the "talked about but never seen character" and after a while it gets annoying (at least to me).
It always bothered me that we never saw Lars Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. They never showed Norm's wife Vera on Cheers either.
Okay it's funny at first, but then the whole "unseen" shtick runs its course. It just gets to be an irritant. The show seems to be admitting that it has written itself into a corner. The whole excuse is "we could never cast anyone who would match the audience's imagination."
So then why do it? It's just annoying after a while.
I've never heard that before. I mean someone saying they get annoyed after a while with the character who is never seen.
I've always thought it took amazing writers to create a character with a unique personality. Instead of becoming annoyed, I think of them as a character in a good book I'm reading. I have the chance to cast that person! Each one of us gets to do that. It's always fun to compare notes.
Yeah well that's just me. I get annoyed at those "unseen characters" because I feel like the writers are toying with me, just jerking the audience around. LOL
There was an episode where the Cranes were attending functions and "Maris was waiting in the car" or "Maris was in the other room".
Really, how many of those contrived excuses can they come up with because after a while I just feel manipulated! (guess I am sensitive).
In one Mary Tyler Moore episode, Lars had an affair with the Happy Homemaker. He was spoken about through the whole episode. The story was ALL about him, but he was never seen. It was a clever bit of writing. But I guess it's just a personal pet peeve of mine. It just seems too "gimmicky".
It is also true what you said. Everyone can "cast" the character in his own mind. But after a while, I don't want to do that. If I want to "picture" the character, I'll read a good book. But if I am paying a fortune for cable, I want to SEE the character. lol
Yes!
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Baranski is a great choice, of course.
shareKristin Scott Thomas
Christine Baranski
Joan Allen
Charlotte Rampling
In National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, the wife of Clark's boss who shows up at their house at the end of the movie in her negligee--that's the actress I always pictured in my mind as Maris (even though I know Maris was said to be a blonde).
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