Some of television’s most memorable characters are the ones we didn’t see.
Many a TV show — and many a sitcom, in particular — has introduced a character who was mentioned often, heard off-screen or even glimpsed from the back, without ever showing us his or her face. Cheers’ Vera Peterson and Frasier‘s Maris Crane come to mind first, but comedies like The Big Bang Theory, Family Matters, The Office and Veep also included characters whose faces remained a mystery during their runs.
In the list below, we’re looking back at 20 small-screen personalities we never truly saw, hailing from both sitcoms and dramas like Columbo, Felicity and My So-Called Life. We even singled out a few animated characters, like Muppet Babies‘ Nanny and The Powerpuff Girls‘ Ms. Sara Bellum (who, of all the characters on our list, came the closest to actually showing us her full face — but that one-eyed reveal doesn’t really count).
Note: In order to qualify for our list, these unseen characters either never appeared on-screen at all, or we saw other parts of their body very rarely. Someone like Home Improvement‘s Wilson — who showed half of his face in nearly every episode — wouldn’t apply here.
Scroll through our list of TV’s unseen characters below, then drop a comment with any standouts we might have missed!
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Mrs. Wolowitz, The Big Bang Theory
Image Credit: Everett Collection We never truly saw Howard’s mother during The Big Bang Theory‘s long run, but we sure did hear her. Actress Carol Ann Susi provided the overbearing woman’s (loud) voice, and though Mrs. Wolowitz made a few fleeting appearances on screen (like in an overhead shot of Howard and Bernadette’s wedding), her face was never revealed. After Susi lost her battle with cancer in 2014 — during the CBS sitcom’s eighth season — The Big Bang Theory honored her in the episode “The Comic Book Store Regeneration,” in which Mrs. Wolowitz also passed away.
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Charles Townsend, Charlie's Angels
Image Credit: Everett Collection For five foxy seasons, fans never saw Charles “Charlie” Townsend’s face. Meanwhile, the butt-kicking women who worked for him didn’t know much about him; they just heard his voice (provided by the late, great John Forsythe) whenever he introduced new cases and clients. Viewers did glimpse the back of Charlie’s head during the series, and his legs and arms — but never his mug.
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Vera Peterson, Cheers
Image Credit: Peacock screenshot Norm’s wife was never seen across the acclaimed NBC comedy’s 275-episode run — save for the infamous “Thanksgiving Orphans” episode, in which her face was covered by a chocolate creme pie Diane had thrown. And the few times that Vera was heard, she was voiced by Bernadette Birkett of It’s Garry Shandling’s Show… aka the real-life wife of Norm himself, George Wendt.
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Mrs. Columbo, Columbo
Image Credit: Everett Collection The wife of Peter Falk’s titular detective was mentioned frequently on the crime drama, but never seen, or even given a first name, during the show’s run. In 1979, NBC debuted the Kate Mulgrew-led spinoff Mrs. Columbo, which did give the missus a name — Kate! — and followed her adventures as a crime-solving news reporter. But the offshoot, which never featured any appearances from Falk, failed to connect with audiences and was cancelled after two short seasons.
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Heather Sinclair, Degrassi: The Next Generation
Image Credit: Amazon Prime screenshot Apparently, there was someone more catty than Paige Michalchuk walking the halls of Degrassi Community School, but we only ever heard about her during the teen drama’s early seasons. To this day, we wish we’d gotten a glimpse of Heather’s tragically over-plucked eyebrows.
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Dr. Herb and Diane Roberta Urkel, Family Matters
Image Credit: Everett Collection Why was Steve always lurking about the Winslow household? Because his parents thought he was just as annoying as everyone else did. While Dr. Herb and Diane Urkel did become enchanted with Steve’s alter ego Stefan Urquelle (who didn’t, really?), they consistently avoided their son at all costs, ultimately moving to Russia without even telling him. (Ouch!) Despite being a frequent topic of conversation throughout the series’ nine-season run, we never did get the chance to meet the Urkel parents in the flesh — not even at Laura and Steve’s wedding.
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Sally Reardon, Felicity
Image Credit: Everett Collection Felicity exchanged taped voice letters with her high school French tutor/makeshift therapist during the start of her college adventure. But while we heard Sally’s voice on the recordings — courtesy of Janeane Garofalo — we never saw Felicity’s hometown confidant.
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Maris Crane, Frasier
Image Credit: Everett Collection Niles Crane’s fragile wife, Maris, was never seen by our naked eyes despite her recurring role and frequent involvement in Niles’ storylines. She was known for being controlling, vindictive and oftentimes jealous, cutting Niles off from his cash flow in order to get him to admit fault in their argument of the week. Although she existed entirely off-screen, we’ll take Frasier and Martin’s disdain for her at face value. Plus, even Lilith thought Maris was strange! That alone speaks volumes.
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Ugly Naked Guy, Friends
Image Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Television Distribution For the most part, Rachel, Ross & Co. observed Ugly Naked Guy — an obese nudist living in the adjacent apartment building — from afar, with the camera typically focused on the friends’ apartment window as they looked out at him. We did see the man’s body twice: once when he was poked with a chopstick contraption after Phoebe feared she’d killed him, then from behind when Ross visited Ugly Naked Guy in an effort to snag his apartment. His face, however, was never shown.
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Mr. and Mrs. Gibbler, Full House
Image Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Television Distribution Kimmy Gibbler’s frequent visits to the Tanner residence ultimately never yielded an appearance from her mom or dad during Full House‘s initial run. Netflix’s Fuller House continuation — which centered on Kimmy, D.J. and Stephanie — offered a new chance for her parents to finally show up on screen, but alas, they didn’t even come to Kimmy’s wedding in the series finale. How rude! (As a consolation, actress Andrea Barber told us she’d always envisioned someone like Glee‘s Jane Lynch playing the role of Kimmy’s mother.)
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Dr. Claw, Inspector Gadget
Image Credit: Paramount+ screenshot Anyone who’s seen the animated series recognizes that mechanical arm and the chunky cat resting nearby, though the diabolical villain’s face was never revealed. There were misdirects and hints throughout the years, but the series was ultimately careful not to show us what Dr. Claw looked like. Are we sure he wasn’t a ghost?
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Lars Lindstrom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Image Credit: Everett Collection Cloris Leachman’s snooty Phyllis Lindstrom was a fixture on the CBS sitcom, but her dermatologist husband never popped up in the show’s seven seasons. And though Leachman went on to lead the spinoff Phyllis for two seasons, that series’ plot was set in motion by Lars’ death, prompting Phyllis and her daughter to move in with Lars’ mother.
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Nanny, Muppet Babies
Image Credit: Courtesy of Disney-ABC Domestic Television Kermit and company’s loving caretaker often popped in to say hello, but most times, all we ever saw of her were her legs, clad in green-and-white-striped stockings — which made sense, actually, since that’s all the Muppet babies could see from their perspective.
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Tino, My So-Called Life
Image Credit: Everett Collection The Frozen Embryos frontman was Jordan Catalano’s bandmate and Rayanne’s pal, and he was name-checked throughout the one-season series. Yet he never showed up to, you know, like, hang.
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The Scranton Strangler, The Office
Image Credit: Peacock screenshot Even sleepy Scranton, Pa., had its share of scandals, namely the elusive Scranton Strangler’s numerous crimes. Near the end of the NBC comedy’s run, a man named George Howard Skub was convicted of being the Strangler, though Toby — who served as a juror during the trial — later believed Skub was really innocent. Across nine seasons, the criminal was never actually seen, and a fan theory that Toby may have been the real Scranton Strangler has since prevailed. (Hmm, he did relocate to Costa Rica for a while…)
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Ms. Sara Bellum, The Powerpuff Girls
Image Credit: Hulu screenshot The head of S.H.U.S.H.’s research division, Sara Bellum was a powerful Powerpuff Girl ally who, despite being seen mostly from the neck down, had an iconic look. (That red jacket/skirt combo and matching heels are permanently embedded in our minds). But part of her allure was the fact that we didn’t really know what she looked like. The series came close to showing her full face, revealing the brilliant scientist from the neck up, but with a catch: Some of her red mane was strategically placed over one eye, and the eye we did see remained closed.
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'Carlton Your Doorman,' Rhoda
Image Credit: Courtesy of 20th Television Since the only time we got a glimpse of the recurring character’s face, he was wearing a gorilla mask, we never got to find out if he resembled Lorenzo Music, the actor who voiced him (as well as the original Garfield the Cat). Nonetheless, Carlton became so popular that he inspired a hit single (1975’s “Who Is It?”) and an animated spinoff idea (which made it as far as the pilot stage in 1980).
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George Steinbrenner, Seinfeld
Image Credit: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Television During George Costanza’s stint working for the New York Yankees, team owner Steinbrenner was only ever seen from the back; actor Lee Bear played Steinbrenner for most of those scenes, while Seinfeld co-creator Larry David gave the character his over-the-top voice. The real Steinbrenner eventually did film a cameo, meant to air as part of the Season 7 finale, but David ultimately decided to cut Steinbrenner’s scenes, believing at the time that they just didn’t land.
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President Hughes, Veep
Image Credit: Courtesy of HBO Though Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ title character served as vice president under Stuart Hughes, the POTUS never made an on-screen appearance during the HBO satire’s seven seasons. His name was inevitably mentioned often, mostly to communicate Selina Meyer’s disdain for him… until, of course, Hughes resigned to help take care of his troubled wife, allowing for Selina to succeed him as the country’s first female president.
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Stan Walker, Will & Grace
Image Credit: NBC screenshot As often as Karen’s philandering husband was mentioned during the NBC hitcom’s original run and revival, we never got to see more of him than his silhouette or his arms. Still, owing to other characters’ colorful descriptions of him, we had in our heads a pretty clear picture of the toupee-wearing big guy — per his missus, “a doughy thing with squat little legs and a bad case of recurring psoriasis.”
