What year was Mama born in? Do they ever say?
On Wikipedia it says Mama was in her late 60s throughout the series.


I want to guess Mama was born in the 1920s or early 30s. During the series she was not slow and spunky and could have been late 50s or early 60s when it began and for sure late 60s when it ended.


I wonder how long Mama lived and into what year? I doubt she would still be alive today. She would be over 90, close to 100, right?


So if Mama was born in say 1920, that would mean when the series began she was around 64 in 1984. When the series ended she was final 60s or early 70s.

Anyone who was born in 1920, 1921, 1922 are pretty much all gone now.

In MF, Mama was 63 in January of 1984, which would put her being born in 1921 ("I was 63 when I learned to drive!"). But, she was around that same age on The Carol Burnett Show, which debuted "The Family" in 1974, so that would make her birth year around 1911 in that universe.

Mama is such an enigma, lol.

For some reason I was always wanting to think that the Mama's Birthday episode when the family gave her a freezer was her 60th birthday, b/c Vint says that Mama had been talking about a freezer for 30 years, and the flashback was about her 30th bday.


I know that doesn't match up with what she said about learning to drive at 63, BUT apparantly Mama DID drive before b/c she said she only drove once in her life and it was a bad experience, also I kinda got the impression that Mama drove in the Family Sketches as she seemed to go to and leave from Euince's and Ed's at will, like on the Christmas episode Ellen drops Mama off at Euince's BUT at first Euince didn't know Ellen had dropped her off, so you'd think Euince would inquire about how Mama got there, and Eunice was expecting her any minute to surprise Larry.

I never saw any of the Family sketches, but I always figured Mama was born around 1920 or 1921 (I cite the same line as above discussing the driving episode). Before I saw that particular episode, I figured somewhere between 1919 and 1922.

How old was Mama when she was born?

Eunice had to be in her 50s in the family sketches, so Mama had to be around 72 in 1974, so she was born in 1900.

I think Eunice was in her 30's in the Family sketches. Her two boys were little. If you have never seen the Family sketches look them up on Youtube. They are hilarious. The elephant story is a classic.

I think more in the middle, I think Eunice was around 40ish.

I think more in the middle, I think Eunice was around 40ish.


I agree with you, Eunice was in her 40s.

In the episode MAMA GETS A JOB, when Naomi tells her she has half her life ahead of her, Mama glares back and says "How many people do you know live to be a hundred and thirty?" so I am guessing she was 65 in 1983, born in 1918. So next year Mama turns 100!

I think we need to seperate the family sketches from the TV show, in regards to this discussion. Then we need to separate the NBC version from the Syndicated version. Then we need to separate the promos for METV, from the official cannon.

Yes, I think Eunice was for sure in her 40s and Mama was around 60s. Mama being born in 1920 would mean in 1982 she was 62 years old when the series began and by 1990 she was 70. The show's been gone 28 years soon. So add on 28 to 70...Mama would be around 98 now. She would not know anyone, not be able to walk, et.

I doubt a reboot with Vicki could be done. If they changed the cast and set it so they were all the ages they were in the 1980s in today's time, yuck. There would be a new Vint, a new Naomi, a new Iola and a new Buzz...even a new Eunice and her husband and Aunt Effie and Fran and Ellen.

All the rest of the cast have aged VERY MUCH, it might be funny to see Vicky as Mama again looking practically the SAME as she did, while all the rest look old.