List of the Closer characters - wikipedia List of the Closer characters This is a list of characters from the television series The Closer, which premiered ran from 2005 to 2012 on TNT in the United States. Many of these characters reappeared in the spin - off series Major Crimes. Contents 1 Main characters 2 Recurring characters 2.1 Los Angeles Police Department 2.2 Family 2.3 Los Angeles County Coroner 's Office 2.4 Los Angeles County District Attorney 's Office 2.5 Others 3 References Main characters Name Played by Occupation / Status Seasons Brenda Leigh Johnson Kyra Sedgwick LAPD Deputy Chief, Major Crimes Division 1 -- 7 Will Pope J.K. Simmons LAPD Assistant Chief for Operations ( Seasons 1 -- 6 ) Interim Chief of Police ( Season 7 ) 1 -- 7 David Gabriel Corey Reynolds LAPD Detective II 1 -- 7 Louie Provenza G.W. Bailey LAPD Lieutenant II 1 -- 7 Russell Taylor Robert Gossett LAPD Commander 1 -- 7 Andy Flynn Tony Denison LAPD Lieutenant I 1 -- 7 Michael Tao Michael Paul Chan LAPD Lieutenant I 1 -- 7 Julio Sanchez Raymond Cruz LAPD Detective II 1 -- 7 Irene Daniels Gina Ravera LAPD Detective II 1 -- 4 Francis `` Buzz '' Watson Phillip P. Keene LAPD Civilian Surveillance Coordinator 1 -- 7 Fritz Howard Jon Tenney FBI Special Agent, LAPD Liaison 1 -- 7 Sharon Raydor Mary McDonnell LAPD Captain, Force Investigation Division 5 -- 7 Recurring characters Los Angeles police department Deputy Chief ( later Chief ) Thomas `` Tommy '' Delk ( Courtney B. Vance ) : Initially an LAPD Deputy Chief in charge of handling matters relating to terrorism, he is Brenda 's main rival for the position of Chief of Police. Upon selection for the position, Delk offers Brenda Pope 's job as Assistant Chief of Operations, which she declines -- supporting Pope to fight to stay in the position. Delk 's unexpected death puts departmental changes on hold. Detective Ross ( Conan McCarty ) : A Robbery Homicide detective whose loyalties are with Commander Taylor. Family Willie Rae Johnson ( Frances Sternhagen ) : Brenda 's mother. Willie Rae was the buffer between Brenda and her father, and her enthusiasm for Brenda 's work at times embarrassed Brenda. Despite this, she and Brenda had a close, loving relationship. She dies near the end of Season 7. Clay Johnson ( Barry Corbin ) : Brenda 's father. Clay is often hurt by Brenda 's neglect of the family, but loves her unconditionally, as she does him. Charleen `` Charlie '' Johnson ( Sosie Ruth Bacon ) : Brenda 's problematic 16 - year - old niece, brought to LA by Willie Rae, who hopes Brenda and Fritz will help straighten her out. Claire Howard ( Amy Sedaris ) : Fritz ' colorful sister, and now Brenda 's sister - in - law. A self - described intuitionist, and an adherent to a number of alternative practices, she `` assisted '' the MCD with one of their cases. Los Angeles County Coroner 's office Dr. Crippen ( James L. Avery ) : The original medical examiner who Brenda and her team most commonly dealt with ( seasons 1 to early 3 ). He was initially annoyed by Brenda 's attitude, much like the rest of the police department. He sustains a serious foot injury and is replaced by Dr. Morales. Dr. Fernando Morales ( Jonathan Del Arco ) : A Deputy Medical Examiner for the Los Angeles County Coroner 's Office, who took over ( season 3 ) following Dr. Crippen 's injury. Though sarcastic and rude in demeanor, with an occasionally morbid sense of humor, he is passionate about his work. Morales is openly gay, and at times will serve as a resource regarding the gay community. He occasionally jokingly flirts with Sergeant Gabriel. While Morales ' full name is not known during the Closer and the first three seasons of Major Crimes, it 's mentioned in Rusty Beck 's video blog where he is interviewed. In the Major Crimes episode Dead Drop, Morales ' father visits from Uruguay and its revealed that Morales is from a family of police officers, is the only one to take a different path and has lied about his role in the investigations for years to make his father proud. Privately, Morales ' father confides that he knows the truth and is proud of his son regardless. Terrence Hynes ( Robert Clendenin ) : A socially inept LA County Coroner 's Forensics Support Technician with an odd sense of humor. Hynes is responsible for preparing a body to be brought to the Coroner 's office for autopsy, and for assisting the Medical Examiner. He is pursuing medical studies during early seasons, and last appears as Dr. Hynes, a medical examiner for the Los Angeles County Coroner 's Office, in season 5. Coroner 's Investigator Kendall ( Ransford Doherty ) : A field operative who is charged with examining the body at the crime scene, and transporting it to the LA County Coroner 's office. In the Major Crimes episode Intersection, Kendall is personally affected by a car - on - bicycle homicide because he recently lost a cousin in the same manner. Los Angeles County District Attorney 's office Deputy DA Martin Garnett ( James Patrick Stuart ) : A Deputy District Attorney for Los Angeles County, charged with making decisions about whether Brenda 's cases will go to court. He and Brenda have an often - difficult working relationship. Deputy DA Andrea Hobbs ( Kathe Mazur ) A Deputy District Attorney for Los Angeles County, charged with making decisions about whether Brenda 's cases will go to court. Like Garnett, she can bump heads with Brenda at times, but tends to have a better working relationship with her. Others Tom Blanchard ( Ray Wise ) : Brenda and Pope 's lawyer on separate occasions. He is an adept, high - profile lawyer, aware of his own power and willing to use it. He is the keeper of a gift Will once gave to Brenda, although he has not revealed the exact nature of this gift. Gavin Q. Baker ( Mark Pellegrino ) Brenda 's flamboyant attorney in the Turrell Baylor lawsuit. A former City Attorney for Los Angeles, Gavin is astute, clever and brutally honest. Peter Goldman ( Curtis Armstrong ) : Lawyer representing the Turrell Baylor family, who subsequently is on a mission to destroy Brenda 's reputation. Subsequently appears in the five part episode Hindsight of the spinoff series Major Crimes. Ricardo Ramos ( Stephen Martines ) : Reporter from the Los Angeles Times, who occasionally observes or assists with LAPD cases. There is some tension between the MCD and Ramos following his articles suggesting preference for wealthy white victims in the choice of cases. Bill Croelick ( Jason O'Mara ) : A sociopathic murder suspect with an obsession with fire, who first appears in season 1 when he is exonerated for murder. Prior to that, he had been on trial for a similar murder, but was found not guilty. He reappears in season 4 and assists Brenda with a case, after which he promises to leave her jurisdiction and never return. Phillip Stroh ( Billy Burke ) : A criminal defense lawyer who specializes in defending accused sex offenders, he first appears as the attorney for a suspected rapist, and demands access to all of the LAPD 's evidence against his client in exchange for the name of the man 's partner. As it turns out, Stroh himself was the partner, and used this tactic to ascertain that there was no evidence connecting him to the crime. Brenda becomes obsessed with proving Stroh 's guilt, and he is finally arrested in the series finale after he breaks into her home and attempts to murder her and a witness to one of his crimes, Rusty Beck ( Graham Patrick Martin ). Reappears in the spinoff Major Crimes, primarily in the show 's final episodes By Any Means parts one through four where the Major Crimes detectives work to take Stroh down once and for all. At the end of Major Crimes, Stroh is shot dead by Rusty Beck though Lieutenant Provenza takes credit to protect Rusty. References Jump up ^ `` The Closer 's Coroner Comes Out ''. ET Online. June 29, 2009. Archived from the original on July 15, 2010. The Closer Characters Brenda Leigh Johnson Will Pope David Gabriel Andy Flynn Louie Provenza Michael Tao Russell Taylor Julio Sanchez Fritz Howard Irene Daniels Sharon Raydor Related topics Episodes Major Crimes Episodes Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_The_Closer_characters&oldid=863227434 '' Categories : The Closer characters Lists of American crime television series characters Lists of American drama television series characters Talk Contents About Wikipedia Español Edit links This page was last edited on 9 October 2018, at 13 : 57 ( UTC ). About Wikipedia

Question: who played brenda's mom on the closer
Answer: Frances Sternhagen