page_title: Eunice Harper Higgins
section_title: Family/Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Eunice Harper Higgins / Family/Early life
caption_attribution_description: Photo of Carol Burnett as Eunice Higgins, Madeline Kahn as a drama teacher and Harvey Korman as Eunice's husband, Ed Higgins. Eunice has hired a faded actress (Kahn) to coach he for her role in a local Little Theater production. These skits from The Carol Burnett Show evolved into a comedy television series called Mama's Family, with Burnett show regular Vicki Lawrence in the starring role as "Mama". Carol Burnett made periodic appearances on the show as her character, Eunice.
context_page_description: Eunice Higgins is the main character in "The Family" comedy sketches played by Carol Burnett and featured on The Carol Burnett Show and Carol Burnett & Company. Eunice was also featured in her eponymous CBS made-for-TV movie, which aired in 1982. The film starred Carol Burnett as Eunice; Ken Berry as Eunice's well-to-do brother, Philip; Harvey Korman as Eunice's husband, Ed Higgins; Betty White as Eunice's sister, Ellen Harper-Jackson; Vicki Lawrence as Eunice's "Mama", Thelma Harper; and Dick Clair as the voice of Eunice's father, Carl Harper. The film takes the Harper family on a 23-year journey.
  Eunice appeared occasionally on "The Family" skit's spin-off sitcom Mama's Family. As portrayed by Carol Burnett, Eunice was in five episodes of Mama's Family, all of which were in the first life of Mama's Family on NBC. Four of Burnett's five appearances were in season 1. The fifth episode of season 2, which aired on November 3, 1983, was Burnett's final portrayal of Eunice. The character made two subsequent appearances in flashback episodes. Tanya Fenmore played Eunice as a child in the nineteenth episode of season 2.
context_section_description: Eunice and her family are from Raytown, Missouri. Eunice's birthday is December 19 which makes her a Sagittarius. Her mother is Thelma Harper, whom she sometimes refers to as "Old Lady." Eunice eloped with a hardware store owner named Ed Higgins after he impregnated her. Eunice and Ed had two sons, Bubba (who later moved in with Thelma during the run of Mama's Family) and Billy Joe. Her older sister is Ellen Harper and she has at least one brother, depending on the installment (Vinton Harper in Mama's Family; Larry, Phillip, and Jack in the original sketches.)
  Eunice had a strained relationship with her parents growing up, as they blatantly favored her sister Ellen. She was bitter towards her father, who called her his "Prune Tart", while calling Ellen "Apple Dumpling".
caption: Eunice, her husband Ed (Harvey Korman), and an acting teacher (Madeline Kahn)
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