Maw Maw

Maw Maw
Raising Hope character
Cloris Leachman as Maw Maw
First appearance	"Pilot"
Portrayed by	Cloris Leachman
Information
Family	Virginia Chance (granddaughter) Delilah (granddaughter) Burt Chance (grandson-in-law) Jimmy Chance (great-grandson) Hope Chance (great-great-granddaughter)
Spouse(s)	Wilfred Thompson (husband, deceased)
Children	Louise Thompson

Barbara June Thompson, always referred to by her family as "Maw Maw," is a fictional character in the television comedy Raising Hope. The character is played by Cloris Leachman.

Maw Maw, Virginia's grandmother, shows signs of Alzheimer's Disease. She has short-lived moments of lucidity during which she can be very helpful. She is a master of the game Jenga, but only when the song "Istanbul (Not Constantinople),"^[1] is playing.

Background

Maw Maw was born sometime around the 1919-1930 period, as she was in her twenties in 1949. In "A Germ of a Story," which aired in February, 2011, it is mentioned that she is 84, meaning she was likely born in 1926-27.

She married Wilfred Thompson and must have had Virginia's mother, Louise, very young. Virginia was her granddaughter and Maw Maw promised to 'stick around' to see what she turned into.

When her granddaughter Virginia was fifteen she was impregnated, therfore making Jimmy her great-grandson. In a flashback in "Say Cheese," she tells a young Jimmy to kill her if she ever gets as crazy as Burt and Virginia, suggesting she may have been lucid when Jimmy was a child. When Jimmy was 23, he impregnated his serial-killer one-night-stand, Lucy, therefore making Hope Maw Maw's first great-great granddaughter. It is expected that Maw Maw will live well into her great-great granddaughter's life, since in "A Germ of a Story," it was implied that poor hygeine has made Jimmy's family live long lives.

Relatives

• Jimmy Chance: Maw Maw's great-grandson.
• Burt Chance: Maw Maw's grandson-in-law.
• Virginia Chance: Maw Maw's granddaughter.
• Delilah: Maw Maw's granddaughter.
• Hope Chance: Maw Maw's great-great-granddaughter.
• Louise Thompson: Maw Maw's daughter.
• Wilfred Thompson: Maw Maw's deceased husband.

Critical reception

Many critics call her the show's breakout character, and she has been credited for much of the show's success. In 2011, Leachman was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, an award which she has won three times in the past.

See also

• List of repeated names

Reference List

1. ^ Episode "Dream Hoarders"