Ida Morgenstern

Ida Morgenstern (née Nessel) was a fictional character on the seventies sitcom "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and its subsequent spinoff show, "Rhoda". In both, she was played by veteran actress, Nancy Walker.

Overbearing Mother

Ida was the often overbearing mother of Rhoda Morgenstern, of Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was married to Martin Morgenstern, for many years. She was a famous example of the Jewish mother stereotype. Her main weapon was usually guilt.

While Rhoda was living in Minneapolis, Ida occasionally visited her. She met Mary Richards during this time, and liked her. Even though Rhoda herself thought that her mother was a pain, and her guilt often drove her crazy, she still loved her.

When Rhoda moved back to New York, she was still laying on the guilt. Rhoda first stayed with her mother in the Bronx, but once she moved into her apartment with her husband, Joe Gerard, she felt free, but Ida still came around a lot of the time.

After several years, Martin and Ida separated while Martin went off to find himself and pursue a long-shelved dream of becoming a lounge singer. Ida did her best to cope with Martin's departure. Toward the end of "Rhoda"'s run, Martin had returned and was attempting to win Ida back, though this remained unresolved when the series left the air.

When Mary Richards and Rhoda reunited on the 2000 "Mary and Rhoda" movie, no mention was made of Ida (Mary was trying to track down her longtime friend, whom she hadn't seen in a few years, yet no one suggested she check with Rhoda's mother, despite the fact that she was in New York), leading one to speculate that Ida might, by that time, be deceased. (Her portrayer, Nancy Walker, had, in fact, passed away a few years prior.)