The Schlafly Family in Mrs. America. Beware of spoilers.
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Adults
Fred Schlafly
Fred Schlafly
Played By: John Slattery
Phyllis's husband, a Right Wing activist and lawyer who now specializes in Estate Law who desires for her to stay home as a housewife and bristles about her ambitions.
- Deadpan Snarker: As played by Roger Sterling himself, Fred specializes in this when talking about his family, even in proud tones. One moment is when a newspaper story on his political beliefs and career labels him as "Phyllis Schlafly's husband", which his son Bruce snarks about.Bruce: How does it feel to be Phyllis Schlafly's lawyer husband?Fred: Keep studying and you can be Phyllis Schlafly's lawyer son.
- Domestic Abuse: Downplayed, he and Phyllis are shown to have a marriage of the mind and to love each other, but he doesn't shy away from putting Phyllis down for her ambitions and capabilities, and in one scene even coerces her into having sex despite her protest.
- Historical Beauty Update: Even with the prosthetics and makeup, John Slattery looks more dashing than the real man did
. - Kick The Son Of A Bitch: He tries to tell the Reagan campaign that he and Phyllis won't be participating in the campaign, and then Phyllis (his "submissive" wife) contradicts him in front of them and joins the campaign thus humiliating him.
- Open-Minded Parent: Ironically he is quite understanding when his eldest daughter decides to change her name from Phyllis Jr. to Liza, in order to fit in with her more progressive peers at Princeton.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: To Eleanor; he is boastful, crude, demeaning, and isn't above behaving cruelly to his loved ones.
- Stay in the Kitchen: He tells Phyllis that he doesn't want her to campaign again (accusing her of breaking up the family if she moves to D.C.), proudly holds sexist views (that he doesn't soften for his wife or sister), forces Phyllis in bed, belittles Phyllis for her ambitions and pursuit of knowledge, it gets so bad that his mother-in-law has to tell him her daughter is destined for bigger things.
Eleanor Schlafly
Eleanor Schlafly
Played By: Jeanne Tripplehorn
Phyllis's sister-in-law and Fred's younger sister who has been involved in a letter-writing campaign against Hair and runs her own Bible Study group at the family church. She also operates as the Schlafly childrens' caretaker and feels insecure about still being single.
- '50s Hair: Has her hair done in the sculpted waves of the decade.
- All of the Other Reindeer: She is very influential in conservative circles but even her "millions of friends" in her circle view her as an anomaly for being an Old Maid.Eleanor: You should see the way they steer their daughters away from me when I'm nearby. It's like they're going to catch it.
- Butt-Monkey: To her sister-in-law and brother, to Fred she is an old spinster who wouldn't be desirable to his colleagues and while Phyllis comforts her and tries to show her appreciation, Phyllis often snubs her when she claims in public she single-handedly raised her children and makes disparaging remarks about feminists being frustrated old maids, things that Eleanor has done and is insecure about.
- Cool Aunt: She is a very loving aunt to her nieces and nephews, even being considered a maternal figure by her nieces and she understands their concerns (Anne's fear of swimming and Liza changing her name from Phyllis Jr.).
- Dude Where Is My Respect: She is the butt of some slights from Phyllis and Fred, to the point where she said she is a "nobody" in the finale.
- Moral Guardian: She is a Cool Aunt but she campaigned against Hair and is very right wing to the point of being unsympathetic to the concerns of Civil Rights activists.
- Old Maid: It's a point of distress for her and makes her feel disrespected in her socially conservative family and friend circle.
- Parental Substitute: As Phyllis is a working woman and Fred refuses to commit to traditionally feminine duties with children and the household, Eleanor has nurtured and raised her six nieces and nephews (while Leonia and Willie take care of the domestic tasks).
- Politically Incorrect Hero: She is a right-wing, religious conservative woman who is against the Civil Rights Movement and is a general Moral Guardian who is against the ERA; she is also a genuinely kind and loving aunt who inspires audience sympathy due to the unfair treatment she receives.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: To Fred; unlike her brother Eleanor is kind, helpful to Phyllis, nurturing, humble, and quiet.
- Team Mom: Serves as this to the whole Schlafly family, nurturing her many nieces and nephews and even looking after their needs more so than their actual parents.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: At the end of Reagan, it is implied she dates a Silver Fox who saw her first and in Real Life, she actually outlives Phyllis by a couple of years.
Dadie Stewart
Dadie Stewart
Played By: Marcia Bennett
Phyllis's mother, a woman who has worked and sacrificed for her childrens' education and supports Phyllis in her role as a member of the Religious Right.
- '60s Hair: She maintains the helmet styles of the previous decade.
- Extreme Doormat: She is a very passive woman, who is afraid to even tell her hairdresser that she dislikes the new hairstyle she was given, and her family was dominated by her late (and not very money savvy) husband despite her contribution to the household budget.
- Mama Bear: It was said that when her husband couldn't support the family, she worked two jobs (one as a school librarian) because her much older husband refused to take government assistance and to make sure her daughters received a good Catholic education.
Children
John Schlafly
John Schlafly
Played By: Ben Rosenfield
Phyllis's oldest son, a young closeted gay man who lives with his parents and watches his younger siblings.
- '70s Hair: He wears his hair in a tightly curled short cut.
- Armoured Closet Gay: In Real Life he is both ultra-conservative like his mother and gay, outed in 1992.
- Cool Big Bro: He keeps a close eye and has close relationship with his younger siblings, especially the much younger Anne.
- Gay Conservative: In Real Life he is as right-wing as his parents were, the series depicts how he struggles with being in the closet with only his homophobic mother in the know.
- Incompatible Orientation: He has held feelings for Tommy but unfortunately Tommy is straight.
- Mama's Boy: He is very close and devoted to his mother and they enjoy playing show tunes and classical pieces on the piano.
- Unlucky Childhood Friend: To Tommy Macray, due to Incompatible Orientation and Tommy's marriage to a girl named Helen.
Liza Schlafly
Liza Schlafly
Played By: Olivia Scriven
Phyllis's former namesake (she was born Phyllis Jr.) and eldest daughter who is slightly less conservative than her mother.
- '70s Hair: As a young adult, she wears her hair long and wavy with face framing wings.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: As annoyed as she is with her mother, she shows distress and concern when Phyllis gets a pie in the face.
- Fox News Liberal: In Real Life she is a right-wing Republican, but also a working mother and wife. In this series she shows a slightly more open mind than her mother does, listens to early punk rock, and is displeased to see her mother hawk her new book at a Republican Woman's luncheon.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: To her sister Anne, she is more outspoken and willing to defy Phyllis.
Anne Schlafly
Anne Schlafly
Played By: Gracen Daly (age 7-10), Julia Lalonde (teenage)
Phyllis's youngest child who is more timid compared to her siblings and parents.
- '70s Hair: As a child she wears her hair long; as a young adult she wears her hair in a simple pageboy that frames her face.
- Children Are Innocent: Early in the series, she is a quiet young girl with normal childhood fears (like Aquaphobia), which make her mother forcing her to dive into the pool all the more shocking.
- Like Father, Unlike Son: She is very quiet, passive, sweet, and submissive...unlike her dominant and authoritative mother.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: To her sister Liza, she is more quiet and less defiant of her mother.
Andrew, Bruce, and Roger Schlafly
Andrew, Bruce, and Roger Schlafly
Played By:
Phyllis's three sons who are less in focus than their older brother and sisters.
