Characters appearing in the 2022 HBO series, The Gilded Age
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Brook/van Rhijn family
The Brooks are an old family from Doylestown, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (which today is an outer suburb of Philadelphia but in the 1880s was firmly in the countryside). They are related to old New York aristocracy through the (historical) Livingston family. Marian Brook
Miss Marian Brook
- Played by: Louisa Jacobson
- Impoverished Patrician: Marian comes from old money stock but is only left $30 by her father. She moves to New York to live with his estranged sisters. Marian would like to work to help herself out but is forbidden to by Aunt Agnes due to it being deemed below her station.
- Innocently Insensitive: Makes several assumptions about Peggy Scott and her family. She tries to do her a good turn during a tense reunion with her parents by taking a gift of used shoes— when the Scotts are actually well off, owning a pharmacy and a brownstone in Brooklyn, and Peggy herself loaned money to Marian in the pilot episode after she was robbed.
- Nice Girl: Marian is usually kind, friendly, and generically likeable.
- Spoiled Sweet: She came from Old Money, and was returned to it by her aunts. She is very kind and sweet, and a good friend to Peggy, but is also shown to be somewhat naive about the ways of society (such as the racism Peggy faces).
- Spirited Young Lady: Marian questions Aunt Agnes's more conservative values and old-money sensibilities and, in the second season, takes a job as a teacher despite her disapproval.
- Widow's Weeds: When she first arrives in New York, Marian is still in mourning for her father Henry, but at Agnes's insistence is brought out of black considerably early so that she can make connections in New York right away (mourning for a parent usually lasted a whole year, when only a few weeks could have gone by at most).
Agnes van Rhijn
Mrs. Arnold van Rhijn (née Brook)
- Played by: Christine Baranski
- Big Sister Bully: Holds having to marry a husband who's implied to have been odious and abusive over Ada's head and dismisses Ada's feelings when she deems them unsuitable.
- Big Sister Instinct: Although she's often cruel to Ada, she's also very protective of her and drove off a man who was manipulating her for her money.
- Deadpan Snarker: Roughly every other word out of her mouth is a sarcastic jibe.
- Excellent Judge of Character: Agnes van Rhijn is no one's fool and can see straight through people. She warned Marian from the very start that Tom Raikes was a social "adventurer" who was more interested in joining high society than Marian. She was 100% right. Even when disapproving of Ada marrying Luke Forte, it's more out of the fear of losing her sister than it is having a grudge against Luke Forte's kind character.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Agnes tells Peggy in late season 1 that she had many miscarriages and Oscar is her only child that made it to adulthood.
- Pet the Dog:
- For all of her conservatism, she's not racist and makes sure that Peggy is treated fairly in her household. She also sympathizes with Peggy for having had (what Peggy believes was) a stillbirth and says that she herself lost several children. When finding out Peggy discovered that her child was alive but then tragically died under his adoptive parents, she assures Peggy that she will find the strength to move on from grief.
- She throws in some of her money to support a servant's clock-making, wanting to be supportive of an inventor.
- She may be annoying about Luke Forte and Ada's engagement and marriage, but she doesn't have anything against Forte. She sits at his bedside and they have a real heart-to-heart, and she mourns deeply for her brother-in-law.
- When Marian breaks up her engagement with Dashiell, she considers it a "strike" against Marian's prospects yet isn't too mad about it, understanding that Marian wasn't going to find love in the marriage
Ada Forte
Mrs. Luke Forte (née Brook)
- Played by: Cynthia Nixon
- Maiden Aunt: She's never married and takes a shine to Marian right away. She even calls Oscar and Marian the closest thing to children she'll ever have.
- December–December Romance: Ada ends her long spinsterhood in Season 2 when she falls in love and marries the new rector, Luke Forte, who like Ada has had a long bachelorhood since becoming a clergyman.
- Unexpected Inheritance: Amongst that many papers she has to go through following her husband's death, she discovers that his grandfather had a thriving textiles mill in Boston that he renounced profiting from when he joined the clergy, but retained enough of an interest in that Ada is able to use the money to save the house on East 61st Street.
- Widow's Weeds: After Luke's death, and in following social custom, Ada begins wearing black from head to toe.
Oscar van Rhijn
Mr. Oscar van Rhijn
- Played by: Blake Ritson
- The Beard: Oscar is what we would call gay today, but he plans to marry a woman, in part to keep up appearances.
- Butt-Monkey: He gets in trouble a few times in season 1, but several serious ones in seasons 2 that verge on Karmic Butt-Monkey. First, he goes to a bar and attempts to pick up another man, but is instead beaten up and robbed. He drags himself back to his mother's house and has to hide the fact from everyone but John Addams. Later, after being emotionally bruised by George Russel who rejected him on Glady's behalf, he starts romancing the heiress Maud Beaton as part of his schemes to get money and The Beard. When she asks for help with financial questions, he turns that situation to his advantage and invests the entire Van Rhijn estate, only to later discover it was a scam and she was the bait, and he has left his entire family penniless.
- Depraved Homosexual: Oscar is a manipulative and smarmy Gold Digger, though his urge to marry is necessitated by society.
- Gold Digger: Sets his sights on trying to marry his mother's neighbor Gladys Russell for her money, and when he is definitively turned down by George he is quick to move on to Maud Beaton, the rumored daughter of Jay Gould, when introduced by Aurora in Newport.
- Manchild: Oscar is an adult who still spends his time partying and refusing to grow up. Aurora is taken aback when he asks her for her help setting him up with someone so he can settle down.
- Straight Gay: By necessity to pass in New York high society, even being considered something of a gold-digging ladies-man.
Russell Family
A Nouveau Riche industrialist family originally from somewhere vague in the Midwest, now trying to insert themselves into New York Society. George Russell
Mr. George Russell
- Played by: Morgan Spector
- Happily Married: He is completely devoted to Bertha and moves mountains to get her what she wants. The only thing they slightly disagree on is Bertha being overprotective and smothering to Gladys.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: A late 19th-century robber baron who was also a devoted family man and fought to get his wife accepted by New York high society? That sounds like Jay Gould
. - Papa Wolf: He refuses to marry off Gladys to a man she doesn't love and gives Oscar a huge dressing down in the second episode of season 2 for trying to marry her for her money.
- Railroad Baron: How he made his fortune, and while at home he is usually a henpecked husband, at work he is perfectly willing to use his money and power to bully and coerce people into getting his (or Bertha's) way.
- Seduction-Proof Marriage: When he finds Turner waiting for him naked in his bed, he promptly kicks her out and says that he will never cheat on Bertha.
Bertha Russell
Mrs. George Russell
- Played by: Carrie Coon
- Happily Married: Her and George's marriage is rock solid. They don't even have their first on-screen fight until season 2 when she finds out Turner tried to seduce him. She's not upset because she thinks he'd cheat on her but rather that he lied by omission and allowed Turner to continue to wait on her. Gladys is noticeably shocked when she walks in on them arguing.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: She's a fictionalized version of Alva Vanderbilt who was married to a fabulously wealthy railroad tycoon and challenged the old money hold on polite society.
- Social Climber: Markedly so, but for good reason, she wants to ensure Gladys and Larry's futures. However she is quite ruthless in her efforts. Her lady's maid Ms. Turner notes that the old money of New York would see right through her as a Nouveau Riche social climber with no manners, and the plot of the first episode is essentially how her naive attempt to enter high society with a dinner at their mansion, with the draw being the pure curiosity to see the house, fails spectacularly and she goes from a mostly idealistic Social Climber into a snobbish and backstabbing one. Even before this, she pointedly doesn't want to socialize with her old friends, and wants "new friends" from the upper crust of New York society.
Larry Russell
Mr. Larry Russell
- Played by: Harry Richardson
- Likes Older Women: In season 2, he becomes romantically involved with a recently widowed woman (allegedly) twice his age, although she doesn't look nearly that much older than he is.
- Meet Cute: Teased as a potential suitor for Marian, they first meet when he saves her dog from being run over by a carriage.
- Nice Guy: Larry is usually kind, friendly, and generically likeable. He's also progressive enough to give Mrs. Roebling due credit for her work on the Brooklyn Bridge, and to be supportive of Marian's work even if it isn't entirely suitable.
Gladys Russell
Ms. Gladys Russell
- Played by: Taissa Farmiga
- Daddy's Girl: George adores her and her marriage prospects are the only thing he and Bertha are not 100% united on. He absolutely does not want her to marry someone she doesn't love.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: She's a stand in for Consuelo Vanderbilt, whose new money mother wanted her to marry someone of her choosing to get accepted in societynote . Conseulo became what's known as a Dollar Princess, a wealthy American woman who married a titled European man for status.
- Rebellious Princess: She is eager to escape from under her mother's thumb and her father offers her help should she need it in future.
Scott family
Members of Brooklyn's Black upper middle class. They face the strange dilemma of their class and time—materially comfortable, but constantly reminded of their second-class status as Black folk. Peggy Scott
Miss Peggy Scott
- Played by: Denée Benton
- Composite Character: Peggy is a combination of several real-life Black women from the second half of the 19th century including journalist Ida B. Wells, Julia C. Collins who is believed to be the first Black American woman to write a published novel, and Susan McKinney Steward who was the first Black woman physician in New York State.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Peggy is a Black woman whose political affiliation lies with Republicans. When the show is set, the GOP was about halfway through a half century's worth of dominance in American politics and Black people, especially in the Northern states where Black men could more easily vote, were by and large staunch Republicans. However, starting around the time of the Depression, they started shifting into being Democrats and have been so in huge numbers since the Civil Rights Legislation in the 1960s. Black women in particular are extremely loyal Democrats with the average presidential nominee getting somewhere in the ballpark of 95% of their vote.
- Foreshadowing: Marian is taken off guard and embarrasses herself when she finds out Peggy's family is well off but it had been subtly hinted at to the audience since the very beginning. Peggy has enough money on her to buy Marian's train ticket, her clothes are always well-made and fashionable, she is college-educated in a time when it was rare for anyone and even more rare for a woman, and her mother mentions once while they are having lunch that the restaurant they're eating at is below their standards.
- Intrepid Reporter: In season 2, when she visits opening of the school at Tuskegee to cover it, it is not without risk.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Peggy married a man her father didn't approve of and eventually gave birth to a son she believed was stillborn. However, her son lived but her father had her marriage annulled and her son adopted by a couple in Philadelphia. When she finds out the truth and tracks down her son, she finds out he'd recently died of scarlet fever.
- Secretly Wealthy: Peggy hides the fact that she comes from a wealthy family from those around her. Marian finds out when she comes by the Scotts' house to donate an old pair of shoes and to her surprise is greeted by the help.
Arthur Scott
Mr. Arthur Scott
- 'Played by: John Douglas Thompson
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Arthur is based on Phillip A. White who was a prominent pharmacy owner and education activist in Brooklyn's Black upper middle class (although he himself was only a quarter Black) in the 1880s.
- Parents as People: While lying to Peggy about her son dying and getting her marriage annulled behind her back was wrong, it came from a place of wanting to make sure his daughter that he worked his ass off for was comfortable in life. From his perspective, upper middle class and college-educated Peggy was marrying a barely literate stockboy with no prospects and risked putting herself and any future children back into the poverty he worked so hard to lift his family out of.
- Self-Made Man: And how. Passing comments in conversation suggest Arthur was born into slavery and worked his way to his success from there. It's even possible he obtained his freedom by escaping before the Civil War.
Dorothy Scott
Mrs. Arthur Scott
- Played by: Audra McDonald
- Parents as People: She is always playing peacemaker between her husband and daughter, even when it seems that she supports Arthur over Peggy at times. She is still outraged that Peggy's child was given up for adoption without her or Peggy being told the truth, and becomes even colder to Arthur when they discover her grandson has died of scarlet fever before they could reunite.
Extended Brook/van Rijhn family and friends
Aurora Fane
Mrs. Charles Fane
- Played by: Kelli O'Hara
- Defeat Means Friendship: With her husband Charles having been saved from financial ruin through George Russell's mercy after the aldermen tried to short George over the train station and paid the price, Aurora is enlisted to help launch Bertha into society and actually seems to hold no grudges against her and grows to be genuine friends with the Russells.
- The Matchmaker: She doesn't do it as an actual service, mind, but her social circle is such that she often introduces suitable members of society to each other, such as Oscar to Maud Beaton.
John Adams IV
Mr. John Adams
- Played by: Claybourne Elder
- Historical Character's Fictional Relative: He is said to be President John Quincy Adams's great-grandson but has no real-life counterpart.
- Incompatible Orientation: Agnes introduces him to Marian hoping they will hit it off and he will take her off of her hands but Marian is not his type, so to speak.
Dashiell Montgomery
Mr. Dashiell Montgomery
- Played by: David Furr
- The Mourning After: It's made clear that despite caring for Marian a great deal, he is still deeply grieving for his late wife, enough that Marian decides to break off their engagement rather than live under Harriet's shadow after Dashiell makes a Freudian slip and refers to her as "Harriet" at dinner.
