Betty Draper

Betty Draper Francis
Mad Men
Portrayed by	January Jones
First appearance	Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (1.01)
Created by	Matthew Weiner
Profile
Aliases	"Betty" (nick-name) "Betts" (nick-name) "Birdy" (nick-name) Elizabeth Hofstadt (maiden name) Elizabeth Draper (first married name) Elizabeth Francis (second married name)
Occupation	Housewife
Relationships Parents Gene Hofstadt (father; deceased) Ruth Hofstadt (mother; deceased) Gloria Hofstadt (step-mother) Sibling(s) William Hofstadt (brother) Spouse(s) Don Draper (ex-husband) Henry Francis (husband) Children Sally Draper (daughter with Don Draper) Robert Draper (son with Don Draper) Eugene Draper (son with Don Draper) Eleanor Francis (step-daughter from Henry Francis) Other relatives Judy Hofstadt (sister-in-law)

Elizabeth "Betty" Francis (née Hofstadt, formerly Draper) is a fictional character on AMC's television series Mad Men, portrayed by January Jones. The character's appearance is often compared to Grace Kelly.

Blonde and beautiful but emotionally immature, Betty Draper is introduced as the housewife of lead character Don Draper, a philandering advertising executive secretly living under a false identity. Subplots in the first three seasons of Mad Men involve Betty's struggles with unhappiness, parenting their children, and her husband's infidelity. In the third season, Betty falls in love with Henry Francis, an older man who works for the governor of New York. After discovering that Don lied to her about his identity and past, Betty divorces him and marries Henry. In the fourth season, Betty Francis is a less central character, but continues to conflict with Don, now over their children and house.

Casting and character development

The character of Betty Draper was not originally part of the pilot episode. The script established that lead character Don Draper was married, but only by a mention in dialogue, and there was no intention to show his home life. January Jones was instead initially considered, along with Elisabeth Moss, for the ambitious workplace character Peggy Olson; Moss was ultimately cast as Peggy. Show creator Matthew Weiner then wrote two scenes featuring Betty Draper, and Jones successfully auditioned for the part two days later. Although there was no full script or any plots written for Betty Draper at the time, Jones was promised by Weiner that the character would be developed.

Weiner has attributed Mad Men's visual style to the influence of film director Alfred Hitchcock, who featured a signature "icy blonde" female character in many of his films.

Fictional character biography

Backstory

Betty was born Elizabeth Hofstadt in 1932. According to her son's birth certificate, she was born in Cape May, presumably the same location as her Father's summer home. She grew up in Lower Merion township, a suburb of Philadelphia located in the "Main Line." She has mentioned having a German grandmother. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College with an anthropology degree, and briefly modeled in Italy before moving to Manhattan. It was during this time that she met Don Draper – he was writing ad copy for a fur company, and she was one of their models. He began courting her by buying her the fur coat she wore at a shoot. Betty and Don were married in May 1953. Betty's mother died early in 1960, three months before the events of the episode "Ladies Room." Her father, Gene (Ryan Cutrona), had a girlfriend named Gloria, whom Betty doesn't like and whom her father married sometime in the 18 months between seasons 1 and 2; Gloria left Gene when he began showing signs of mental deterioration in Season 3.

Her father lived in a Philadelphia suburb (Bryn Mawr) and had a summer home in Cape May, New Jersey. He moved in with the Drapers during season 3, and later died in that season, set in 1963. She has a brother, William, who is married and whose daughters Don and Betty consider to be "rowdy." Her confidantes have included her neighbor Francine Hanson and Glen Bishop, the young son of divorcee Helen Bishop. Betty has a strained relationship with her children, particularly with her daughter.

Season one

As the series begins, Betty and Don live in a large house in suburban Ossining, New York, with their children Sally (played by Kiernan Shipka) and Bobby. In the second episode, set in the spring of 1960, Betty starts to see a psychiatrist because of repeated spells of numbness in her hands. It was during these meetings that, after having discovered that the psychiatrist was giving reports of her sessions to Don, she either admitted, or to "test the waters," threw out the suspicion that she knew of her husband's infidelities. By the start of the second season, set in February 1962, the consultations are discontinued.

Season two

During the second season episode "A Night to Remember", Betty and Don seem to have reached an agreement, but after a dinner party where Betty is embarrassed to be considered a 'demographic' by Don and his associates, she confronts her husband for the first time about his adultery, specifically with Bobbie Barrett. Don, however, denies having an affair. The next day, with a glass of wine in hand, Betty searches through Don's belongings for any proof of his indiscretions, but does not find it. Betty awakens Don - who is sleeping on the couch - that night and explains that she doesn't want things to "be like this." He repeats that he did not do anything and when she asks if he hates her, he insists that he loves her and doesn't want to "lose this". When preparing dinner the next day, an Utz commercial featuring Jimmy Barrett airs on the television. After seeing this, she calls Don at work and tells him she doesn't want him to come home.

Betty does turn to Don when she learns that her father Gene has suffered a stroke. She and Don leave the children with a neighbor and drive to visit her father; Betty is visibly impatient with both her father's wife Gloria and her brother William. She and Don are careful to present a united front. At the end of a stressful day, Betty makes Don sleep on the floor of the guestroom, but later joins him on the floor where they make love. The next morning, Betty's father mistakes Betty for her mother Ruth, suggesting that they "go upstairs." Betty is severely shocked and frightened, but tries to pretend that everything is all right. When she and Don return to New York, Betty asks Don to leave again.

In the Season 2 finale, Betty discovers she is pregnant. Although she brings up the subject of abortion with her doctor, and also has sex with a random man at a bar, at the end of the episode she asks Don to return home and tells him that she is pregnant.

Season three

Season 3 begins with Betty in her third trimester, seemingly reconciled with Don. In Episode 5, she gives birth to Eugene Scott Draper, whom she names after her recently deceased father. After giving birth, Betty comes to the quick realization that her dream of everything being perfect will never happen. During episode 302, Betty and Don attend a garden party hosted by Roger Sterling and his new wife, Jane Siegel Sterling, where she meets Henry Francis, who is later revealed to be an advisor to then-New York governor Nelson A. Rockefeller. He is infatuated with her, and though she seems reluctant to return his feelings at first, as the season progresses, their affair intensifies. Betty eventually ends it, feeling guilty.

In Episode 11, Don is cornered by Betty, who has managed to unearth evidence of Don's past life via pictures and documents from a locked drawer in his desk. He tells her about his life as Dick Whitman, how he came to exchange dog tags with Lieutenant Don Draper, and his half-brother Adam's suicide. While apparently somewhat sympathetic to his feelings of guilt about the latter, Betty is highly conflicted about the fact that Don has hidden this aspect of his life from her for the duration of their relationship and marriage.

After President Kennedy's death and Margaret Sterling's wedding, Betty meets with Henry Francis, who confesses to her that he wishes to eventually marry her. They passionately kiss, and after the encounter, Betty returns home to tell Don she no longer loves him, leaving him stunned. This culminates in her seeing a divorce lawyer in the season 3 finale. During the same episode, Roger, whose daughter is friends with Francis' daughter, unintentionally reveals to him that Betty and Francis are involved. An incensed Don confronts Betty. After calling her a whore, he assures her that she "won't get a nickel" in the ensuing divorce and that he intends to seek sole custody of the children.

The next morning, Don and Betty inform the children of the this arrangement and both children react badly. After moving into Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Pryce's new office, Don calls Betty and tells her that he will not fight her, and wishes her the best. The season ends with Betty taking a plane to Reno with Gene and Henry.

Season four

Season 4 opens with Betty still living in the former Draper residence following her marriage to Henry Francis. The residence serves a point of bitter contention for Don and Betty, as he is still paying for the mortgage, although Betty is required to move out and has not. Throughout Season 4, Betty finds her marriage to Francis strained by lingering hatred of Don and by deteriorating relations with Sally. In the season finale, "Tomorrowland", Betty and Francis finally move out of the Ossining house. Despite her dislike of Don, the two share a moment together in the kitchen of their former home before leaving - each from a different door.

External links

• AMC Character Page
• Guardian.co.uk Profile