Christina Pickles

Christina Pickles Headshot

Actress

Birth Date: February 17, 1935

Age: 89 years old

Birth Place: Yorkshire, England, UK

This classically-trained blonde actress became a recognizable primetime face and earned four Emmy nominations as breast cancer survivor Nurse Helen Rosenthal on "St. Elsewhere" (NBC, 1983-88), Christina Pickles found a new venue in the 1990s in the recurring role of Judy Geller, the mother of Monica (Courteney Cox) and Ross (David Schwimmer) on the hit NBC sitcom "Friends."

Born and raised in Yorkshire, England, Pickles reportedly was accepted at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at age 15. After stage appearances in London and the USA, she settled in NYC and soon found work in daytime television, appearing on the soap operas, "The Guiding Light" (CBS) in 1970-71 and as the Countess de Poulignac on "Another World" (NBC) for two years (1977-79).

In 1979, Pickles migrated to Southern California, where she almost immediately found work in the stage productions of "Cloud Nine" and "Darlinghissima" and as a guest performer on such series as "Lou Grant" and "The White Shadow." She was still a relatively little known performer when she landed her breakthrough role of Nurse Rosenthal. Once an established player, Pickles went on to appear in other small screen projects including the CBS miniseries "James Michener's Space" (1985), the syndicated TV-movie "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" (1984), and as a Jewish woman terrorized in "The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro" (NBC, 1989).

She was particularly effective as the long-suffering wife of a Midwestern businessman caught up in the decadence of Tinseltown in the 1988 "Golden Land" installment of PBS' "Tales From the Hollywood Hills." In 1989, Pickles displayed her comedic flair as the disapproving sister-in-law on the short-lived CBS sitcom "The People Next Door" and later as the potential mother-in-law to Booger in "Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love" (Fox, 1994). In addition, she has lent her distinctive talents as narrator of the 1989 TBS documentary "Abortion: For Survival" and host of the special "Abortion: Denied" (TBS, 1990).

While Pickles' big screen appearances has been sporadic, she has often shone. The actress debuted opposite Jonathan Frid as a married couple caught up in a series of games that turn deadly in Oliver Stone's directorial debut, "Seizure" (1974). She camped it up as an evil sorceress in "Masters of the Universe" (1987), but lent a patrician air to her brief role as the estranged wife of Anthony Hopkins in "Legends of the Fall" (1994).

After making a relative brief appearance in Allison Anders' "Grace of My Heart," she played Leonardo DiCaprio's mother, Mrs. Montague, in Baz Luhrmann's modern-day spin on "William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'" (both 1996). Pickles rounded out that year with a small but telling portrayal as the clueless mother of an AIDS-stricken man in "No Easy Way." Pickles went on to co-star with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore in the comedy "The Wedding Singer" (1998).

Credits

Dark Shadows and Beyond: The Jonathan Frid Story

Self
Show
2021

Unhealthy Comedian

Self
Movie
2021

9JKLStream

Guest Star
Lenore Stevenson
Series
2017
19%

Great NewsStream

Guest Star
Series
2017
84%

DoubtStream

Guest Star
Gail Meyers
Series
2017
55%

RushStream

Guest Star
Series
2014
39%

Growing Up Fisher

Guest Star
Show
2014

Live at the Foxes Den

Actor
Mrs. Ducksworth
Movie
2013

Animal PracticeStream

Guest Star
Series
2012
17%

Atlas Shrugged: Part 1Stream

Actor
Mother Rearden
Movie
2011
12%

Flower Girl

Actor
Evangeline Walker
Movie
2009

Immigrants

Voice
Movie
2008

The Family Holiday

Actor
Mrs. Pendergast
Movie
2007

How I Met Your MotherStream

Guest Star
Rita
Series
2005
84%

Dragnet

Guest Star
Show
2003

George of the Jungle 2

Actor
Beatrice Stanhope
Movie
2003

Sol Goode

Actor
Sol's Mom
Movie
2001

Angels Don't Sleep Here

Actor
Movie
2000

Get Real

Actor
Elizabeth Parker
Series
1999
67%

Family GuyStream

Guest Voice
Left Eyeball
Series
1999

Valerie Flake

Actor
Meg Darnell
Movie
1999

The Wild ThornberrysStream

Guest Voice
Series
1998

The Wedding SingerStream

Actor
Angie Sullivan
Movie
1998
72%

Murder She Purred: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery

Actor
Mim Sanburne
Movie
1998

Monday After the Miracle

Actor
Kate Keller
Movie
1998

Weapons of Mass Distraction

Actor
Mrs. Frieda Messinger
Movie
1997

The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island

Voice
Elsie
Movie
1997

Pie Pequeño en Busca del Valle Encantado V

Voice
Movie
1997

The PretenderStream

Guest Star
Series
1996

Le Monde merveilleux de Disney

Actor
Show
1996

The Living Edens

Narrator
Show
1996

No Es Fácil

Actor
Mrs. Livingston
Movie
1996

Romeo + JulietStream

Actor
Caroline Montague
Movie
1996
73%

No Easy Way

Actor
Mrs. Livingston
Movie
1996

JAGStream

Guest Star
Series
1995

FriendsStream

Actor
Judy Geller
Series
1994
78%

FriendsStream

Guest Star
Judy Geller
Series
1994
78%

Touched by an AngelStream

Guest Star
Series
1994

Party of FiveStream

Guest Star
Series
1994

Legends of the FallStream

Actor
Isabel Ludlow
Movie
1994
57%

Corazón al Desnudo

Actor
Movie
1992

Nightmare in the Daylight

Actor
Sarah Jenner
Movie
1992

Matlock: The Picture

Actor
Diana Huntington
Movie
1992

Verónica Clare: Mentes Mortales

Actor
Movie
1992

Veronica Clare: Corazón al Desnudo

Actor
Movie
1992

Verónica Clare: Asuntos Peligrosos

Actor
Movie
1992

The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro

Actor
Charlotte
Movie
1989

Masters of the UniverseStream

Actor
Sorceress of Castle Grayskull
Movie
1987
22%

MatlockStream

Guest Star
Series
1986

Murder, She WroteStream

Guest Star
Susan McGregor
Series
1984

Who's the Boss?Stream

Guest Star
Series
1984

St. ElsewhereStream

Actor
Nurse Helen Rosenthal
Series
1982

Family TiesStream

Guest Star
Series
1982

The White Shadow

Guest Star
Series
1978

Seizure

Actor
Nicole Blackstone
Movie
1974

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny CarsonStream

Guest
Talk
1962

Vanity Fair

Actor
Lady Jane
Show
1961

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