Holland Taylor

Holland Taylor (b. 1943) is a character actress known for her imperious roles (often patrician mothers or authority figures). She played Ursula's mother Beatrice Stanhope in the Creature Shop-effects film George of the Jungle.

Taylor was a regular on the Tom Hanks sitcom Bosom Buddies as underhanded boss Ruth, establishing her type, and later played mother Evelyn Harper on Two and a Half Men. She won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress on The Practice as Judge Roberta Kittelson (which she reprised on Ally McBeal). Taylor played the dean in the final episodes of Saved by the Bell: The New Close, in addition to main roles on short-lived series including Harry (opposite Alan Arkin) and Norman Lear's The Powers That Be and guest parts on Perfect Strangers, The Love Boat, ER, and The Orville.

Films include The Truman Show (as Truman's TV mother), Legally Blonde (Reese Witherspoon's law school professor), the second and third Spy Kids movies (Grandma), Alice, and Baby Mama (Tina Fey's mother). On stage, she wrote and starred in the one-woman play Ann as Texas Governor Ann Richards.