Kitty Forman
Encyclopedia
Katherine Anne "Kitty" Forman (née Sigurdson) is a fictional character
on the Fox Network's
That '70s Show
, portrayed by comic actress Debra Jo Rupp
. Kitty is a nurse but sometimes takes a break from her career to make peace in the family. She also has a very recognizable laugh (an accident on Debra Jo Rupp's part) and a fondness for square dancing. Kitty is in very many ways a typical 1970s wife and mother, putting her family first and always trying to smooth over the many conflicts within her household, although her efforts usually fail. She is a foster mother to the entire gang, and is a source of comfort and advice for them all.
(Kurtwood Smith
). She is mother to daughter Laurie
(portrayed first by Lisa Robin Kelly
and later by Christina Moore
), with whom she has a stressful relationship, and son Eric
(Topher Grace
), whom she has a habit of overprotecting, even to the point of saying that his girlfriend Donna Pinciotti
seduced the "poor boy" and tricked him into having sex with her. ("Did she trick you into it? We will move you away! We won't play her game!") Unlike Red, Kitty also seems to enjoy Eric's friends hanging around the house, sometimes smothering them. One of Kitty's favorite pastimes is being a mother — making sandwiches, baking cookies, making fun of male ice skaters while having tea with Fez, and looking after children. She does not want Eric to move out, fearing that if he does, she will have no one to take care of. She convinced Red that the family should take in Steven Hyde
(Danny Masterson
) when Hyde's mother abandoned the teenager.
Kitty puts on a facade of a vacuous, cheerful, doting mother, with a passion for Kahlúa
. Despite being a nurse and knowing the consequences of her actions, she is also a smoker
, and has tried to quit more than once, but to no avail (Kitty's cigarette smoking was slowly phased out after season three, due to Debra Jo Rupp's quitting in real life). She has mentioned that she sometimes laughs when uncomfortable. Her mood swings are usually attributed to her menopause
storyline. As Red puts down Eric and favors Laurie, Kitty puts down Laurie and favors Eric, mainly because Laurie is known to be loose and cares little, if at all, about school. In one episode, she flat out tells Laurie how ashamed she is of her. In clichéd fashion, she and her late mother-in-law, Bernice Forman, have a rocky relationship, throwing insults at each other in the guise of friendly, formal conversation, a "tradition" Kitty almost passed down to her would-be daughter-in-law, Donna. Though they mutually hate each other, Kitty does feel guilty about antagonizing her mother-in-law after she dies.
Kitty's parents are Bea and Burt Sigurdson (played by Betty White
and Tom Poston
). They live in Arizona but have appeared in a few episodes of the series that takes place in fictional Point Place, Wisconsin. Burt is a kind, laid back man who frequently tries to avoid his wife Bea, an aggressive, loud nightmare (usually by indulging in alcohol). Eric sums up their relationship as "Grandma yells, Grandpa drinks". To get away from Bea, Burt will occasionally step outside to have a cigarette, though he doesn't smoke. Whenever Bea is looking for Burt or trying to get his attention she will call his name soft and sweetly twice, to which Burt will ignore as if he hasn't heard her, Bea will then scream his name in a shrill blast of fury. She teaches this method to her grandson's girlfriend Donna but admonishes her for using it later saying "Donna, you catch more flies with sugar". Laurie proves to have inherited her grandmother's talent for shrill yelling. Eric confirms this by stating that "evil skips a generation." And Kitty believes that Laurie got her ways, not from her "but from my evil mother!"
In the episode "Your Time Is Gonna Come (a.k.a. Get Off My Boyfriend)" (which premiered on January 29, 2003), Burt and Bea arrive at the Forman's doorstep flat broke after Burt makes a financial blunder buying an ostrich farm next door to a coyote farm. At the end of the episode Burt is found by Eric unconscious on the driveway (having suffered a coronary after accidentally seeing Donna, Jackie in pajamas and Kelso's then girlfriend Annette in her underwear through Donna's bedroom window) and later dies in the hospital.
In season five, Kitty told Red that she was pregnant, only to go to the doctor who told her the reason why her periods had stopped was because she was beginning menopause
. To help his wife through menopausal mood swings, Red got Kitty a Dachshund
dog she named Schatzi (German for Little Treasure), who was phased out very early on only to be revealed to have been "under the porch" for months. A notable consequence of her menopause is that she drinks considerably more than she used to.
In the episode, "Kitty's Birthday (Is That Today!?)" it is revealed that Kitty's birthday is the 13th of whatever month it was. Her maiden name implies that she is of Swedish descent. This is confirmed in "Streaking," where Kitty reveals that her grandmother was Swedish.
Kitty has a younger sister named Paula (Valerie Harper
) who appeared in "Eric's Naughty No-No." Paula is a cosmetics sales-woman and very successful which makes Kitty jealous as Kitty was once the more successful one. After an argument about what each of them had that was better than the other, the sisters made up and Paula agreed to give Kitty a make-over that "It won't make me look like a whore, right?" Red, upon seeing this, is excited at Kitty's new look, hoping she'll get more intimate with him.
Kitty, despite being a kind, motherly figure to the gang, is still the subject of sexual attraction from Fez and Kelso (along with Midge). When Fez first met Kitty, instead of shaking her hand, greeted her with a long kiss (and attempts to do the same to Red). Also, when Charlie says that he saw Kitty naked, Fez asks him what it looked like and said "and I am only asking because I find Miss Kitty attractive in a sexual way." Also, when Kelso and Brooke have a fight, Kelso comes to Eric, upset, telling him "I need a hug from your mom!". Eric finishes his conversation with Hyde and goes to "pull Kelso off my mother".
at the end of Season Five, Kitty suffered a nervous breakdown, exacerbated by Red's support of the plan. Later, when Eric planned to go to Africa
in Season Seven, Kitty tried to sabotage his efforts by withholding food and information on immunization
s. After he left at the start of Season Eight, Kitty briefly tried marijuana
.
Maybe even more than Eric, Kitty is fond of Hyde, whom they took in after his mother left, leaving him nowhere to go. In the episode "Kitty's Birthday (Is That Today!?)" Hyde is the only one who remembers her birthday, and in the episode "Jackie Bags Hyde" Kitty is the one who helps Hyde realize he likes Jackie. Kitty treats Hyde as a second son even after he moves out of the Forman basement. In the series finale, she referred to him as "my second son." Although Eric has occasionally expressed his jealousy of Hyde for the supposed better treatment Hyde receives from Kitty and Red, it has never been a major issue, and Hyde and Eric behave more like brothers than friends throughout the series .
Kitty treats Eric's other friends Kelso
, Fez
and Jackie
as her own children as well—she looks out for them and helps them out on numerous occasions throughout the series. For example, she taught the parenatal class Kelso and Brooke took before Betsy's birth, she attempted to teach Jackie how to bake on two occasions, and she behaves as a mother to Fez, who hasn't seen his real parents since his immigration. Being a nurse and a maternal figure, she is the one who treats the teenagers whenever they get physically injured (which happens quite often), especially Kelso. Kitty plays an active role in all the gang's private lives—for example, she is the one who orchestrated the talk between Jackie and her mother Pam in season 6. She is somewhat close to Donna, but as a competitor for Eric and as the daughter of her best friends. Kitty is astonished in how many times they "change partners" and is happy to have the people to care for, although she is not fond with the drama of having all of Eric's friends hang out at her house. Kitty seems to dislike anyone who questions her values, telling Jackie to "shut your dirty little mouth" when she referenced Kitty's drinking; and when Kelso asked if she'd ever smoked, she stared at him and Red made him leave.
Despite being a motherly figure to all of the teens, Kelso and Fez seem to have some sexual attraction towards her. Fez admits this to Charlie Richardson after he sees Kitty naked accidentally, asking what she looked like and saying "and I'm only asking this because I find Miss Kitty attractive in a sexual way." Also, after Kelso has a bad experience with his baby's mother, he tells Eric "I need a hug from your mom." Eric concludes his conversation with Hyde, leaving to "go pull Kelso off my mother". Also, Hyde, before his (technically not legal) adoption made him Kitty's son, demonstrated some attraction to Kitty, such as when she was teaching him dancing, he greatly enjoyed placing his hand in the small of her back, almost sexually so. As part of the plot of that episode, Bob sees them and assumes they are having an affair.
In Season 8, with Eric gone, she seemingly replaced him with Fez. Fez began dating a friend of hers and when she found out, snapped on him and demanded he break it off, to which he replied "You're not the boss of me!! You're not my mother!". Kitty took great offense to this and stormed off and made herself a blender full of alcohol. Donna and Jackie helped Fez realize that Kitty has been the closest thing he has to a mother, and she thinks of Fez as her own son. Fez makes up with Kitty afterward.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the Fox Network's
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
That '70s Show
That '70s Show
That '70s Show is an American television period sitcom that centers on the lives of a group of teenage friends living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 17, 1976, to December 31, 1979...
, portrayed by comic actress Debra Jo Rupp
Debra Jo Rupp
Debra Jo Rupp is an American film and television actress, perhaps best known for her role as Kitty Forman on the long-running Fox sitcom, That '70s Show...
. Kitty is a nurse but sometimes takes a break from her career to make peace in the family. She also has a very recognizable laugh (an accident on Debra Jo Rupp's part) and a fondness for square dancing. Kitty is in very many ways a typical 1970s wife and mother, putting her family first and always trying to smooth over the many conflicts within her household, although her efforts usually fail. She is a foster mother to the entire gang, and is a source of comfort and advice for them all.
About Kitty Forman
Kitty is married to Red FormanRed Forman
Reginald Albert "Red" Forman is a fictional character on the Fox sitcom That '70s Show, portrayed by Kurtwood Smith.-Biography and personality:Red is one of the classic archetypes of the "grumpy man"...
(Kurtwood Smith
Kurtwood Smith
Kurtwood Larson Smith is an American television and film actor. He is best known for playing Clarence Boddicker in RoboCop and stern parental characters , and for his appearances in the genre of science fiction...
). She is mother to daughter Laurie
Laurie Forman
Lauren Anne "Laurie" Forman is a fictional character on the Fox sitcom That '70s Show. She was originally portrayed by Lisa Robin Kelly and later by Christina Moore....
(portrayed first by Lisa Robin Kelly
Lisa Robin Kelly
Lisa Robin Kelly is an American actress best known for her roles on That '70s Show and Amityville: Dollhouse.-Career:Lisa Robin Kelly made her debut in a 1992 episode of Married... with Children entitled "Kelly Doesn't Live Here Anymore". She appeared again on Married... with Children in 1997 in...
and later by Christina Moore
Christina Moore
Christina Moore is an American actress. She is most notable for her membership in the main cast of comedians on sketch comedy series MADtv, for replacing Lisa Robin Kelly as Laurie Forman on That '70s Show during the sixth season and for portraying Candy Sullivan in the TNT show Hawthorne.She had...
), with whom she has a stressful relationship, and son Eric
Eric Forman
Eric Albert Forman is a fictional character and the male lead on the Fox Network's That '70s Show between seasons one through seven. Portrayed by Topher Grace, Eric is based on the adolescence of show creator Mark Brazill. Most of the show takes place at the Formans' home, particularly in the...
(Topher Grace
Topher Grace
Christopher John "Topher" Grace is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Eric Forman on the Fox sitcom That '70s Show, Eddie Brock/Venom in the Sam Raimi film Spider-Man 3, and Edwin in the 2010 film Predators....
), whom she has a habit of overprotecting, even to the point of saying that his girlfriend Donna Pinciotti
Donna Pinciotti
Donna Marie Pinciotti is a fictional character and one of the two female leads in the Fox sitcom That '70s Show, appearing in all eight seasons...
seduced the "poor boy" and tricked him into having sex with her. ("Did she trick you into it? We will move you away! We won't play her game!") Unlike Red, Kitty also seems to enjoy Eric's friends hanging around the house, sometimes smothering them. One of Kitty's favorite pastimes is being a mother — making sandwiches, baking cookies, making fun of male ice skaters while having tea with Fez, and looking after children. She does not want Eric to move out, fearing that if he does, she will have no one to take care of. She convinced Red that the family should take in Steven Hyde
Steven Hyde
Steven James Hyde III, known as Hyde by his friends, is a fictional character from the Fox sitcom That '70s Show, portrayed by Danny Masterson. He is Eric Forman's best friend and by the end of season one, his de facto adopted brother...
(Danny Masterson
Danny Masterson
Daniel Peter "Danny" Masterson is an American actor and DJ best known for his role as Steven Hyde in That '70s Show.-Early life:...
) when Hyde's mother abandoned the teenager.
Kitty puts on a facade of a vacuous, cheerful, doting mother, with a passion for Kahlúa
Kahlúa
Kahlúa is a Mexican coffee-flavored rum-based liqueur. It is dense and sweet, with the distinct taste of coffee, from which it is made. Kahlúa also contains sugar, corn syrup and vanilla bean.-History:...
. Despite being a nurse and knowing the consequences of her actions, she is also a smoker
Tobacco smoking
Tobacco smoking is the practice where tobacco is burned and the resulting smoke is inhaled. The practice may have begun as early as 5000–3000 BCE. Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 16th century where it followed common trade routes...
, and has tried to quit more than once, but to no avail (Kitty's cigarette smoking was slowly phased out after season three, due to Debra Jo Rupp's quitting in real life). She has mentioned that she sometimes laughs when uncomfortable. Her mood swings are usually attributed to her menopause
Menopause
Menopause is a term used to describe the permanent cessation of the primary functions of the human ovaries: the ripening and release of ova and the release of hormones that cause both the creation of the uterine lining and the subsequent shedding of the uterine lining...
storyline. As Red puts down Eric and favors Laurie, Kitty puts down Laurie and favors Eric, mainly because Laurie is known to be loose and cares little, if at all, about school. In one episode, she flat out tells Laurie how ashamed she is of her. In clichéd fashion, she and her late mother-in-law, Bernice Forman, have a rocky relationship, throwing insults at each other in the guise of friendly, formal conversation, a "tradition" Kitty almost passed down to her would-be daughter-in-law, Donna. Though they mutually hate each other, Kitty does feel guilty about antagonizing her mother-in-law after she dies.
Kitty's parents are Bea and Burt Sigurdson (played by Betty White
Betty White
Betty White Ludden , better known as Betty White, is an American actress, comedienne, singer, author, and former game show personality. With a career spanning seven decades since 1939, she is best known to modern audiences for her television roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and...
and Tom Poston
Tom Poston
Thomas Gordon "Tom" Poston was an American television and film actor. He starred on television in a career that began in 1950...
). They live in Arizona but have appeared in a few episodes of the series that takes place in fictional Point Place, Wisconsin. Burt is a kind, laid back man who frequently tries to avoid his wife Bea, an aggressive, loud nightmare (usually by indulging in alcohol). Eric sums up their relationship as "Grandma yells, Grandpa drinks". To get away from Bea, Burt will occasionally step outside to have a cigarette, though he doesn't smoke. Whenever Bea is looking for Burt or trying to get his attention she will call his name soft and sweetly twice, to which Burt will ignore as if he hasn't heard her, Bea will then scream his name in a shrill blast of fury. She teaches this method to her grandson's girlfriend Donna but admonishes her for using it later saying "Donna, you catch more flies with sugar". Laurie proves to have inherited her grandmother's talent for shrill yelling. Eric confirms this by stating that "evil skips a generation." And Kitty believes that Laurie got her ways, not from her "but from my evil mother!"
In the episode "Your Time Is Gonna Come (a.k.a. Get Off My Boyfriend)" (which premiered on January 29, 2003), Burt and Bea arrive at the Forman's doorstep flat broke after Burt makes a financial blunder buying an ostrich farm next door to a coyote farm. At the end of the episode Burt is found by Eric unconscious on the driveway (having suffered a coronary after accidentally seeing Donna, Jackie in pajamas and Kelso's then girlfriend Annette in her underwear through Donna's bedroom window) and later dies in the hospital.
In season five, Kitty told Red that she was pregnant, only to go to the doctor who told her the reason why her periods had stopped was because she was beginning menopause
Menopause
Menopause is a term used to describe the permanent cessation of the primary functions of the human ovaries: the ripening and release of ova and the release of hormones that cause both the creation of the uterine lining and the subsequent shedding of the uterine lining...
. To help his wife through menopausal mood swings, Red got Kitty a Dachshund
Dachshund
The dachshund is a short-legged, long-bodied dog breed belonging to the hound family. The standard size dachshund was bred to scent, chase, and flush out badgers and other burrow-dwelling animals, while the miniature dachshund was developed to hunt smaller prey such as rabbits...
dog she named Schatzi (German for Little Treasure), who was phased out very early on only to be revealed to have been "under the porch" for months. A notable consequence of her menopause is that she drinks considerably more than she used to.
In the episode, "Kitty's Birthday (Is That Today!?)" it is revealed that Kitty's birthday is the 13th of whatever month it was. Her maiden name implies that she is of Swedish descent. This is confirmed in "Streaking," where Kitty reveals that her grandmother was Swedish.
Kitty has a younger sister named Paula (Valerie Harper
Valerie Harper
Valerie Harper is an American actress, known for her role as Rhoda Morgenstern on the 1970s television show The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and for her starring roles on the sitcoms Rhoda and Valerie.-Early life and career:Harper was born at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, Rockland County,...
) who appeared in "Eric's Naughty No-No." Paula is a cosmetics sales-woman and very successful which makes Kitty jealous as Kitty was once the more successful one. After an argument about what each of them had that was better than the other, the sisters made up and Paula agreed to give Kitty a make-over that "It won't make me look like a whore, right?" Red, upon seeing this, is excited at Kitty's new look, hoping she'll get more intimate with him.
Kitty, despite being a kind, motherly figure to the gang, is still the subject of sexual attraction from Fez and Kelso (along with Midge). When Fez first met Kitty, instead of shaking her hand, greeted her with a long kiss (and attempts to do the same to Red). Also, when Charlie says that he saw Kitty naked, Fez asks him what it looked like and said "and I am only asking because I find Miss Kitty attractive in a sexual way." Also, when Kelso and Brooke have a fight, Kelso comes to Eric, upset, telling him "I need a hug from your mom!". Eric finishes his conversation with Hyde and goes to "pull Kelso off my mother".
Relationship with the Kids
Unlike Red, Kitty enjoys having young people around her house. In way of her children, she plays favorites with Laurie and Eric. She thinks of Laurie as a screw-up and says she loves her "because I have to." She often tries to get through to Laurie, but most of the time has no luck and gives up. To her Eric is her baby, and she fears losing him to Donna, so she often babies him and is overprotective. Upon hearing of Eric losing his virginity (episode "The Parents Find Out") she stays in bed, depressed and angry at Donna, only leaving bed when Eric reminds her that he needs Kitty to protect him from Red. For a time she was sad that her children were growing up and expressed a desire for another baby, episode "Baby Fever", which Red was not happy about. She only resolved not having a baby when Red reminded her of grandchildren, which he has also forgotten. She proceeded to ask both Laurie and Eric about having kids, and decided that she wasn't excited for Laurie's children and couldn't wait for Eric's. When Eric and Donna announced that they were moving to MadisonMadison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
at the end of Season Five, Kitty suffered a nervous breakdown, exacerbated by Red's support of the plan. Later, when Eric planned to go to Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
in Season Seven, Kitty tried to sabotage his efforts by withholding food and information on immunization
Immunization
Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an agent ....
s. After he left at the start of Season Eight, Kitty briefly tried marijuana
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
.
Maybe even more than Eric, Kitty is fond of Hyde, whom they took in after his mother left, leaving him nowhere to go. In the episode "Kitty's Birthday (Is That Today!?)" Hyde is the only one who remembers her birthday, and in the episode "Jackie Bags Hyde" Kitty is the one who helps Hyde realize he likes Jackie. Kitty treats Hyde as a second son even after he moves out of the Forman basement. In the series finale, she referred to him as "my second son." Although Eric has occasionally expressed his jealousy of Hyde for the supposed better treatment Hyde receives from Kitty and Red, it has never been a major issue, and Hyde and Eric behave more like brothers than friends throughout the series .
Kitty treats Eric's other friends Kelso
Michael Kelso
Michael Christopher Kelso usually referred to simply as Kelso by his friends is one of the five male leads on Fox Network's That '70s Show, portrayed by Ashton Kutcher. Tall, lanky and long-haired , he is the dim-witted pretty-boy of the group, coasting through life on his good looks...
, Fez
Fez (That '70s Show)
Fez is a fictional character and one of the four male leads on the Fox Network's That '70s Show, portrayed by Wilmer Valderrama. He was the foreign exchange student in a group of six local teenagers.-Origins:...
and Jackie
Jackie Burkhart
Jacqueline "Jackie" Beulah Burkhart is a fictional character and one of the two female leads on the Fox Network sitcom That '70s Show, portrayed by Mila Kunis.-Personality:...
as her own children as well—she looks out for them and helps them out on numerous occasions throughout the series. For example, she taught the parenatal class Kelso and Brooke took before Betsy's birth, she attempted to teach Jackie how to bake on two occasions, and she behaves as a mother to Fez, who hasn't seen his real parents since his immigration. Being a nurse and a maternal figure, she is the one who treats the teenagers whenever they get physically injured (which happens quite often), especially Kelso. Kitty plays an active role in all the gang's private lives—for example, she is the one who orchestrated the talk between Jackie and her mother Pam in season 6. She is somewhat close to Donna, but as a competitor for Eric and as the daughter of her best friends. Kitty is astonished in how many times they "change partners" and is happy to have the people to care for, although she is not fond with the drama of having all of Eric's friends hang out at her house. Kitty seems to dislike anyone who questions her values, telling Jackie to "shut your dirty little mouth" when she referenced Kitty's drinking; and when Kelso asked if she'd ever smoked, she stared at him and Red made him leave.
Despite being a motherly figure to all of the teens, Kelso and Fez seem to have some sexual attraction towards her. Fez admits this to Charlie Richardson after he sees Kitty naked accidentally, asking what she looked like and saying "and I'm only asking this because I find Miss Kitty attractive in a sexual way." Also, after Kelso has a bad experience with his baby's mother, he tells Eric "I need a hug from your mom." Eric concludes his conversation with Hyde, leaving to "go pull Kelso off my mother". Also, Hyde, before his (technically not legal) adoption made him Kitty's son, demonstrated some attraction to Kitty, such as when she was teaching him dancing, he greatly enjoyed placing his hand in the small of her back, almost sexually so. As part of the plot of that episode, Bob sees them and assumes they are having an affair.
In Season 8, with Eric gone, she seemingly replaced him with Fez. Fez began dating a friend of hers and when she found out, snapped on him and demanded he break it off, to which he replied "You're not the boss of me!! You're not my mother!". Kitty took great offense to this and stormed off and made herself a blender full of alcohol. Donna and Jackie helped Fez realize that Kitty has been the closest thing he has to a mother, and she thinks of Fez as her own son. Fez makes up with Kitty afterward.