Phyllis Thorne wasn't just Mona's overbearing mother
"You need to go out there and find a man!"
That's not exactly the sentence you'd want to hear from your mother every time she visits you, but Mona didn't really have a choice on Half & Half. Phyllis Thorne was the overbearing mother who often stuck her nose in Mona's business, attempting to give dating advice and telling her daughter that it was time for "some grandbabies."
Played by Telma Hopkins, when she wasn't beefing with her ex-husband's wife, Big DeeDee, Phyllis made it her mission to ensure Mona was doing everything right in her relationships to "keep a man." Viewers saw this side of the character in every episode; it provided laughs and was something many young women could relate to.
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However, it also overshadowed the fact that Phyllis was a woman with a career and her own private dating life. Did you know that the character was a psychiatrist?
That explains why she was always giving advice to ANYONE who would listen. There were glimpses of Phyllis's professional life, but there was a lot of untapped potential for the character to evolve and reveal more than just her motherly side.
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