Edna Garrett was a fictional character on "Different Strokes" and "The Facts of Life." She was played by stage actress Charlotte Rae from 1978 to 1986 and in the TV movie, The Facts of Life Reunion
Bio[]
Edna Ann Garrett Gaines was the youngest child in a large family born and raised on a farm near Appleton, Wisconsin. Her exact age is unknown, but it was often hinted or implied that she was somewhere in her fifties. For several years, she was the housekeeper to the Drummond family in New York City and the maternal mother figure of Philip Drummond's daughter, Kimberly Drummond, and later, his adopted sons, Willis and Arnold Jackson after their mother, the previous housekeeper died. However, in 1979, she accepted a job as den mother for the girls at Kimberly's school, Eastland Academy, in Peekskill, New York.
Over the years, Mrs. Garrett's role at Eastland changed. At first, she was merely a live-in supervisor for the girls of Eastland, and later, she became their in-house dietician who managed the school's cafeteria. She had been married twice, divorced in her first marriage) and widowed in her second marriage. Her first husband eventually returned to woo her and reconcile, but he was unsuccessful because Edna felt that his gambling problem would always be an obstacle. She had two sons, Alex, a singer-songwriter/carpenter, and Raymond, an accountant. Raymond helped her raise funds and secure commercial space so she could open her own gourmet food shop, Edna's Edibles, after she became disenchanted with her life at Eastland in the fall of of 1983. She also became a mentor to the girls at Eastland, mostly to Blair Warner, Jo Polniaczek, Natalie Green and Tootie Ramsey, functioning in loco parentis. At times, the girls would take her for granted and forget that Edna herself had problems. Many times Edna would lash out at the girls when they got careless with her, but they always came back stronger than before. They lived with her at Eastland over the school kitchen in the administration building and worked with her in the kitchen to pay off various restitution-related expenses and soon moved into an apartment above the shop and continued to work for her in the shop.
In 1985, Edna's Edibles was extensively damaged by fire, and it was rebuilt as a gift shop called Over Our Heads. Since the insurance on Edna's Edibles had lapsed by the time of the fire, the girls contributed their insurance claim checks to help rebuild it, effectively making Mrs. Garrett and the girls equal partners in the business. She once actually fired them when their irresponsible behavior ended up costing her $500 in fines after a dismal health inspection, but she hired them back the next day when they promised her that they will be more responsible at their jobs. She also fired George Burnett, the carpenter, when he fell behind on his work in the shop's reconstruction. but they later reconciled.
Mrs. Garrett is a Democrat. She is also against censorship, such as book banning. She re-married in 1986 to Bruce Gaines and later rejoined the Peace Corps to work in Eastern Africa. Her role as the girl's mentor was taken over by her sister, Beverly Ann Stickle.
Trivia[]
- Through "Different Strokes" and "The Facts of Life," the character was almost always known as Mrs. Garrett or Mrs. G.
