- To grandma! She was....related to us!
Barbara Hanson is a character on Grace and Frankie, portrayed by Lois Smith.
Story[]
Barbara is the mother of Robert Hanson and Lydia Foster. She is cold, Irish and dominant.
At some point in her life, Barbara married and had the children Robert (1944) and Lydia (1950). According to her granddaughter Brianna she reduced her husband to a tiny piece of coal, probably meaning she was very dominant. She was very cold and unloving to Robert, according to himself.
She pressured both her children to aim high and achieve. They studied law and Lydia became a judge, while Robert became a lawyer.
By 2018, she had lived in a retirement home for a few years, to the point that her granddaughter Mallory Hanson forgot she was still alive. When Robert came out to her as gay she was unsupportive and stated she would have rather died, not knowing. Some months later, her daughter Lydia found her dead. Robert felt responsible for her death and saw her ghost on multiple occasions.
Trivia[]
- At death, she had two children, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. It is unlikely she ever met her great-grandchildren as her granddaughter Mallory Hanson forgot she was alive.
- She played cards with mentally disabled people because they wouldn't notice her cheat and take their money, according to her granddaughter Brianna Hanson.
- On her funeral, her former daughter-in-law, Grace Hanson, was the only one to say something positive about her, calling her "stately".
- Grace mentioned Barbara as early as The End, the first episode. She told Frankie she used to shop with Barbara and hated it.