</noinclude>
Nana Mary was a fictional character in the Roseanne sitcom. She was portrayed by actress Shelly Winters. As of season 10, she has presumably passed on as it seems unlikely that Roseanne, who is herself a grandmother of 3, would have a living grandmother of her own.
About Nana Mary
Nana Mary would always say her favorite thing was getting to spend time with her favorite person ever. Born in 1910 Nana Mary is the free-spirited, caring, outspoken, lovable mother of Beverly Harris, making her the fun-loving grandmother of Roseanne and Jackie, great-grandmother of their children and great-great-grandmother of Darlene and David Healy's baby girl, Harris Conner Healy.
She is brash, outspoken and very popular with the family. Nana Mary rebelled against the ways of life when she was younger. When Bev was a young girl, she mentions that they constant moved and Nana Mary always went out while bringing in another man. Due to this, Nana Mary has no idea who Bev's actual father is. She later marries Marvin in 1937 and settles down with him, having another daughter named Sonya. Bev's relationship with Nana Mary is shown to be very similar to the one Roseanne and Jackie share with her. Nana Mary outsmarts and drives Bev crazy as she does her own daughters, much to amusement of the family; a favored tactic she uses is to feign senility,using it as an excuse to direct a barrage of insults at anyone she pleases. She often plays cards, although she constantly cheats by using her own crooked deck. Although not an alcoholic like Bev, Nana Mary is no stranger when it comes to liquor, especially at celebrations; however, none of the family seems to mind or even worry much,as her antics while drunk are very amusing and usually come at Bev's expense D.J. mentioned that she passed out in the middle of the shrimp cocktail at Darlene and David's wedding. The same morning after the hen party, she was discovered in a sleeping bag in the living room without any pants, unable to remember anything of the night before. Just as Bev is quick to interfere, Nana Mary is quick to stop her, such as when she tries to talk Jackie into marrying the father of her baby. Near the end of the series, after Bev announces she's a lesbian, Nana Mary finally has a heart to heart with her daughter who comes to her seeking answers about her life. Nana Mary explains that secretly, Bev was just a rebel in her way, being the complete opposite of what her mother truly was. The two finally reconcile,in which she no longer makes any appearances in the series.
Trivia
- Nana Mary s named after Mary Betnum, Roseanne's actual grandmother whom she loved for her outspoken attitude.
- Nana Mary has appeared in a total of 10 episodes. In one (during Jackie's wedding), she is only seen as a background filler.
- She has another daughter named Sonya,whom she had with her late husband, Marvin. She also has a few other grandchildren from Sonya that she mentions that appear to be more well off than Roseanne and Jackie (before they hit the lottery later on).
- Despite her age was never revealed,she reveals during her last appearance that she had Bev real young,possibly in her late teens,putting her in her late seventies at the start of the series and early eighties by season 9 (in reality, Shelley Winters was only seven years older than Estelle Parsons who played her daughter)
- According to Estelle Parsons, Shelly Winters told her to dye her hair to help distinguish an age gap between the two since they were only seven years apart. "Both of them couldn't have grey hair. "A week after Beverly 's birth she left Beverly with her mother Flora that was where Beverly would live for the first 4 years of her life before returning to her mother.
Appearances
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | # | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | N/A | 0 | ||
| Season 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | N/A | 0 | |
| Season 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | X | - | N/A | 1 |
| Season 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | X | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | N/A | 1 |
| Season 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | X | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | N/A | 1 |
| Season 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | X | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | X | N/A | 2 |
| Season 7 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | X | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| Season 8 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | X | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | X | - | - | N/A | 2 |
| Season 9 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | X | X | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | N/A | 2 | |
| Season 10 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | N/A | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| Total | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||