Who's the main common denominator between Star Trek: Voyager, Seinfeld, and Toy Story? The answer is Estelle Harris, who guest starred in a Voyager episode, recurred on Seinfeld as George Costanza's mother, and provided the voice of Mrs. Potato Head in several of the Toy Story movies.
Breaking that down in more detail, Harris -- who died at the age of 93 on April 2, 2022, just 20 days shy of her 94th birthday -- guest-starred as Old Woman in the Voyager episode “Sacred Ground.” That season-three installment premiered on October 30, 1996. According to StarTrek.com, “The Old Woman was actually a projection of the Nechani Spirits, and Janeway’s (Kate Mulgrew) interactions with the Old Woman perhaps helped Janeway ease up on her hardcore devotion to scientific reason.”
Far more famously, Harris played Estelle Costanza, the shrill mother of George Costanza (Jason Alexander), in more than two dozen episodes of Seinfeld. Even serious Seinfeld fans often don’t realize that Harris didn’t join the show until its fourth season in 1992.
Similarly, Harris was so associated with the Toy Story franchise that few people recall that she didn’t join the franchise as the voice of Mrs. Potato Head until Toy Story 2. She then reprised the character in Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4. Her many other television and film credits included Once Upon a Time in America, Night Court, Family Guy, Brother Bear, Out to Sea, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, and Futurama. Among her co-stars in the 1997 comedy Out to Sea was Brent Spiner, Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Data.
Harris’s Seinfeld son, Jason Alexander, is a massive Star Trek fan and not only also guest-starred in an episode of Voyager, but provided the voice of a character for Star Trek: Prodigy. He played Kurros in “Think Tank,” a fifth-season Voyager episode that aired in 1999, and voiced the Tellarite character Lieutenant Noum for numerous episodes of Prodigy.
Upon Harris' death in 2022, Alexander took to Twitter to pay tribute. He wrote, “One of my favorite people has passed -- my tv mama, Estelle Harris. The joy of playing with her and relishing her glorious laughter was a treat. I adore you, Estelle. Love to your family. Serenity now and always. #RIPEstelleHarris.”