# Why is Edna from "Incredibles" familiar?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 21, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728 "2005-09-21T16:19:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/1 "2005-09-21T16:19:08Z")
Why does the Edna character (the costume designer) from _The Incredibles_ seem so familiar? I felt like I was seeing a charicature of a real person, but I couldn’t pin down who that might have been.
---
### Author:  [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/2 "2005-09-21T16:21:43Z")
Reportedly based on that famous Paramount costume designer whose name escapes me right this second… Edith Head, I think. Yeah.
Not that you’re likely to have seen her specifically, though - I’d chalk the familiarity up to Edna being a ‘broadly-drawn stereotype’.
---
### Author:  [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/3 "2005-09-21T16:29:18Z")
[Easy one, your thinking of Mindy Sterling from Austin Powers (2002) in Goldmember.](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0827565/)
That aughta do it.
---
### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/4 "2005-09-21T16:38:13Z")
**CandidGamera** is right about Edith Head and about the stereotype.
---
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/5 "2005-09-21T16:44:41Z")
Interestingly, the director Brad Bird did her voice.
---
### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/6 "2005-09-21T16:46:22Z")
Actually, Edna reminded me of a combination of Linda Hunt and Gooch from “Mame”, lookswise.
---
### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/7 "2005-09-21T16:48:07Z")
Image: [Linda Hunt](http://www.scifi-universe.com/upload/personnalites/grand/Linda_Hunt.jpg), best known for playing creepy little women…
---
### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/8 "2005-09-21T17:00:09Z")
There was that fashion designer on some Old Navy ads a while back. She had these huge glasses and said “Fabulous” a lot.
---
### Author:  [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/9 "2005-09-21T17:03:15Z")
> [@Zebra](#):
>
> There was that fashion designer on some Old Navy ads a while back. She had these huge glasses and said “Fabulous” a lot.
Carrie Donovan. I didn’t realize that she was [no longer with us](http://www.obitpage.com/obits/d/donovan_carrie.html) until I googled her.
---
### Author:  [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/10 "2005-09-21T18:05:56Z")
> [@jayjay](#):
>
> Image: [Linda Hunt](http://www.scifi-universe.com/upload/personnalites/grand/Linda_Hunt.jpg), best known for playing creepy little women…
That’s exactly who she reminded me of when I watched the movie.
---
### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/11 "2005-09-21T19:19:31Z")
**Q:** Was the character you voiced, Edna Mode, inspired by [Edith Head?](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0060194286.01._AA400_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg)
**Bird:** Well, we certainly looked at Edith Head, but there are actually a lot of female fashion designers, if you research it, that have giant glasses… [snip]
> **[Scifi.com](https://www.syfy.com/scifi/sfw/issue394/interview2.html)**
>
> Visit Syfy.com
---
### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/12 "2005-09-21T19:30:28Z")
> [@Uncommon Sense](#):
>
> [Easy one, your thinking of Mindy Sterling from Austin Powers (2002) in Goldmember.](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0827565/)
>
> That aughta do it.
No, she’s not it. Mindy Sterling is of the Rosa Klebb school.
I found this interview with Bird:
> [@](#):
>
> _ **Was the character you voiced, Edna Mode, inspired by Edith Head?** _
>
> **Bird:** Well, we certainly looked at Edith Head, but there are actually a lot of female fashion designers, if you research it, that have giant glasses. But also, Patricia Highsmith was an influence. She wrote The Talented Mister Ripley. Linda Hunt. When you’re designing a character, you’re just saying, “Who is that?” We have drawings, and you can see them in The Art of [The Incredibles] book, where she’s taller and fatter and older and younger. We tried a lot of stuff and we kept saying no, no, more like this, but I like the nose on this one, and maybe the pageboy cut, maybe glasses should be bigger. And you end up with something that reminds you of Edith Head and you of Linda Hunt.
He says she’s an amalgamation, but, I don’t know, I get a much more specific vibe. I get the feeling I’ve seen this exact character somewhere.
---
### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/13 "2005-09-21T19:40:21Z")
I thought it was hilarious that during the design and writing process, Bird did all her lines; they went on to hold auditions for the part and had Lily Tomlin in to read for it. Bird did some of her lines so she could hear what they were looking for, and she said, “Well, what do you need _me_ for???”
We always have to rewind and watch the “No capes!” scene a second time when we watch this, btw…
---
### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/14 "2005-09-21T19:57:06Z")
> [@jayjay](#):
>
> Image: [Linda Hunt](http://www.scifi-universe.com/upload/personnalites/grand/Linda_Hunt.jpg), best known for playing creepy little women…
…and the occasional creepy little [man](http://members.tripod.com/~llwyd/male/dangerous.htm).
---
### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/15 "2005-09-21T21:02:14Z")
> [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#):
>
> …and the occasional creepy little [man](http://members.tripod.com/~llwyd/male/dangerous.htm).
:eek:
I’d never seen _TYoLD_ and I have to say that if all I’d seen were a snippet of her as Kwan, I’d never ever ever be able to figure out who the actor was.
---
### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/16 "2005-09-21T21:05:47Z")
> [@jayjay](#):
>
> :eek:
>
> I’d never seen _TYoLD_ and I have to say that if all I’d seen were a snippet of her as Kwan, I’d never ever ever be able to figure out who the actor was.
Hunt’s the only person to win a performing Oscar for portraying a person of the opposite sex.
---
### Author:  [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/17 "2005-09-21T21:18:21Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#):
>
> Hunt’s the only person to win a performing Oscar for portraying a person of the opposite sex.
Isn’t she more accurately the only person to win for a portrayal of the opposite sex that wasn’t a gender-bending role?
---
### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/18 "2005-09-21T22:36:24Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#):
>
> Isn’t she more accurately the only person to win for a portrayal of the opposite sex that wasn’t a gender-bending role?
Well, Hillary Swank’s character in _Boys Don’t Cry_ may have been impersonating a man, but the character itself was a woman. Hunt’s character was a man. I think the statement’s completely accurate as is.
---
### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/19 "2005-09-21T23:49:51Z")
> [@astro](#):
>
> Interestingly, the director Brad Bird did her voice.
After Bird won the Oscar for Best Animated Movie, one of the post-Oscar press questions was for what Edna’s reaction to the starlets’ outfits. Suffice it to say that E gave a nicely scathing comment… 😃
…and also mentioned that she was the original Bond girl. :eek: 😉
---
### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2005, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-edna-from-incredibles-familiar/322728/20 "2005-09-21T23:54:39Z")
> [@rjung](#):
>
> After Bird won the Oscar for Best Animated Movie, one of the post-Oscar press questions was for what Edna’s reaction to the starlets’ outfits. Suffice it to say that E gave a nicely scathing comment… 😃
>
> …and also mentioned that she was the original Bond girl. :eek: 😉
quotes?
cite?
link?
I’d **love** to read/see this! 🙂🙂🙂🆒🆒🆒🆒