Unseen character

• Al Capp introduced Lena the Hyena in June 1946 as an invisible character in the Li'l Abner newspaper strip. She was described as "the world's ugliest woman". Characters always reacted in fright when they saw her or an image of her but readers couldn't see her because she was hidden behind objects or out of frame. Eventually Capp organized a contest in which readers could send in their own graphic interpretations of what she might look like. The winner was cartoonist Basil Wolverton, whose design was first shown in the 21 October 1946 strip.[7]
• In Merho's comics series De Kiekeboes Mevrouw Stokvis, a friend of Moemoe Kiekeboe, is always mentioned or referred to, but has never actually been seen in the series.[8]

Unseen characters occur elsewhere in drama, including the plays of Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, and Edward Albee.[9][10] Author Marie A. Wellington notes that in the 18th-century, Voltaire included unseen characters in a few of his plays, including Le Duc d’Alençon and L’Orphelin de la Chine.[11]

• Rosaline in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is never seen, but is only described.[2][12]
• In Alain-René Lesage's 1707 play Crispin an unseen character called Damis with his forced secret marriage is essential to the plot.[4]
• In Clare Boothe Luce's play The Women (1936), and the 1939 film based on the play, male characters (husbands, lovers, etc.) are referred to but do not appear, even in photographs.[13][14]
• Godot in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot is never seen. The play's two main characters spend the entire play waiting for Godot to arrive.[15]
• In Anton Chekhov's play Three Sisters, Protopopov, who is cuckolding his employee Andrei and having a torrid and far from secret affair with Natasha, is unseen but plays a central role. Some sources suggest Protopopov, not Andrei, is the real father of Sofia, Natasha's daughter.[16][17]
• The titular character in Mike Leigh's play Abigail's Party, the 15-year-old daughter of Susan Lawson, is attending a party next door to the events portrayed in the play, and is never seen.[18]

• Dad's Army: Mrs Elizabeth Mainwaring, the wife of Captain Mainwaring, is never seen with the exception of the episode A Soldier's Farewell when her great weight in the bunk above Captain Mainwaring's causes her mattress to sag into camera shot.[19][20] She appears in the 2016 movie.
• Minder: Arthur Daley's wife, referred to only as "'Er Indoors", is never seen or heard, but often quoted.[21]
• In Keeping Up Appearances, Hyacinth Bucket has a phone conversation in each episode with her son Sheridan, who has moved out and is attending university.[20] A photograph of a young boy meant to depict Sheridan in childhood appears in the opening credits, but the character is never seen as an adult. The running gag in these conversations is that Hyacinth remains persistently oblivious to all the evidence that her son is gay.
• In the long-running British radio soap opera The Archers, a number of permanent inhabitants of the village in which the story is set are frequently referred to but are never heard in their own voices. Fans of the programme often refer to these characters as "the silents".[22]
• Throughout the entire 18-year run of Heartbeat, PC Alf Ventress refers to his wife Mrs. Ventress, but she is neither seen nor is her first name ever revealed.[23]
• The Clitheroe Kid – in this long-running and popular radio series, Jimmy Clitheroe, a diminutive comedian who played the part of a mischievous schoolboy, had a friend called Ozzie, to whom he frequently referred, but who was never heard, except for a few vague background noises.

• On the mystery drama Columbo, Lieutenant Columbo often describes his wife in detail but she is never seen, heard, or otherwise portrayed in the series.[24][25] A short-lived, unsuccessful spin-off series Mrs. Columbo was created in 1979 after Columbo had ended its run, but Lieutenant Columbo never appeared. Mrs. Columbo, as played by Kate Mulgrew, was named Kate (although Lieutenant Columbo's wife in Columbo was never given a name). The series gradually severed all ties with the original detective series. Both the series and the character herself were renamed in an attempt to change direction, but this did not help the poor ratings and the series was ultimately canceled in March 1980 after only 13 episodes had aired.[26][27]
• On The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Phyllis Lindstrom's husband, Dr. Lars Lindstrom, is often referenced but never seen.[28]
• On Rhoda, Carlton, the doorman in Rhoda Morgenstern's apartment building, is often heard on the intercom (voiced by Lorenzo Music) but almost never seen – only his arm would occasionally appear from doors and he was once shown dancing and conversing while wearing a gorilla mask. After Rhoda ended its run, Carlton was featured as an animated character in the 1980 spin-off special Carlton Your Doorman. Once again voiced by Music, Carlton is shown as a young man with shoulder-length blond hair and mustache.[29]
• On Seinfeld, Bob Sacamano, Lomez, and "Cousin Jeffrey" are often mentioned but never seen.[25] The first two are friends of Cosmo Kramer, and the last is the cousin of Jerry Seinfeld. Jeffrey works for the New York City Parks Department, as Jerry is told ad nauseam by his Uncle Leo.[30] George Costanza also spent some time working for George Steinbrenner, the owner of the New York Yankees; however, Steinbrenner (as portrayed by series co-creator Larry David) was only ever shown as the back of his head in his office chair, and his face was never seen on camera.[31]
• On The Andy Griffith Show, Juanita Beasley, for whom Barney Fife occasionally expresses affection, is unseen but often referenced and telephoned by the love-struck Fife.[28]
• In Charlie's Angels, the titular Charlie Townsend, the owner of the detective agency that employed the series leads, was never seen, and was portrayed solely as a voice (provided by actor John Forsythe) heard on a speakerphone.[32]
• Vera Peterson from Cheers and Maris Crane from its spin-off Frasier are two of the most widely recognized unseen characters of American television,[33][28][34][35][36][37][25] though Vera's body (with her face obscured by a pie)[31] is seen in one episode, and her voice is heard in other episodes. Her voice was provided by Bernadette Birkett, the real-life wife of George Wendt who portrayed Norm Peterson, leading Wendt to comment that he never personally wondered what Vera looked like.[32] Maris is also seen as a silhouette.[38]
• Stan Walker, the wealthy husband of Karen Walker on Will & Grace, has been depicted on screen only as hands and feet.[32] Karen and Stan have divorced twice over the show's run, once after Stan faked his own death, leading the website CollegeHumor to label him as the one unseen character who "arguably drives the plot more than any other unseen character on a TV show."[31]
• On The Big Bang Theory, Howard Wolowitz's mother, Debbie, was always heard but almost never seen in the entire first eight seasons in which she was on the show. She was voiced by Carol Ann Susi until her death in 2014, after which the character was killed off.[37]
• On the Netflix animated television series BoJack Horseman, Mr. Peanutbutter often shouts to an off-screen character known as "Erica".[39]