Our favorite moms from the stage and screen

On TV

When I think “TV mom,” I immediately think of Donna Reed and Barbara Billingsley. Those actresses created indelible archetypes in “The Donna Reed Show” and “Leave it to Beaver” that endure even for a 37-year-old like me who only saw them because of Nickelodeon!

But you won't find either on the list of my five favorite TV moms, though all of these characters certainly owe a debt to the icons of early television. My picks:

Lois Wilkerson, “Malcolm in the Middle” - Jane Kaczmarek was nominated for seven Emmys for her portrayal of the manic, overbearing and totally hilarious mom that overshadowed Frankie Muniz' title character in this Fox sitcom. Lois was short-tempered, but she also would fight to the death for her kids. And hey, give her a break! She was married to future meth kingpin Bryan Cranston.

Marge Simpson, “The Simpsons” - No list of great TV moms would be complete without Julie Kavner's eternally patient animated avatar. Marge is much more than her stalk of blue hair: Over the show's 27 (and counting) seasons on Fox, she's been a cop, a slot-machine addict, a video-game addict, a model, an anti-monorail crusader and even a baker of erotic cakes. In a few weeks, Marge will go to the slammer in an episode called “Orange is the New Yellow,” airing Sunday, May 22.

Clair Huxtable, “The Cosby Show” - NBC's milestone comedy will forever be tainted by star Bill Cosby's scandals, but that's no reason to ignore Phylicia Rashad's alternately tender and authoritative performance as this lawyer and mother of five. Though Cosby's name was in the title, Clair was the head of the house - a feminist icon on a show that routinely upended our expectations of what a family sitcom should be.

Claudia Finnerty, “Grounded for Life” - Remember this Fox sitcom from the early 2000s? If so, it's probably because of Megyn Price, who played the sexy girl-next-door who also happened to be a thirty-something mom with teenage kids. The show's cult following kept it alive for five seasons, and Price went on to co-star alongside Patrick Warburton in CBS' “Rules of Engagement.”

Sophia Petrillo, “The Golden Girls” - The funniest of them all. Estelle Getty was much older than your typical TV mom - as was her TV daughter Dorothy, played by Bea Arthur - but she handed out motherly wisdom and gut-punching jokes in equal measure. NBC's Saturday night staple of the late '80s and early '90s holds up better than every comedy of its era, as anyone who watches the endless Hallmark Channel reruns can attest.

- Sean Stangland

In Movies

Garry Marshall's ineptly made, poorly conceived comedy “Mother's Day” is not a movie I'd recommend anyone actually see to celebrate Mom's Day this weekend.

Hollywood has plenty of more engaging mamas to entertain us, in all sorts of different ways.

Mrs. Bates, “Psycho” (1960) - Most people don't realize what a powerful and influential character Mrs. Bates is at the family's motel. She completely dominates her only son Norman. When it comes to control-freak moms, she's top of the heap.

Sarah Connor, “Terminator 2” (1991) - A super-buffed Linda Hamilton turns John Connor's mother into a one-woman Special Ops team to save her son (along with the future of humanity, but that's just a collateral benefit). If Sarah Connor ever guest-starred on “The Walking Dead,” the series would run out of zombies in two episodes.

Bambi's mom, “Bambi” (1942) - Most movie moms aren't famous for simply dying. The off-screen killing of Bambi's deer mother was so shocking that for a long. long time, it reigned as its generation's single most tragic collective movie memory. What kids could watch this, and not relate it to their own mothers?

Rosemary Woodhouse, “Rosemary's Baby” (1968) - Give the Most Devoted Mom of the Millennium Award to her. As portrayed by the wispy Mia Farrow, Rosemary proves her overpowering maternal devotion to her newborn son by simply ignoring his creepy eyes (thanks for those, Dad) and overlooking the fact that she's given birth to the antiChrist, who will be probably worse for the planet than the villains in “Terminator 2.”

Queen Elinor, “Brave” (2012) - The most engaging mother/daughter adventure of the 21st century so far. Some princesses can't bear their mothers. Disney's Princess Merida (Kelly Macdonald) inadvertently turns her smart mother (Emma Thompson) into one. A breakthrough animated fantasy in which the girl doesn't find the right guy - she finds something more valuable: her relationship with Mom.

- Dann Gire

On stage

From Euripides' Medea to William Shakespeare's Gertrude to George Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren, theater has produced some memorable moms. And stepmoms, if we count Maria von Trapp from “The Sound of Music.”

Not all of them behave nicely. Not all of them nurture their children. But all continue to make indelible impressions. Here are five of my favorites:

Violet Weston, “August: Osage County” - The vitriolic, pill-popping matriarch of the dysfunctional Weston clan dominates Tracy Letts' caustic domestic comedy, which premiered at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre in 2007 and subsequently earned the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for best play. A self-described truth-teller whose compliments pierce as deeply as her insults, Violet cares little about the collateral damage that truth inflicts. You won't like her, but you'll never forget her.

Mama Rose, “Gypsy” - The ultimate stage mother, Mama Rose drives the Jule Styne-Stephen Sondheim-Arthur Laurents musical chronicling the life of burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee. Resourceful, resolved and relentlessly ambitious, Mama Rose is a force of nature and one of musical theater's most compelling characters. She's the mom who'll get her daughter to the top, if she has to drag her kicking and screaming every step of the way.

Amanda Wingfield, “The Glass Menagerie” - A fading southern belle whose life has not unfolded as she planned, Amanda Wingfield represents one of Tennessee Williams' signature characters. Abandoned by her husband, she struggles to provide for her fractured family: withdrawn Laura and restless Tom. Facing an uncertain future in late 1930s St. Louis, Amanda takes refuge in the past, reliving romantic triumphs her children will never know and planning for a future they will never experience. She is melodramatic, domineering and provoking, but when it comes to protecting her cubs, she is a lioness.

Lena Younger, “A Raisin in the Sun” - Mama is the moral touchstone in Lorraine Hansberry's seminal examination of race, identity and poverty centered on an African-American family living in a segregated Chicago community during the 1950s. Determined to get her family out of their crime-ridden, poverty-stricken neighborhood before they succumb to desperation and despair, the compassionate, practical, nurturing Lena is theater's archetypal strong black woman.

Mother Courage, “Mother Courage and her Children” - The titular antiheroine in Bertolt Brecht's scathing critique of war and capitalism is shrewd, perceptive and amoral with an unequaled instinct for survival. An outsize character in an epic tale, Mother Courage is the ultimate entrepreneur. Making her living following Europe's armies selling her wares to soldiers on both sides, her survival depends upon incessant war. She is never destitute for long and her story, sadly, is timeless.

- Barbara Vitello