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Betty Hofstadt
S6 Betty (01)
Portrayed by January Jones
First appearance Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
Final appearance Recurring
Details
Gender Female
DOB 1932
Occupation Housewife
Retired Model
Residence Ossining, NY
Rye, NY
Relations
Husband Henry Francis
Ex-Husband Don Draper
Parent(s) Eugene Hofstadt (father)
Ruth Hofstadt (mother)
Child(ren) Sally Draper
Bobby Draper
Gene Draper
Sibling(s) William Hofstadt (brother)


Background[]

Elizabeth "Betty" Hofstadt (née Draper, Francis) was born in 1932 and is the ex-wife of Don Draper.

Youth[]

Betty Hofstadt was born in Cape May, New Jersey, where her family summered, and raised in the enclave of Lower Merion, a suburb on the Philadelphia Main Line, which was a very prestigious place to live near Philadelphia. Betty mentioned having a German grandmother and that she came from Nordic people. Her first kiss was with a Jewish boy named David Rosenberg. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1952 with an Anthropology degree, and briefly modeled in Italy before moving to Manhattan. It was during this time that she met Don Draper, when he was a copywriter for a fur company and she was a model posing for a print ad (as told by Joan in "Lady Lazarus").

Married life[]

Her confidantes have included her neighbor Francine Hanson and Glen Bishop, the young son of divorcee Helen Bishop.

Betty and Don lived in Ossining with their 2 children, Sally Draper and Bobby Draper. In the spring of 1960, Betty started to see a psychiatrist because of repeated spells of numbness in her hands, which began after her mother's death. In combination with psychosocial stressors and the exclusion of a neurological cause, it seemed likely that Betty was experiencing Conversion Disorder. Having discovered that her psychiatrist was giving reports of her sessions to Don, she decided to take revenge by telling her doctor things she wanted her husband to hear, but not to tell him directly. So she told the doctor about her husband's infidelities and how much they upset her. Sometime before February 1962, the consultations were stopped.

After a dinner party where Betty was embarrassed to have been tricked by Don into behaving like a "demographic" in order to impress a client, she confronted her husband about his adultery, specifically with Bobbie Barrett. ("A Night to Remember"), whose husband, Jimmy Barrett, had told her he was having an affair with. Don, however, denied having an affair. The next day, with a glass of wine in hand and disheveled, still not having changed out of the clothing worn during the humiliation of the night before, Betty searched through Don's belongings for any proof of his indiscretions, but found nothing. Betty woke Don - who was sleeping on the couch - that night and explained that she doesn't want things to "be like this." He repeated that he did not do anything and when she asked if he hated her, he insisted that he loved her and didn't want to "lose this." When preparing dinner the next day, an Utz commercial featuring Jimmy Barrett aired on television as Betty watched. After seeing this, she called Don at work and told him she didn't want him to come home.

Betty turned to Don when she learned that her father Gene suffered a stroke. She and Don left the children with a neighbor and drove to visit her father; Betty was visibly impatient with both her father's wife Gloria Massey and her brother William. She and Don were careful to present a united front. At the end of a stressful day, Betty made Don sleep on the floor of the guestroom, but later joined him on the floor to make love. The next morning, Betty's father mistook Betty for her mother Ruth, grabbing her breast and suggesting that they "go upstairs." Betty was shocked and frightened, but tried to pretend that everything was all right. When she and Don returned to New York, Betty asked Don Draper to leave again.

Betty discovered she was pregnant around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Although she brought up the subject of abortion with her doctor, and also had sex with a random man at a bar, she asked Don to return home and told him that she was pregnant.

During the Spring of 1963 Betty and Don attended a garden party hosted by Roger Sterling and his new wife, Jane Siegel, where she met Henry Francis, who was later revealed to be an advisor to then-New York governor Nelson A. Rockefeller. He was infatuated with her, and though she seemed reluctant to return his feelings, their emotional affair intensified, though Betty eventually ended it, feeling guilty.

In the spring of 1963, she gave birth to Eugene Scott Draper, whom she named after her recently deceased father.

In November, Don was cornered by Betty, who managed to unearth evidence of Don's secret past life via pictures and documents from a locked drawer in his desk. He told her about his life as Dick Whitman, how he came to exchange dog tags with Lieutenant Don Draper, and Adam's suicide. While apparently somewhat sympathetic to his feelings of guilt about the latter, Betty is highly conflicted about the fact that Don hid this aspect of his life from her for the duration of their relationship and marriage.

After President Kennedy's death and Margaret Sterling's wedding, Betty met with Henry Francis, who confessed to her that he wished to eventually marry her. They passionately kiss, and after the encounter, Betty returned home to tell Don she no longer loved him, leaving him stunned and distraught. This culminated in her seeing a divorce lawyer. Roger Sterling, whose daughter was a friend of Francis' daughter, unwittingly revealed to Don that Betty was having an affair. An incensed Don confronted Betty. After calling her a whore, he assured her that she "won't get a nickel" in the ensuing divorce and that he intended to seek sole custody of the children.

The next morning, he and Betty told the children of the new arrangement, and both saw the level of damage the end of their marriage would deal to the kids. After moving into Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce's new office temporarily, Don called Betty and told her that he would not fight her, and wished her the best. She then traveled to Reno with baby Gene and Henry to get a quickie divorce.

A New Husband[]

Almost a year after Betty and Don Draper's divorce, both she and Henry Francis were still living in Don's home, a house he was still paying for. Don declared that if they did not move out soon, he would need to start collecting rent. After Don left, Henry told Betty that he agreed with Don and that it was time for Betty to start looking for a house, and was promptly rebuffed by Betty. ("Public Relations")

Henry's mother Pauline Francis did not approve of Betty, who made a bad impression at Thanksgiving dinner when she tried to force Sally Draper to eat the food that was being served.

Glen Bishop told Sally that Betty and Don would never get back together, but that Betty and Henry would decide to move soon. While the family was out of the house, Glen and a friend trashed the house. Henry searched the house, to find the rest of the house trashed. ("Christmas Comes But Once a Year")

Upon seeing that Sally dramatically cut her hair while under the supposed care of Don (she did it in the bathroom while she was being babysat), Betty slapped her. Henry tried to tell Betty that young girls do these sorts of things, taking memories from his own time raising his now grown daughter, to which Betty called him soft. After Sally was caught masturbating at a friends house, Henry suggested professional help. Betty confessed to a shocked and speechless Henry that at one point she saw a psychiatrist. ("The Chrysanthemum and the Sword")

Sally ran away, and was brought to Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce by a kind woman. Don called Betty to tell her what happened, though Betty was unwilling to come pick up Sally at that time. She told Don that she would pick her up the following day. When it came time for her to return home with her mother, Sally made a scene, but eventually left the office quietly with her mother. ("The Beautiful Girls")

Don acquired Beatles tickets from Harry Crane for Sally, much to her delight. By this point Betty appeared moderately cordial with Don. ("Hands and Knees")

Ralph Stuben, a New York political operative for Congressman John Lindsay, joined Betty and Henry for dinner at a restaurant the same night that Don was having dinner with Bethany Van Nuys. Ralph Stuben, Betty, and Henry extended courteous hellos to Don. Once they walked away Don remarked to Bethany that Ralph was about to have a horrible dinner. Betty was aggravated at the mere sight of Don and spent most of the dinner glaring at Don, drinking, and hiding the bathroom, which embarrassed Henry. He believed that Betty had too much anger towards Don. On his way to work, he rammed his car into boxes that Don was storing in the garage. He then called Don and told him to pick up the boxes the day before Gene's birthday. Don picked up the boxes, which were on the curb, and saw Henry mowing the lawn. Henry was slightly shocked when he saw Don show up for Gene's party. Betty then spoke to Don, telling him that she had "everything", and was not angry at him or jealous. ("The Suitcase")

Betty called Don after a visit by agents investigating Don's background, telling him that she did not reveal the truth of his identity. He was quite apologetic about putting her in that situation, unaware that they would visit. Later that night, Betty told Henry that she didn't want any secrets between them. ("Hands and Knees")

Betty talked to Sally Draper's psychiatrist, who specialized in treating children, and told Betty that Sally was doing better, but she wanted Betty to talk to another professional. Nonplussed, Betty continued to speak to Sally's psychiatrist, until the psychiatrist said she could continue to meet with Betty in a professional capacity. In her free time Sally talked to Glen Bishop surreptitiously. One day Betty saw both of them walking together into the wooded area they hung out in, and confronted her. Later, Betty told Henry that it was time to move, by implication due to wanting to keep Sally away from Glen Bishop. Upon hearing this, Sally ran to her room and cried. But Henry was happy to finally hear that Betty was ready to move out of the house. ("Blowing Smoke")

A New Betty[]

On July 4, 1966, we find Betty still married to her new husband, and she has gained a lot of weight. After half a year of uncharacteristic weight gain, Betty found her self-confidence and her sex life with Henry deteriorating. Henry's mother suggested getting a prescription for diet pills. When Betty went to the doctor, he found a lump in her throat that could possibly be cancerous. Betty started to worry about what might happen if she was sick, and the life she would leave behind. A biopsy showed that the lump was benign, but she was more upset over her appearance. In "Dark Shadows", Betty was now attending Weight Watchers meetings in hopes of losing weight. After finding a love letter written by Don to Megan on the back of a drawing by Bobby, she blurted out to Sally that her father was married to someone else before her. Realizing that her mother said this to make her upset, she told Betty that Don told her about his ex-wife, and even showed her pictures. 

When season six began, Betty was still overweight and generally unhappy. She connected with Sally's older friend Sandy, who was staying at the house during the holidays. Sandy confided in her that she did not get accepted into Juilliard, but told everyone she did because she wants to go to New York and live in the village. Betty shared some of her own experiences from when she was a struggling model, and advised her to wait until she graduated high school. After coming home from the grocery store, she disovered that Sandy already left to go to "school". Betty spent an entire day in the village area looking for her, and discovered that Sandy decided to go to California, and that she even sold her violin for a pittance. She tried to take the violin from the guy who bought it, and he taunted her for being a bored housewife and a "bottle blond". A few days later, Betty shocked her family by dyeing her hair black. Her children hated her new look, but the ever-loving Henry said she looked like Elizabeth Taylor.

Family[]

Betty's mother died early in 1960. ("Ladies Room") Her father, Gene, had a girlfriend named Gloria, whom Betty didn't like and whom her father married. Gloria left Gene when he began showing signs of mental deterioration in 1963. He moved in with the Drapers shortly before he died. Her father lived in a Philadelphia suburb (Lower Merion) and had a summer home in Cape May, New Jersey. Betty's mother frequently warned her of the dangers of being "stout" and emphasized that Betty's appearance and looking beautiful were very important.

She had a brother, William, who was married and had daughters whom Don and Betty considered to be "rowdy." William knew that Betty was their father's favorite and may have had a bit of an inferiority complex regarding Don, as William was not nearly as successful as Don.

Clothing/Fashion Style[]

Betty Francis was extremely beautiful and glamorous, being compared at times to Grace Kelly, who also lived on the Philadelphia Main Line and summered in Cape May. She worked as a successful model for a time in New York City when she was single. She looked glamorous in everything from horseback riding attire to a pink negligee. Betty typically dressed in beautiful floral print dresses and matching head bands, sophisticated hair styles, high waisted pants, fur coats, and stilettos, while married to Don. After marrying the much-older Henry Francis, who was involved in Republican New York politics, she began employing a more conservative, matronly style, with monochrome dresses and slender pantsuits. 

Gallery[]

Mad Men Characters
Don Draper's Past Don DraperAbigail WhitmanArchie WhitmanAdam WhitmanMack JohnsonLieutenant Don DraperAnna DraperPattyStephanie Horton
Don Draper and Hofstadt Family Betty HofstadtSally DraperBobby DraperGene DraperGloria MasseyEugene Hofstadt
New York Suburb residents CarlaGlen BishopHelen BishopFrancine HansonArnold WayneSuzanne FarrellEdna Keener
Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency employees Roger SterlingBertram CooperJoan HollowayHarry CraneFreddy RumsenSalvatore RomanoKen CosgrovePaul KinseyHerman PhillipsBurt PetersonGreta GuttmanHollisJimmy BarrettWarren McKennaDaleBobbie BarrettRoger Sterling, Sr.
Sterling Cooper secretaries Peggy OlsonJane SiegelAllisonHildyLois SadlerMarge
Sterling Cooper clients Rachel MenkenLee Garner, Jr.Elliot LawrenceConrad HiltonAnnabelle MathisCrab Colson
Campbell Family Pete CampbellTrudy VogelBud CampbellTom VogelJeannie VogelJudy CampbellAndrew Campbell
Olson Relations Anita Olson RespolaKatherine OlsonJohn GillGerry RespolaMark KearneyJoyce RamsayAbe Drexler
London residents Lane PryceAlec MartinSaint John PowellGuy MacKendrickHarold FordJohn HookerRebecca PryceRobert Pryce
Francis Family Henry FrancisEleanor FrancisPauline Francis
New York City residents Beth DawesHoward DawesMidge DanielsJennifer CraneJim HobartMargaret SterlingMona SterlingKitty RomanoWalter EmersonBethany Van NuysCynthia CosgroveGail HollowayGreg HarrisRuth HarrisKevin HarrisMorris Ginsberg
Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce employees Faye MillerStan RizzoMichael GinsbergJoey BairdDanny SiegelMargie KochBill Mitford
Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce secretaries Ida BlankenshipDawn ChambersScarlettCarolineSandy Schmidt
Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce clients Herb RennetBob FinleyThomas FillmoreAkira TakahashiHachi Saito
Calvet Family Megan CalvetEmile CalvetMarie CalvetMarie-France Calvet
New York residents Sylvia RosenJuliaPhoebe
Cutler, Gleason, and Chaough employees Jim CutlerFrank GleasonTed ChaoughSmitty SmithKurt SmithNan Chaough
Affair partners CandaceJanineToni CharlesJoy
Other characters Lyle EvansDavey KelloggJim HobartPerry DemuthJack HammondRalph Stuben
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