Mad Men: The 15 Best Recurring Characters
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15. Father John Gill
Peggy's no saint, but did the baby-faced man of the cloth have to be quite so judgmental about her life choices? Plus, we kinda want him to do penance for making his own dance fliers when her "Night to Remember" ones were so good.
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14. Anna Draper
How is it that Don's fake wife is one of the most genuine people we've met in the Mad Men universe?
Mad Men (Season 5)
14. Gail Holloway
Passive-aggressive and patronizing, Mama Holloway nevertheless is the person who's stuck by Joan the longest. (But she loses points for being so easily taken in by flirty men – see also: Bob, Apollo the plumber, etc. — and arguing Greg's side when he was clearly in the wrong.)
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12. Danny Siegel
From a mediocre copywriter hired by virtue of Don's laziness to a hippie'd-out Hollywood player in the space of a season? Not bad, Jane's cousin. Not bad at all.
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11. Caroline
Roger's maternal secretary – has anyone ever wept so bitterly on Sterling's behalf? – and her nasal voice are a welcome foil for the mini-skirted chicas that tend to answer SC&P's phones.
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10. Herman "Duck" Phillips
Few Mad Men characters have had as many ups and downs as Duck, who at various occasions in the show's run has parried with Don, overseen a corporate merger, bedded Peggy, caused a drunken scene at the CLIOs and come thisclose to fouling one of Roger's fancy white chairs (in his defense, he thought he was in Draper's office).
Mad Men (Season 5)
9. Marie Calvet
Megan's smokin' hot, sophisticated mama somehow found the time – in a single episode – both to disapprove of her daughter's marriage, look stunning in an evening gown and get to know Roger (well, part of him) intimately. Pas mal, non?
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8. Ida Blankenship
Roger's brief, impromptu eulogy sums up the elderly receptionist best: "She died like she lived – surrounded by the people she answered phones for." (Also, remember when we found out they'd been a thing?!)
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7. Meredith
She's not the most buoyant inflatable toy in the steno pool, but we wouldn't want Don's dimwitted secretary any other way. Plus, the girl withstood an angry Joan chucking a model airplane at her head; that's gotta earn her some sympathy points, at least.
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6. Mona Sterling
Whoever cast John Slattery's real-life wife Talia Balsam as his long-suffering (and now ex) missus, we raise a glass of Smirnoff to you. Mona excels at conveying exasperation, disappointment, anger and – yes, even now – affection for her immature former husband, sometimes with just a raised eyebrow.
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5. Freddy Rumsen
Though he was, at one point, Don's Ghost of Drunkmas Future (remember his embarrassment right before the Samsonite presentation?), Freddy has since admirably sobered up – and even seemed to knock a little rock-bottom sense into Draper during the first half of Season 7. Plus, we'll always have a soft spot for the man who first realized that Peggy is a kickass copywriter.
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4. Glen Bishop
Somewhat touchingly/somewhat creepily bonded with Betty. Check. Struck up an ongoing friendship with Sally that continues into adolescence (see also: Museum of Natural History, riding to her prep-school rescue). Check. Got Don to let him drive. Check. The kid's got game.
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3. Bob Benson
Many of us spent all of Season 6 thinking the Sterling Cooper & Partners mystery man just might be a serial killer: Those formal manners! That vague background! The hair! But it turned out Bob was just a closeted gay guy with really short shorts, a made-up pedigree and a thing for Pete. (No accounting for taste.)
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2. Dawn Chambers
Out of everyone on this list, Dawn's the person we'd most like to see mroe often. She's smart, savvy, down-to-earth and has given the most astute estimation of Sterling Cooper & Partners that I've ever heard: ""Everybody's scared there. Women crying in the ladies' room. Men crying in the elevator. It sounds like New Year's Eve when they empty the garbage, there's so many bottles."
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1. Trudy Campbell
She loved Pete, she found out Pete was a womanizing dog, she left Pete – but not without some choice words, both hot – "This is how it's going to work: You will be here only when I tell you to be here. I'm drawing a 50-mile radius around this house and if you so much as open your fly to urinate, I will destroy you." – and chilly – when Pete whines that being free of family obligations isn't what he hoped, she calmly responds, "Well, now you know that." A silently fuming Betty Draper, she ain't.