Early life

Christine Pickles was born in Yorkshire, England. She is the daughter of Arthur Pickles, Liberal politician and Mayor of Halifax, and Gladys (née Crampton) Pickles. She is the niece of radio presenter Wilfred Pickles and the sister of judge James Pickles. Her niece, Carolyn Pickles, is also an actress. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Career

In 1960s, Pickles moved to United States, and began her acting career appearing on Broadway productions. Her credits include A Severed Head, Inadmissible Evidence, You Can't Take It with You, War and Peace, The Misanthrope, Hamlet, and Sherlock Holmes.

In same time, Pickles debuted on television, playing Linell Conway in Guiding Light (1970-72). She played Countess Elena dePoulignac on the NBC soap opera Another World (1977-79). She appeared in such feature films as Seizure (1974) and Rush It (1977). After moving from New York City to Los Angeles, Pickles was cast as Nurse Helen Rosenthal in the NBC medical drama St. Elsewhere. The series aired from 1982 to 1988. She remained on St. Elsewhere for its entire six-year run and was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her work on the series.

She later was regular on the short-lived CBS sitcom The People Next Door, which aired in 1989. The following years, she went to appear on Family Ties, Who's the Boss?, In the Heat of the Night, Matlock, The Nanny, Murder, She Wrote, and Touched by an Angel.

From 1994 to 2003, Pickles played the recurring role of Judy Geller, the mother of Ross and Monica Geller (David Schwimmer and Courteney Cox), in the NBC sitcom Friends, making appearances throughout the ten-year run of the series. She received an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series nomination for this role in 1995. Pickles played the mother of Harmon Rabb in the CBS drama series JAG from 1998 to 2000. From 1999 to 2000, she starred in the short-lived Fox comedy-drama series Get Real.

Pickles has appeared in many films, including Masters of the Universe (1987), Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love (1994), Legends of the Fall (1994) directed by Edward Zwick, Grace of My Heart (1996), Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996), The Wedding Singer (1998), Sol Goode (2003), George of the Jungle 2 (2003), and Atlas Shrugged: Part I (2011). She has had roles in a number of made-for-television movies.

In recent years, Pickles appeared on How I Met Your Mother as Lily Aldrin's grandmother and guest-starred on The Division, Medium, and Childrens Hospital. In 2016, she was cast in the ABC drama pilot The Death Of Eva Sofia Valdez, starring Gina Torres in a title role.

Personal life

Pickles was married to producer/director Victor Lobl for 23 years, divorcing in 1985. She became a United States citizen in 1989. She was romantically linked to actor Herb Edelman, who also played her significant other on St. Elsewhere, from the mid-1980s until his death in 1996.

In 2005, she married Australian journalist Ian Masters.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	Seizure	Nicole Blackstone
1978	Rush It	Eve
1984	It Came Upon the Midnight Clear	Chris
1987	Masters of the Universe	Sorceress of Castle Grayskull
1989	The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro	Charlotte	Television film
1992	Nightmare in the Daylight	Sarah Jenner	Television film
1993	A Twist of the Knife	Marilyn Cabot	Television film
1994	Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love	Tippy
1994	Legends of the Fall	Isabel Ludlow
1996	Grace of My Heart	Mrs. Buxton
1996	Romeo + Juliet	Caroline Montague
1996	No Easy Way	Mrs. Livingston
1997	Weapons of Mass Distraction	Mrs. Frieda Messinger	Television film
1997	The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island	Elsie (voice)
1998	The Wedding Singer	Angie Sullivan
1998	Monday After the Miracle	Kate Keller
1998	Murder She Purred: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery	Mim Sanburne	Television film
1999	Valerie Flake	Meg Darnell
1999	Poseidon's Fury: Escape from the Lost City	Goddess	Short film
2002	Angels Don't Sleep Here	Angela Porter
2003	Sol Goode	Sol's Mom
2003	George of the Jungle 2	Beatrice Stanhope
2007	The Family Holiday	Mrs. Pendergast
2008	Collectibles	Narrator
2008	Immigrants	Harriet (voice)
2009	Flower Girl	Evangeline Walker
2011	Atlas Shrugged: Part I	Mother Rearden
2013	Live at the Foxes Den	Mrs. Ducksworth
2014	Wild & Precious	Bea	Short film

Television

• The Guiding Light as Linell Conway (1970-1972)
• Another World as Countess Elena DePoulignac (1977-1979)
• The White Shadow as Christine (1 episode, 1981)
• Lou Grant as Elsa (1 episode, 1982)
• Roseanne (1 episode 1988) as Perfume Saleswoman
• St. Elsewhere as Nurse Helen Rosenthal (137 episodes, 1982-1988)
• Family Ties as Ruth Hobart (2 episodes, 1988)
• Who's the Boss? as Laura (1 episode, 1988)
• The People Next Door as Cissy MacIntyre (10 episodes, 1989)
• In the Heat of the Night as Dr. Lureen Allcott (1 episode, 1991)
• Matlock as Diana Huntington (2 episodes, 1992)
• Laurie Hill as Mary (2 episodes, 1992)
• Sisters as Didi Poncell (1 episode, 1994)
• Cybill as Betty (1 episode, 1995)
• Murder, She Wrote as Susan McGregor (1 episode, 1995)
• Diagnosis Murder as Bea Michaels (1 episode, 1996)
• JAG as Trish Burnett (3 episodes, 1998-2000)
• Get Real as Elizabeth Parker (22 episodes, 1999-2002)
• Friends as Judy Geller (19 episodes, 1994-2003)
• The Division as Florence Hayes (1 episode, 2004)
• Medium as Mrs. Walker (1 episode, 2006)
• How I Met Your Mother as Rita (2 episodes, 2009-2011)
• Animal Practice as Sabrina French (1 episode, 2013)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]