Carrie Hanks is Clair Huxtable's mother. She was played by Ethel Ayler. She is married to Al Hanks.
Carrie appeared in six episodes during the run of the show, most often providing motherly support to Claire. Her first appearance was in Season 1 's One More Time, where she successfully deterred Clair from having another child after Rudy, citing several examples of friends of hers who had children late in life and now have to deal with them living at their homes in their advanced ages.
Carrie has a good, loving relationship with her Huxtable grandchildren. She and Cliff Huxtable get along well, but she admits she thinks he's strange (Rudy Suits Up)
Carrie's final appearance was in And So We Commence, Part 2.
Trivia[]
- It is plausible for Ethel Ayler to play a mother to Clair, albeit the fact that Ayler is 18 years older than Phylicia Rashād.
- Carrie and Al Hanks do not appear nearly as extensively as Russell & Anna Huxtable.
- It is odd that Carrie and Al are not at the hospital when Sondra's twins are born (The Birth)