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Claire feels that she needs to protect him as he's the one that is usually putting himself in danger with experiments and other dumb things. Phil takes on the cool dad aspect of things and supports Luke in decisions, stating that some people ask "Why?" and Luke asks "Why not?", Claire has once told Phil that she asks "Why?", with Luke, in her head a lot. |
Claire feels that she needs to protect him as he's the one that is usually putting himself in danger with experiments and other dumb things. Phil takes on the cool dad aspect of things and supports Luke in decisions, stating that some people ask "Why?" and Luke asks "Why not?", Claire has once told Phil that she asks "Why?", with Luke, in her head a lot. |
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| − | In "Truth Be Told" Hayley and Alex convinced Luke he was adopted, and Phil's old girlfriend wanted to take him home. Claire was completely clueless about the situation, and let his older sisters continue to tease him in the end never learning the truth about Phil's old girlfriend Denise. |
+ | In "[[Truth Be Told]]", Hayley and Alex convinced Luke he was adopted, and Phil's old girlfriend wanted to take him home. Claire was completely clueless about the situation, and let his older sisters continue to tease him for fun in the end never learning the truth about Phil's old girlfriend [[Denise]]. |
In "[[Phil's Sexy, Sexy House]]", she finds Luke in a closet with a six pack of beer which she takes from him and later has to ground him for. It seems that like everyone else Luke snuck into Cyril's sexy sexy house and wanted have some fun with his boys, we see him mention earlier on that all the girls said no so they were all alone with their beer. |
In "[[Phil's Sexy, Sexy House]]", she finds Luke in a closet with a six pack of beer which she takes from him and later has to ground him for. It seems that like everyone else Luke snuck into Cyril's sexy sexy house and wanted have some fun with his boys, we see him mention earlier on that all the girls said no so they were all alone with their beer. |
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Revision as of 12:24, 8 January 2016
Claire Melinda Dunphy (née Pritchett) is the daughter of Jay and DeDe Pritchett and Mitchell's older sister. She is also the wife of Phil, and the mother of the Haley, Alex, and Luke. Claire was a stay-at-home mom until the fifth season when she started to work for her father at Pritchett's Closets & Blinds.
Julie Bowen has received critical acclaim for her portrayal of the overbearing Dunphy matriarch, remaining the only member of the cast to be nominated for all seasons, in the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series category, and winning twice in 2011 and 2012.
Biography
Before the show
Claire was born at some point in the 1970s to Jay and Dede Pritchett. She also has a younger brother Mitchell who is approximately 2 years younger than her. Claire has a troubled relationship with her mother who frequently criticizes her, especially on her appearance. Her mother also never went to any of Claire's events as a child ("Farm Strong") and seems to annoys her constantly even when she was young. This added more cause to her being a daddy's girl, as opposed to Mitchell who she claims is a momma's boy. When they were younger, the siblings are a figure skating duo nicknamed "Fire & Nice", which Mitchell claims was because of his red hair and because Claire was not nice ("En Garde").
When she was younger, Claire was a wild girl, usually getting into trouble and one time being brought home by the police naked, except for a pair of underwear ("The Kiss"). When she was 17, she dated a rogue Robbie Sullivan, whom she would sneak into the house at 3AM. She also dated a guy named Ricky whom her mother claims looks like Charles Manson ("The Incident"). Once, to annoy her father, Claire went out with a Cheesecake Factory manager named Todd who is twice her age ("Party Crasher"). In college, Claire dated Cooke, a professor, who dumped her. This is when she subsequently started dating Phil ("Bad Hair Day").
During a Duran Duran concert, Claire got pregnant with their first child. She announced it to Phil on the answering machine ("Message Received") and the two eloped before finally getting married four months later.
Before she married, Claire was an Account Manager at Starcrest Hotels, where she worked with Valerie. She also spent two summers at Jay's closet business and worked at a bowling alley with Jeff.
Personality
Claire is a perfectionist when it comes to dealing with her family, often knowing what to do during stressful times more than her husband Phil. She tends to be uptight and "bossy" in getting things done in the house, which usually leads to humorous disagreements with the laid-back Phil, who adores her. Her daughters claim she has excellent hearing because she could hear them whenever they say they are bored ("Aunt Mommy"). She is also actively participating in her children's school, and helps in organizing events. Mitchell and Cameron often go to her for parenting advice in raising Lily.
Claire has been shown to be extremely competitive, a trait she got from her father Jay who encouraged her into sports and winning ("Egg Drop"). She is also shown to be blatantly honest and almost enjoy delivering bad news to people ("The Last Walt").
Claire has a mysterious penchant for death and the macabre, implied first in "Halloween" which she says is her favorite holiday. Every year she would meticulously organize Halloween displays and pranks at her house, except one year after she scared an adult who fainted at their doorstep, and neighbors petitioned that they keep decorations "family friendly" ("Open House of Horrors"). After gay marriage was legalized in California, she suggests to Mitchell gruesome ways on how to propose to Cameron ("Suddenly, Last Summer").
Along with Phil, Claire enjoys what she refers to as "cheesy cinema" ("Our Children, Ourselves "). Claire also seem to enjoy arts and crafts, insisting that during Luke's birthday party, there be a table where kids can make personalized comb sheaths ("Fizbo"). Claire enjoys reading and jogging, as she demonstrates that she can beat Phil in a race in "Run for Your Wife". It is revealed in "Virgin Territory" that she regularly goes to shooting gallery to unwind, during which she tells her family she is doing yoga.
Physical Appearance and Typical Attire
Claire is an attractive woman with blonde hair and hazel brown eyes who has had a number of admirers, including Phil's rival Glenn Whipple, co-worker at the bowling alley Jeff, and her college friend Tater. She has mid-long hair in the first five seasons, which she cut and curled at the start of the sixth season. She once dyed her hair to brunette (as shown in "Slow Down Your Neighbors") but changed it back quickly after Jay blatantly said she looked old.
Claire generally wears what Haley and Alex refer to as "mom clothes." She generally wears blouses or button-up shirts, and jeans.
Season Summaries
In Season 1 we see that Claire is trying her best to deal with her kids: Alex being brainy and always manipulating her sister and brother, Haley and Luke, when she can. Haley being the not so smart one but having a very active social life and not being so close to Claire as she used to be. Luke being the dumb one who Claire has to baby a little more.
In Season 2 we see that Claire is reunited (in a friendship way) with her ex-boyfriend Robbie Sullivan in "Princess Party" and her mother drives her crazier than ever by making out with Robbie and making him her boyfriend.
None Assigned yet (Please write a Season 3 summary here for Claire.)
In Season 4 we see that Claire and Phil drag Mitchell -as a lawyer- along with them to bail Haley out of jail when she gets arrested. Claire then forgives her daughter and take her home after she's expelled from college. In "Party Crasher", her half-brother Joe is born and she also becomes his godmother.
None Assigned yet (Please write a Season 5 summary here for Claire.)
None Assigned yet (Please write a Season 6 summary here for Claire.)
None Assigned yet (Please write a Season 7 summary here for Claire.)
Relationships
Family
Phil
Phil is Claire's husband of 16 years at the start of the series. Claire tends to refer to Phil as the "kid" she married. As much as they are lovers they are also best friends, Claire and Phil have a very loving romantic and friendly relationship. Phil begged Claire to marry him and he is extremely devoted to her, as seen in various episodes where even the thought of another attractive woman would cause Phil to feel guilty. Though distinctly different in personalities, Phil and Claire make a great team raising their children, as Phil refers to their disciplining method as "Good cop-Mom."
Every Valentine's Day since season 1, Claire and Phil would role-play as Julianna and Clive Bixby and meet at a hotel bar.
Haley
Haley is Claire's eldest daughter. As Claire had a wild childhood, she constantly tries to keep her daughters safe and from rebelling. Claire and Haley had a very close relationship but grew apart as Haley became a teenager, during which Claire says she is always in her own world ("Not in My House"). Claire reveals she reads Haley's journal and the most shocking thing in there is her grammar.
During the first seasons, the two often argue about Haley's decisions regarding his boyfriend Dylan, with Haley consistently trying to break free and Claire concerned with her daughter's safety. As the show progresses, Claire realizes how similar she is to Haley, similarly perceiving their mothers as "psycho control freaks" ("Earthquake").
It became a running gag that due to Haley's ditzy nature, Claire has low hopes for her future, even mentioning that Haley is their "dumbest kid" ("Fifteen Percent") and her going to college is a miracle ("Schooled"). Claire buys Haley a box of condoms when she heads off to college, reasoning that she is just being realistic.
In "Best Men", Claire expresses her hope in rebuilding her relationship with Haley as she sees her maturing and easier to break through. On Haley's 21st Birthday, Claire gets a tattoo of the Sanskrit character for "mother" on her ankle when she thought Haley would also get one.
Alex
Alex is Claire's second daughter. An extremely smart and mature character, Alex need not Claire nor Phil to supervise her even at a young age. Since she basically acts as an adult, Alex usually serves as Claire's spy in keeping her siblings Haley and Luke safe, as seen in "iSpy."
Claire's main concern with Alex is that she frequently makes fun of her siblings for her amusement. She shares to Claire that she is most happy when they are both in trouble ("Not in My House"). In "Our Children, Ourselves" Alex places second in her class and states that she just has to do "the best with what she was given," insulting her parents' intelligence and worrying Claire if they are holding their children back.
Though Alex often treats her parents with condescension, she thanks Claire in "American Skyper" after her high school graduation for being the one responsible for her achievements and invites her to go to with her on her trip through Europe.
Luke
Luke is Claire's only son.
Claire feels that she needs to protect him as he's the one that is usually putting himself in danger with experiments and other dumb things. Phil takes on the cool dad aspect of things and supports Luke in decisions, stating that some people ask "Why?" and Luke asks "Why not?", Claire has once told Phil that she asks "Why?", with Luke, in her head a lot.
In "Truth Be Told", Hayley and Alex convinced Luke he was adopted, and Phil's old girlfriend wanted to take him home. Claire was completely clueless about the situation, and let his older sisters continue to tease him for fun in the end never learning the truth about Phil's old girlfriend Denise.
In "Phil's Sexy, Sexy House", she finds Luke in a closet with a six pack of beer which she takes from him and later has to ground him for. It seems that like everyone else Luke snuck into Cyril's sexy sexy house and wanted have some fun with his boys, we see him mention earlier on that all the girls said no so they were all alone with their beer.
Jay
Jay is Claire's father.
Claire says that Jay has always had a tough time with giving out love as he isn't seen as the soft type of guy although he tries- to breaking point- to give out the love that his kids deserve. Jay never really dealt with Phil 'taking away' his daughter and can sometimes think of Phil as his enemy because of this, Jay has shown to Claire at certain multiple times that he does love her, Jay and Claire do have a strong loving friendship.
Gloria
Gloria is Claire's stepmother.
Claire is at first very nervous with Gloria, she is on observation to make sure that her mother-in-law can make her Dad happy, at first it is said by Luke that Claire has once or twice called Gloria a 'Gold digger' in "Coal DIgger", at first Luke hears Gold Digger as Coal Digger. This was before Claire and Gloria spent some time together. Gloria and Claire now have a very strong and loving relationship now that all is out in the open. Gloria can sometimes unintentionally be a harmless threat to Claire's love life, as Phil seems to usually be attracted to Gloria in some ways although Phil knows not to cross the line and states that he will never stray away from Claire.
Manny
Manny is Claire's stepbrother.
Claire and Manny have a good relationship with each other, one of the very first interactions Manny and Claire have with each other is an awkward one that turns into a therapy session for Claire, venting about her kids, half way through Claire states that she somtimes forget he's not a teenager or an adult as he seems to be a good therapist and a know-it-all, who can relate to both teenager, kids and adults.
Mitchell
Mitchell is Claire's brother.
Mitchell and Claire have a very good relationship with each other. Mitchell and Claire often bicker and fight as if they were teenagers, but they always make up, Mitchell doesn't always seem to let his feelings out to Claire about how he's feeling, but they still manage to work everything out in the end and will always love and support each other. Mitchell reveals that they grew apart after their parents' divorce because they picked opposing sides, Claire being a daddy's girl and Mitchell being a momma's boy.
In "En Garde", it is revealed my Mitchell that he is still a little bitter with Claire about the fact that claire quit ice-skating just before a massive competition, Claire states that she did it so Mitchell wouldn't be embarrassed she then explains to him that he was dropping her quite a lot during rehearsals and she didn't want him to drop her when the massive competition came. Claire then asks if he forgives her, which he says he does but then tries to lift her up when they hug, indicating that he doesn't forgive her and he still wants to try to lift her up to see if he could still lift her. Mitchell then sits down with her and they have a real conversation where Mitchell and Claire both reveal things to each other. Claire then gets up and gets into the ice-skating position indicating to Mitchell that they can try again and resolve the conflict that they have. Later on we see them dancing and Cam is recording whilst Jay looks proud.
Lily
Lily is Claire's adoptive niece.
It was stated that until Sleeper, Claire gives her daughters' old clothes to Lily, though Cam does not want her to wear any of them. Claire also, at least on one occasion is asked by Mitchell and Cam to fetch Lily from school ("The Feud"). She takes her to the park and unknowingly gets lice from Lily.
DeDe
DeDe is Claire's mother, they don't always get along very well and this is mostly because of DeDe's incoming, unintentional insults toward her. In "The Incident" it is shown that DeDe may be mentally ill with her frequent outbursts of anger towards Gloria and her inappropriate sexual refrences to her children about her love/sex life.
Trivia
- She along with Jay, Gloria, Phil, Mitch, and Cam are the only characters who have appeared in every episode.
- She has a penchant for drinking wine, as seen in various episodes.
- She went to Pole Dance classes ("The Help").
- She seems to enjoy crafting, we see that Claire thinks there should be a crafting table for the kids at Luke's birthday party ("Fizbo").
- She has Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome which she inherited from her mother ("Heart Broken").
- She once tried to add her children on Facebook using a fake profile named Margo Lacroix. ("iSpy") She also uses a Facebook account named Brody Kendall to stalk her children online ("Connection Lost").
Quotes
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Claire: We're going to get them off electronics with the promise of more electronics? Luke: I want chicken pot pie. Phil: And chicken. Haley: I want a car. Claire: No way! Phil: Done! [Hayley, Alex, and luke all scream in excitement] Haley: I'm getting a car! Phil: Yeah! Fun, right? Claire: No, no, no! Phil, we cannot afford a third car. Phil: Relax. They're never going to last as long as us. Claire: Oh, honey. Don't take this the wrong way... but I have almost no faith in you. |
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— From "Unplugged"
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Alex: I can't believe it. I got a "B" on my paper. Phil: Good for you. Claire: Yeah. Alex: No, it would be good for you. It's terrible for me. Thanks to your moldy encyclopedias, my take on mitosis was completely out of date. They don't even call it "protoplasm" anymore. It's "cytoplasm". Claire: Well, you could have asked one of us. Alex: Now you're making jokes? Claire: I'm not making a joke. Alex: Really? What's the difference between a gamete and a zygote? [Claire is at a loss for words] Phil: Don't fall for it, Claire. She's just making up words. |
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— From "Unplugged"
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Claire: They say they need volunteers so that everyone feels included, but they really want me to do it. I always plan the school dances. It's been my thing since Haley was twelve. Gloria: They made us co-chair. That means we are supposed work together. But Claire doesn't take any of my ideas. Claire: She suggested an Arabian Nights theme. Isn't it a little soon? |
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— From "Dance Dance Revelation"
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Claire: Honey, are you wearing cologne? Luke: No. Dad attacked the cologne guy and then hugged me. |
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— From "Dance Dance Revelation"
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Gloria: I didn't come here to steal your thunder. Your thunder is your thunder and my thunder is my thunder. Claire: I know, it's just that God gave you so much thunder. |
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— From "Dance Dance Revelation"
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Claire: Is this because I wouldn't dance with you? I'm a married woman. How would that look? Gus: One dance with me, and you forget all about it. Claire: I already have a man who doesn't change light bulbs at home. |
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— From "Dance Dance Revelation"
Appearances
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Appearances |
Episode | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Total | |
| Season 1 | 24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 2 | 24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 3 | 24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 4 | 24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 5 | 24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 6 | 24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season 7 | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Please go to here for color coding.
Gallery
| v • e • d Modern Family characters | ||||
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