Mother Zbornak

The Golden Girls article

Mother Zbornak
Portrayed by	Alice Ghostley
Character Information
Nicknames	Mom Mama
Gender	Female
Age	Eighties, deceased
Death	Some time before 1990
Occupation(s)	Housewife
Family Members
Siblings Unnamed brother Spouses Mr. Zbornak (husband) Children Stanley Zbornak Theodore Zbornak (son) Grandchildren Kate Zbornak-Griffiths (Granddaughter) Michael Zbornak (Grandson) Descendants Robbie Zbornak (great-grandson) Other Relatives Magda Yitchinson (niece) Morris. Zbornak (brother-in-law) Dorothy Zbornak Chrissy Zbornak Katherine Zbornak (ex-daughters in-law)
Production Information
Appears In	The Golden Girls
Debuts in	Mother's Day (The Golden Girls) (May 7, 1988)
Episode Count	1

"Mother" Yolanda Zbornak (neé Yitchinson) is a one-off character in The Golden Girls. She is the late mother of Stan and Ted Zbornak, and the former mother-in-law of Dorothy Zbornak.

Yolanda made her only appearance in the Season 3 episode "Mother's Day". She was portrayed by the late Alice Ghostley.

Personality and Traits

Yolanda was Stan Zbornak's "proud" mother. At first, she seems like a woman who spoils her son and despises her daughter in-law, hanging pictures of Stan on every wall in her trailer and treating Dorothy with the utmost contempt. However, it is revealed that she isn't fond of Stan in the least -- but she knows that the world makes fun of him enough, so she made him out to be more than he was to keep him from crumbling under his own failures.

Biography

Background

Yolanda is the mother of Stanley and Ted Zbornak. Yolanda was aware that Stan was a less than stellar child, so she babied him and put him on a pedestal to help him cope with the world making fun of him.

Mother's Day

Yolanda's only physical appearance was in "Mother's Day", where Dorothy recounted a time where she and Stan were low on funds and needed to ask Yolanda for a $500 loan. When they arrived at her trailer, Yolanda once again went through her routine of animosity towards Dorothy. When Stan left the trailer to pretend to make a phone call, Yolanda showed her true colors and asked Dorothy how she could help the couple. When Dorothy was surprised by her change in demeanor, Yolanda explained why she treated Stan the way she did, and if she let on that she liked Dorothy, Stan would never leave Yolanda alone. She then gave Dorothy twice as much money as she needed -- $1,000 cash from her garterbelt -- under the condition that she never told Stan where she got the money. After the couple left, Yolanda began taking Stan's pictures down from the wall.

Yolanda's reaction to Stan and Dorothy's divorce was never disclosed, but she was still alive by the time of "If At Last You Do Succeed". Stan mentioned that he couldn't take her to the dinner with the Japanese executives, as she chewed too loud and still called Japanese people "Japs".

Death

Yolanda passed away sometime after "If At Last You Do Succeed".

Relationships

Stanley Zbornak

But after Stan leaves the trailer, Yolanda calls him a yutz and says that the whole world makes fun of him, and that's why she's making him out more than he is. She knows that Stan has a tendency to be weak, and if he knew his mother was a soft touch, he'd never amount to anything.

After ruining his second wedding with Dorothy, Stan decided he would go to therapy to try to get some form of closure. He said if Dorothy joined him on a session it might help him get over her sooner. Dorothy reluctantly agreed, however, as soon as they started the session, Stan started begging Dr. Halperin to help them "put this crazy marriage back together." After being yelled at, Stan accidentally called Dorothy "Sophia" while trying to proclaim his love for her. Dr. Halperin reveals that Stan made the same slip-up in an earlier session and concludes that Stan really wants to be near Sophia -- who represents Stan's own mother, who passed away before the two of them could resolve things.

Dorothy Zbornak

Every Sunday, Stan and Dorothy would have dinner at Yolanda's house, which Dorothy dreaded enough that she compared it to the stress she suffered when Stan had gallbladder surgery. When Dorothy and the girls were suffering from nightmares after renting Psycho, she remarked on how she declined to see it with Stan instead on an Sunday, she remarks that Yolanda was less scary than Norman Bates and that Bates dressed better as well.

For the majority of Dorothy's marriage to Stan, Dorothy believed that Yolanda hated her as she would treat her very poorly whenever they met up. However, Dorothy would later learn that Yolanda was glad that Dorothy married Stan, because she was tough on him even though she loved him. She even gave Dorothy twice as much money as she needed, under the condition that she never told Stan that Yolanda provided the money. Dorothy looked at Yolanda in a different light afterwards.

Kate and Michael Zbornak

In Sophia's flashback in "One for the Money", it is stated Kate and Michael were scared of Yolanda, and the last time they visited her prior to Sophia's flashback, Michael couldn't sleep for a week.

Sophia Petrillo

The extent of Sophia's relationship with Yolanda isn't known, but Sophia didn't appear to be fond of her. She insisted that Yolanda "wasn't human" and believes she ate mice.

Family tree

To be added.

Appearances

The Golden Girls (1985 - 1992)

Season 1
1. "The Engagement":	Absent	14. "That Was No Lady":	Absent
2. "Guess Who's Coming to the Wedding":	Mentioned	15. "In a Bed of Rose's":	Absent
3. "Rose the Prude":	Absent	16."The Truth Will Out":	Absent
4. "Transplant":	Absent	17. "Nice and Easy":	Absent
5. "The Triangle":	Absent	18. "The Operation":	Absent
6. "On Golden Girls":	Absent	19. "Second Motherhood":	Absent
7. "The Competition":	Absent	20. "Adult Education":	Absent
8. "Break-In":	Absent	21. "The Flu":	Absent
9. "Blanche and the Younger Man":	Absent	22. "Job Hunting":	Absent
10. "The Heart Attack":	Absent	23. "Blind Ambitions":	Absent
11. "The Return of Dorothy's Ex":	Absent	24. "Big Daddy":	Absent
12. "The Custody Battle":	Absent	25. "The Way We Met":	Mentioned
13. "A Little Romance":	Absent

Season 3
1. "Old Friends":	Absent	14. "Blanche's Little Girl":	Absent
2. "One for the Money":	Mentioned	15. "Dorothy's New Friend":	Absent
3. "Bringing Up Baby":	Absent	16."Grab That Dough":	Absent
4. "The Housekeeper":	Absent	17. "My Brother, My Father":	Absent
5. "Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself":	Absent	18. "Golden Moments, Part 1":	Absent
6. "Letter to Gorbachev":	Absent	19. "Golden Moments, Part 2":	Absent
7. "Strange Bedfellows":	Absent	20. "And Ma Makes Three":	Absent
8. "Brotherly Love":	Absent	21. "Larceny and Old Lace":	Absent
9. "A Visit from Little Sven":	Absent	22. "Rose's Big Adventure":	Absent
10. "The Audit":	Absent	23. "Mixed Blessings":	Absent
11. "Three on a Couch":	Absent	24. "Mister Terrific":	Appears
12. "Charlie's Buddy":	Absent	25. "Mother's Day":	Absent
13. "The Artist":	Absent

Season 6
1. "Blanche Delivers":	Absent	14. "Sister of the Bride":	Absent
2. "Once, In St. Olaf":	Absent	15. "Miles to Go":	Absent
3. "If At Last You Do Succeed":	Mentioned	16. "There Goes the Bride, Part 1":	Absent
4. "Snap Out Of It":	Absent	17. "There Goes the Bride, Part 2":	Absent
5. "Wham, Bam, Thank You Mammy":	Absent	18. "Older and Wiser":	Absent
6. "Feelings":	Absent	19. "Melodrama":	Absent
7. "Zborn Again":	Absent	20. "Even Grandmas Get the Blues":	Absent
8. "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sophia?":	Absent	21. "Witness":	Absent
9. "Mrs. George Devereaux":	Absent	22. "What a Difference a Date Makes":	Absent
10. "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun... Before They Die":	Absent	23. "Love for Sale":	Absent
11. "Stand By Your Man":	Absent	24. "Never Yell Fire in a Crowded Retirement Home, Part 1":	Absent
12. "Ebbtide's Revenge":	Absent	25. "Never Yell Fire in a Crowded Retirement Home, Part 2":	Absent
13. "The Bloom Is Off the Rose":	Absent	26. "Henny Penny — Straight, No Chaser":	Absent

Season 7
1. "Hey, Look Me Over":	Absent	14. "Old Boyfriends":	Absent
2. "The Case of the Libertine Belle":	Absent	15. "Goodbye, Mr. Gordon":	Absent
3. "Beauty and the Beast":	Absent	16. "The Commitments":	Absent
4. "That's For Me To Know":	Absent	17. "Questions and Answers":	Absent
5. "Where's Charlie?":	Absent	18. "Ebbtide VI: The Wrath of Stan]":	Absent
6. "Mother Load":	Absent	19. "Journey to the Center of Attention":	Absent
7. "Dateline: Miami":	Absent	20. "A Midwinter Night's Dream, Part 1":	Absent
8. "The Monkey Show, Part 1":	Absent	21. "A Midwinter Night's Dream, Part 2":	Absent
9. "The Monkey Show, Part 2":	Mentioned	22. "Rose: Portrait of a Woman":	Absent
10. "Ro$e Love$ Mile$":	Absent	23. "Home Again, Rose, Part 1":	Absent
11. "Room 7":	Absent	24. "Home Again, Rose, Part 2":	Absent
12. "From Here to the Pharmacy":	Absent	25. "One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest, Part 1":	Absent
13. "The Pope's Ring":	Absent	26. "One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest, Part 2":	Absent

Trivia

• It is mentioned that she liked to drink grain alcohol from a measuring cup.
• It was mentioned by Stan that she is a loud chewer.