50 Best ‘Mad Men’ Characters
Sex. Booze. Money. Corruption. Mad Men has given us a host of brilliantly depraved rogues over the past eight seasons. (Or seven, if you’re into AMC’s droll accounting.) So many great characters, with so few moral standards. As Matthew Weiner’s saga of the Sixties ad game heads for the final curtain, it’s time to count down the 50 best characters. Some keep evolving over the years, going through drastic changes. Others just blaze for an episode or two. Really, it’s about quality not quantity — sorry, but no matter how much screen time Lou Avery gobbles up, he can’t hang with a glorious one-shot like Ho-Ho. Some of these characters are fast with a quip, some out for a buck, others just here for a drink. But they’re all unforgettable.
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Guy MacKendrick
Showcase Episode: "Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency"
Meet the new boss: Sterling Cooper gets a visit from Guy, the posh Brit who's running the shop from now on. He walks around shaking hands — polished, confident, every inch a gentleman. Except his first day at the office goes very, very badly, thanks to a runaway lawn mower. Poor Guy — introduced with so much fanfare, mopped up so fast. A perfect example of how Mad Men loves to set you up and then torpedo your expectations. As Joan says, "That's life. One day you're on top of the world, the next minute some secretary is running you over with a lawn mower." -
Trudy Campbell
Showcase Episode: "New Amsterdam"
Being married to Pete Campbell — now there's a fate you wouldn't wish on anyone. Yet Alison Brie's Trudy is quite the little schemer behind the scenes. Her all-time best moment comes while she's lurking in the next room: "Peter, may I speak to you for a moment?" Eventually she wises up and leaves — but since they're the only two people who could ever put up with each other, maybe they should admit defeat and reunite. Only Trudy would get hot and bothered when Pete punches out the prep-school admissions director: another battle in the MacDonald-vs.-Campbell clan war. -
Harry Crane
Showcase Episode: "The Wheel"
A creepier, sweatier Pete Campbell, with no redeeming qualities, except maybe his touching fondness for White Castle burgers. Some of us have never forgiven him for ratting out Sal and getting him fired. Harry Crane was a likeable loser in the early seasons, always inept at sucking up to big shots — as in his painful attempt to discuss modern art with Bert Cooper. He finally gets some respect when he meets his soul mate Jim Cutler, who tells him, "You have stiff competition, but I believe you to be the most dishonest man I have ever worked with." At Sterling Cooper, that's high praise. -
Bethany Van Nuys
Showcase Episode: "The Summer Man"
One of the many glittery ladies who flicker in and out of Don Draper's life, Bethany is an aspiring actress who works as a stand-in at the Metropolitan Opera. When she describes her stage routine to Don, she's basically describing his life as well: "I'm a wench, I'm a courtesan, part of a harem. It depends on the opera." She performs a prima donna solo recital on Don in the back of a taxi, marking her man ("What are you doing?" "Making you comfortable") and departing into the night with the words: "To be continued." Way to make an exit, Bethany. -
Danny Siegel
Showcase Episode: "Waldorf Stories"
Roger Sterling's second wife's idiot nephew, Danny stumbled into a gig at Sterling Cooper after he pitched a dumb idea that Don ended up accidentally using. Danny was always a cure for the common Mad Men episode, the butt of everyone's cruelest jokes — even Peggy came to enjoy having him and his pipe around. He was last seen making the Hollywood party scene. Played by Danny Strong, who went on to win an Emmy for writing Game Change and then co-created Empire, because the universe is one crazy place. -
Horace “Ho Ho” Cook
Showcase Episode: "The Arrangements"
Pete's college chum from Dartmouth has money — lots of money — and a dream: He wants to make jai alai as popular as baseball. "Ho Ho" wants to spend a fortune pushing this sport, even when Don tries to warn him off, and plans to make a matinee idol out of the the sport's star, Paxti. (This latter idea is responsible for the Clueless-worthy line, "I'm terrified of him catching balls in the face.") Sterling Cooper gets a case of "bill it to the kid" fever, since jai alai will never become the national pastime, but conning suckers is. Cook's hard-ass dad is a real piece of work, too. "My father hates Kennedy, because he knew Old Joe when they were criminals together." -
Jim Cutler
Showcase Episode: "Waterloo"
Okay, so that Cutler, Gleeson & Chaough merger didn't quite work out. But it did bring a splendid new villain into Don's life: Harry Hamlin's Jim Cutler, who looks down on everyone through his giant Barry Goldwater glasses. He tries to squeeze Don out, with a lot of help from Don's liquor cabinet, in favor of budding cartoonist Lou Avery. His motto: "Unless this works, I'm against it." -
The Madam
Showcase Episode: "Signal 30"
Mad Men has to hold some kind of record for one-scene sensations — characters who only need a moment or two onscreen to burn themselves onto your brain forever. Think of Roger Sterling's divorce lawyer ("I have a list of conditions and an alimony that could support Rita Hayworth"), the Belle Jolie lipstick salesman, Pete Campbell's dad, the Clio Awards MC ("Gentlemen, let's pace ourselves"), Achilles the janitor or Duck Phillips' dog. But few characters make a bigger impression in less time than the whorehouse madam (veteran character actress Eve Gordon) who notices Don Draper alone at the bar. They recognize each other as kindred spirits, or at least people who know way too much about whorehouses. "So expert, what do you think? Should I get a TV in here?" A moment of bonding — and then back to business.(Note: In case you're keeping score of Mad Men's endless JFK obsessions, Eve Gordon played Marilyn Monroe in the 1991 miniseries about Jackie Kennedy. Happy birthday, Mr. President!)
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Jeffrey Graves
Another great one-shot. Paul Kinsey's Princeton pal Jeffrey shows up at the Sterling Cooper office to get the crew high, including newbie Peggy Olson. ("My name is Peggy Olson and I want to smoke some marijuana.") They all spend a strange stoned afternoon together, though it gets ugly when Jeffrey taunts Paul about his Jersey roots and his expulsion from the Princeton Tigertones. (Paul is touchy about his vocal skills.) But they reconcile for a bizarrely touching duet on "Hello! Ma Baby," which gets the ultimate rave review from Peggy: "I am so high!"
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Shirley
Showcase Episode: "A Day's Work"
Loads of women at the Sterling Cooper office excel at making so-over-this-bullshit faces, but few can match Shirley. Especially when she gets her bouquet of roses stolen by Peggy: "I'm getting her coffee and I'm taking my time." She gives notice to Roger with a hilariously sincere attempt at a compliment: "You're very amusing." That one stings, and make no mistake, it was meant to. -
Katherine Olson
Showcase Episode: "The Suitcase"
Peggy's mom is a tough old Catholic lady from Bay Ridge, where she probably goes to church with the young Tony Manero. She adores her daughter, calling her "Peaches," but she's usually yelling at her, which might be why we haven't seen her around the Peggysphere in a few years. -
Jane Siegel Sterling
Showcase Episode: "Far Away Places"
Roger marrying a 20-year-old secretary — how did that go wrong? At first Jane sets her sights on Don, but she settles for Roger, who admittedly brings his A-game. ("Where did you get that sweater? I want to make sure my daughter never buys it.") Jane is a self-styled poet and clairvoyant who offers a poignant epitaph for JFK: "He was so handsome and now I'll never get to vote for him!" She also brings Roger along for her fateful acid trip, which doesn't go as planned. -
Grandpa Gene
Showcase Episode: "The Arrangements"
The father-in-law from hell, and Don Draper deserves no less. Betty's dad is a WWI vet who used to fine his kids for small talk. He puts salt on his ice cream, shows off his war medals to his grandson ("I should have another one for beating the clap") and constantly baits Don. The only person on earth he respects? Sally, the girl everybody else ignores. Grandpa Gene gives her driving lessons and makes her read The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire out loud every night. He's the first adult to tell Sally she's smart. Let's hope she remembers him fondly, since nobody else will. -
Pauline Francis
Showcase Episode: "Mystery Date"
And on the other end of the grandparent spectrum, there's Henry Francis' nightmare of a mom. Pauline's most likeable moment comes when she teaches Sally to pop a Seconal ("Do you know how to take a pill?") and tells gruesome crime stories until she hides under the couch with a butcher knife. Sweet dreams, Sally. -
Joyce Ramsey
Showcase Episode: "The Rejected"
Peggy's hipster lesbian pal Joyce (a photo editor at Life) was the first chance we all got to see Zosia Mamet in action. Joyce has to get docked a couple notches for introducing Peggy to Abe, a boyfriend so insufferable that fans cheered when Peggy harpooned him. (Peggy's always had dodgy taste in men, but she really hit rock bottom with Abe.) It was always sweet how Joyce called her "Pegasus," too. Mamet ended up stealing Girls as Shoshanna, a New York girl who's basically the 180-degree opposite of this one. -
Lee Garner Sr.
Showcase Episode: "Indian Summer"
The Lucky Strike patriarch is even creepier than his son, which is saying something. He takes pride in his tobacco ("It's toasted!") and takes offense when the meddling Yankees in the Federal Trade Council suggest there could be something poisonous about it — might as well live in Russia. He fumes about the money he wastes on lawyers: "I've seen a girl fight harder on a first date than these Beltway shuttlecocks!" -
Joy
Showcase Episode: "The Jet Set"
One of the funniest examples of Mad Men's often ham-fisted attempts at symbolism: "Hello. I'm Joy." This Eurotrash princess meets Don in Palm Springs and lures him into a decadent world of globe-trotting idle aristocrats, with her father the Viscount presiding over his court. It's safe to say she's the only woman who's ever read Faulkner while in bed with Don. Joy poses a question that haunts him long after he leaves Palm Springs: "Why would you deny yourself something you want?" -
St. John Powell
Showcase Episode: "Meditations in an Emergency"
Pronounced "Sinjun," which is British for "slimeball," the delightfully evil overlord takes over Sterling Cooper from the Americans and peddles the firm to the hated McCann Erickson, selling out his loyal hatchet man Lane Pryce in the bargain. (Giving him a dead snake in a gift-wrapped box — classy touch, St. John.) Played by Charles Shaughnessy, eternally beloved as Miss-tah Sheff-eee-yeld from The Nanny, although not even the sound of Fran Drescher's voice grates on his nerves like the sound of Lane wishing him a happy Christmas. -
Megan Calvet Draper
Showcase Episode: "Tomorrowland"
Strange as it seems now, for a dozen episodes or so, Milkshake Megan was the show's smartest and most intriguing character. Even though Don barely knows this girl, he marries her because she's the first human he's ever met who knows how to wipe up a spilled milkshake without tears. Like a lot of decisions people make on Mad Men, it seemed like a good idea at the time. But then Megan quit the firm to be an actress and instantly turned into a whimpering annoyance, despite her still-admirable taste in miniskirts. (Respect to the outfit she wore the night the Draper residence got burglarized, while she was "off on the casting couch," as Betty tactfully put it.) She makes the list based on her early achievements in zou-bisou-ology. -
Duck Phillips
Showcase Episode: "Three Sundays"
So many ups and downs for the Duck — most of them involving the bottle, as in the drunken rant that gets him dragged out by security at the Clio Awards. (Roger Sterling cracks, "I miss working with that guy.") His pivotal moment: at a secret meeting with the Brits, taking a sad look into his martini glass, right before he takes that fateful sip and makes his pitch to sell Sterling Cooper. Alas, he never could hold his liquor. -
Midge Daniels
Showcase Episode: "The Hobo Code"
Don's beatnik girlfriend from the Village, a footloose painter with a crew of boho pals who like to get high and listen to Miles. The most free-spirited of Don's paramours, the kind of "I don't make plans and I don't make breakfast" gal who livens up a date by throwing a TV out the window. -
Kurt Smith
Showcase Episode: "The Jet Set"
When the Sterling Cooper bosses decide to dip a toe in the Sixties youth movement, they hire the duo or Kurt and Smitty, who look like the world's first Simon & Garfunkel cover band. Smitty reads Don the original Port Huron Statement (not the compromised second draft), while German designer Kurt casually comes out as the first openly gay dude anyone's ever met. ("I make love with the men, not the women.") Oh, the sad look on Sal's face. In a sublimely moving scene, Kurt meets Peggy for a Bob Dylan concert, then blows off the show to stay home ("You are drinking sad") and change her life with her first mod haircut. -
Smitty
Showcase Episode: "The Jet Set"
See "Kurt Smith" entry. -
Mona Sterling
Showcase Episode: "The Grown-Ups"
Roger's first wife is a lioness, as he says, and it's no surprise she rebounds from the marriage better than he does. Talia Balsam is married to John Slattery in real life, which might help explain their surefire chemistry. Balsam adds a lot to the Six Degrees of Mad Men game, because she was on an early episode of Dallas (she's the pregnant teen who tries to sell her baby to Sue Ellen) — making her the crucial historical link between Dallas and Mad Men. -
Stan Rizzo
Showcase Episode: "Time & Life"
After starting out as just another macho office clod, Stan developed warmth and soul in proportion to his beard — definitely Mad Men's most successful experiment in facial hair. Jay R. Ferguson is masterful in the scene where Peggy tells him about giving her baby up for adoption — as he realizes where she's going, he listens with empathy and respect. It's the show's most optimistic sign that sexism isn't necessarily a life sentence. Love the groovy Moshe Dayan poster over his bed, too. -
The Hobo
Showcase Episode: "The Hobo Code"
Played by Paul Schulze — Carmela's Father Phil on The Sopranos — this drifter makes the young Dick Whitman "an honorary," and teaches him the hobo code. In short: move fast, go it alone, con the rubes, read their faces, leave your mark on them so other hobos know the deal, then get back out on the road. Even now, Don Draper can't resist the urge to hit the open road and ride the rails. -
Michael Ginsberg
Showcase Episode: "Far Away Places"
Ginsberg definitely rates on the Roger Sterling spectrum of Jewishness: "Fiddler on the Roof — audience or cast?" This twitchy kid claims to be a full-blooded Martian, even though his dad says he was born in a concentration camp. Ginsberg eventually grows a mustache, which on Mad Men is always a sign of imminent mental collapse. -
Alice Cooper
Showcase Episode: "The Mountain King"
It makes sense that Bert Cooper's bad-ass sister shares her name with a rock & roll god — "No More Mister Nice Guy" could be her theme song. Alice Cooper is the only one who gets away with wearing shoes in Bert's office ("My stockings cost more than your carpet") or calling him Bertram. She also used to be Roger Sterling's babysitter, which might be why she gives him so much shade about marrying a 20-year-old. ("You have your children to think of." Meee-yow!) She talks her brother into selling off his life's work — but as the other Alice Cooper would put it, if that don't suit you, that's a drag. -
Marie Calvet
Showcase Episode: "At the Codfish Ball"
Ooh la la: Julia Ormond as Don's formidable ex-mother-in-law. Roger can't resist her accented "I have desperate need of youuuuu" any more than we can. Marie stayed a worthwhile character much longer than her daughter did. -
Suzanne Farrell
Showcase Episode: "The Gypsy and the Hobo"
Don has a torrid affair with Sally's schoolteacher, because of course he does. Unlike most of the lost strays he links up with, Suzanne can keep up with him crazy-wise, because she's as profoundly fucked up as he is — a long-distance runner who waits all night outside Don's house, in his car, until she realizes he's not coming back for her. -
Woman on the Train
Showcase Episode: "Nixon vs. Kennedy"
She's only in one scene — but what a scene. It's the moment that truly turns Dick Whitman into Don Draper; just back from Korea, in his new identity, he meets a woman on a train, probably the first person who ever spoke a kind word to him. She might be a war widow herself (she's wearing black gloves) but she gives a heartbreaking little speech to Don ("You've got your whole life ahead of you — forget that boy in the box") and flirtatiously suggests, "Let me buy a soldier a drink?" All these years later, Don Draper is still that scared soldier, looking for that woman. -
Henry Francis
Showcase Episode: "The Grown-Ups"
Betty's second husband is a real upgrade — a gallant Rockefeller Republican who's so rational and well-adjusted, he seems to have wandered in from some other show entirely. When Betty rages about hating Don, he's there with a sane reply: "Hate's a strong word, Betty. I hate Nazis." The worst you can say about the guy is he's kinda bitchy about the fact that his wife used to sleep with Don Draper, but honestly, can you blame him? -
Paul Kinsey
Showcase Episode: "Nixon vs. Kennedy"
The office hepcat: a young Orson Welles type smoking his pipe, growing his beard, writing plays and throwing parties where he busts out astoundingly obscure R&B sides. (George McGregor and the Bronzettes' "Temptation Is Hard To Fight" — damn! Easily the best song I discovered via Mad Men. Thanks, DJ Death Is My Client!) Paul has an intriguing romantic history with Joan. But he tragically gets left out of the new-model Sterling Cooper and things go downhill for him, until he winds up a Hare Krishna. Hey, it's better than what happened to the real Orson Welles. -
Anna Draper
Showcase Episode: "The Good News"
When the original Don Draper got blown up in Korea, leaving the young Dick Whitman to steal his dogtags and identity, he left a wife behind. After she catches up with Dick, they begin one of Mad Men's most touching and endearing friendships…especially when he paints her living room in his boxer shorts. True, their whole relationship is founded on another one of his lies. (He says her husband got killed in action, leaving out the detail that Dick Whitman was the one who blew him up.) But Anna knows the man and his secrets better than anyone. -
Ken Cosgrove
Showcase Episode: "Signal 30"
Ken's really a few different characters — he begins as a sexist jerk who mocks Peggy behind her back, but he turns into a surprising stand-up guy (as well as a loyal friend to the secretary-turned-ace-copywriter). He's also a science-fiction author who publishes his stories under secret pen names. Along the way, he manages to lose an eye in a hunting accident (was Dick Cheney working for Buick?) and marry the girl from The Secret World of Alex Mack. Seems like an even trade. -
Dr. Faye Miller
Showcase Episode: "The Beautiful Girls"
Yet another inspired Sopranos casting touch — Carla Buono was Christopher's wife Kelli before playing Dr. Faye Miller, the steamy psychiatrist who analyzes the fuck out of Don. She totally has his number: "You only like the beginnings of things." And oh yeah, she has a dad in the mob — "He's a handsome two-bit gangster like you." -
Pete Campbell
Showcase Episode: "New Amsterdam"
From the start, one of the lowest critters in the Mad Men universe — but as soon as we meet his horrible old-money WASP family, we understand. Nobody ever taught Pete how to be a human being, and he learns by random baby steps, although too late to save his marriage. He remains an unimpeachable yeller of punchlines, from "Marriage is a racket" to "Not great, Bob!" -
Betty Draper Francis
Showcase Episode: "Meditations in an Emergency"
Don's first wife lives out the curse of the feminine mystique, a fashion model who marries a dashing young Don Draper only to keep finding out how alone she is. Her outfits are Mad Men fashion at its best — especially the dress she wears to meet Henry Francis at Swenson's Bakery. She goes back to school to get her psych degree; it's weird to see her sit at the kitchen table reading Freud's Dora: A Case Study of Hysteria, a book that once seemed like her life story. Here's a whipped-cream toast to you, Bertie — straight from the can. -
Conrad Hilton
Showcase Episode: "Seven Twenty Three"
Based on the real-life hotel tycoon — Paris' great-grandpa — Connie Hilton meets Don on Derby Day, where they're both hiding from their hosts in an otherwise empty bar. This New Mexico cowpoke tyrant is the crustiest, funniest and just-plain-insanest of clients. He orders Don around, calls him at all hours, complains he doesn't have a Bible on his desk and takes no guff: "By golly, you're prickly!" Probably the only Mad Men character name-checked in a Pavement song ("Fin"), although "AT&T" could have been written about Don. -
Freddy Rumsen
Showcase Episode: "Six Months Leave"
Nobody better exemplifies how Mad Men goes for the long bomb, character-wise. Freddy Rumsen starts out a drunken mess with a weak bladder but a heart of gold — if he hadn't overheard Peggy's "basket of kisses" comment and groomed her as a copywriter, she'd still be stuck in the secretarial pool. Over the years, he evolves into a different guy: sober, thoughtful, doling out Yoda-like wisdom. ("Do the work, Don!") Played by Joel Murray (Bill's brother), Freddy is a lovable slob every step of the way. -
Sal Romano
Showcase Episode: "The Hobo Code"
Sal probably tops the list of long-gone regulars fans are praying to see again in the finale. Lord, this man knew how to give a bitchy shrug. The debonair yet tragically closeted art director always had to hide his private heartache, but he impressed Joan with his cologne and Lois with his "ciao ciao." I hope Sal made it to the Seventies in one piece — he deserved it. -
Miss Ida Blankenship
Showcase Episode: "The Beautiful Girls"
Don's coolest secretary, hands down. You could count on Miss Blankenship to greet Don with a line like "your daughter's psychiatrist called" or "you got a call while you were in the toilet." She always found a way to be a pain in the ass for the whole office, right up to the end. (And for a few hours after that.) As Bert put it, "She was an astronaut." Desperate request to AMC and Matthew Weiner: Can we get a Better Call Saul-style prequel about Ida Blankenship, maybe about her younger days as the Queen of Perversions? -
Rachel Menken
Showcase Episode: "Babylon"
Don's coolest girlfriend, hands down. The Jewish department-store magnate understands Don well enough to see through his let's-run-away fantasies: "What are you, 15 years old?" But she never relinquishes her hold on him, even after she becomes Mrs. Tilden Katz. (Or after Maggie Siff becomes a star on Sons of Anarchy.) -
Bert Cooper
Showcase Episode: "Seven Twenty Three"
The WASP Vito Corleone. Sterling Cooper's patriarch might seem genial and absent-minded, doddering around in his socks, lecturing the secretaries on the evils of chewing gum, socializing with his fellow power brokers. ("I just spent the night in a smoke-filled room at the Waldorf with every Republican luminary save MacArthur and Jesus.") But as soon as he wants something, he has no trouble dropping the mask to reveal the Scary Bert side. He knows everyone's secrets, but never reveals his own. (We never did find out whether "the late Mrs. Cooper" meant his wife or mother.) Played by Broadway veteran Robert Morse, he got an unforgettable farewell, dancing away to "The Best Things in Life Are Free." -
Lane Pryce
Showcase Episode: "The Good News"
The most poignant character — the British business brain who gets brought in to fire people, but ends up desperately yearning to be one of the Americans. ("I've been here 10 months and nobody's asked me where I went to school.") He bonds with Don over Japanese monster movies and hookers; he falls in love with a Playboy bunny; he repeatedly shatters the hearts of us poor deluded Joan/Lane 'shippers. He left a little chewing gum on the pubis of our hearts. Huzzah! -
Sally Draper
Showcase Episode: "At The Codfish Ball"
Let's face it, 99 percent of child actors suck. So it makes zero sense that the show lucked out with a Sally (Kiernan Shipka) who grew up to be a real actor, one who could actually help carry the emotional heft of the story. (This literally never happens.) And Sally has turned out to be crucial — she's the only living soul Don wants to impress, yet she's the one he has the toughest time fooling. (As a great man once sang, "The ones who love us least are the ones we'll die to please.") Is it weird she never brings up the fact that he took her to see the Beatles at Shea Stadium? Wouldn't most people have trouble shutting up about that? -
Joan Holloway Harris
Showcase Episode: "Christmas Waltz"
How in denial are we about the end of Mad Men? We keep watching the Everclear video Christina Hendricks starred in, back in her grunge-goth days. ("One Hit Wonder," it was called. Not a bad tune!) Right from the start, Joan had plenty of smoldering rage. In the episode where she played the accordion and sang "C'est Magnifique," it raised all these questions: Namely, what kind of pageant-princess hellhole did this woman emerge from? There's so much nobody knows about the suffering Joan has endured, including a bonus marriage she never mentioned until a few weeks ago. But Joan's got the sneer everybody else is scared of — especially Roger, who'll never get over her. -
Peggy Olson
Showcase Episode: "The Suitcase"
"I am one of those girls," Peggy told her big sister when she first decided to move to Manhattan. And look at her now: strutting down the hallway, with shades, cigarette and Thermos in place. Always easily overlooked by people around her, Peggy had a tough time getting taken seriously at first — especially by her usual underminer Joan, who never met a Peggy triumph she couldn't smother in side-eye. ("I'm glad your other work was suffering for a reason." Nice one.) But Peggy will always be the new girl, because she keeps moving forward (sometimes on roller skates), the way her once and future mentor Don taught her. And her weird bond with Don has sustained them both through all their Burger Chef ups and Pizza House downs. -
Roger Sterling
Showcase Episode: "Shut The Door, Have A Seat"
Has anyone in TV history made a deadlier wisecrack delivery machine? Compared to Roger Sterling, Johnny Carson was some tongue-tied amateur. His toast at his daughter's wedding — the day after the JFK assassination — remains a model for how to bullshit your way through a disaster, as does his whole life. John Slattery brings the "Have a drink, it'll make me look younger" pain; under all his bravado, he's a salesman with nothing to sell. But Roger's the Proposition Joe of Mad Men: When he steps into a scene, you can see the others light up. Everybody's best scenes are their Roger scenes. So let's all raise a parting glass to this man. It'll make him look younger. -
Don Draper
Showcase Episode: "The Suitcase"
Who is Don Draper? You're face to face with the man who sold the world. The master seducer of the ad game. The sensitive piece of horseflesh. The mystery man who scams everyone around him into believing he knows their secrets. A liar and a thief. A trickster so persuasive, he regularly slips and starts believing his own promises, like a dealer who gets high on his own supply. The leading man who holds this sprawling story together. For some reason, people really want Don Draper to like them. Unfortunately for him, Don Draper is one of those people, which means he always keeps cracking up. But we can't take our eyes off him.