Joey Tribbiani’s agent Estelle Leonard helped with the birth of Ross Geller’s first child on Friends. The interesting tidbit was one of the most amusing trivia facts that came out of Friends season 1. Estelle was notably played by actress June Gable during the NBC sitcom’s decade-long run.
Estelle was the head of The Estelle Leonard Talent Agency, which helped Joey obtain most of his acting gigs. The character was a chain-smoking weathered woman thought to be in her 70s, but she got along with Joey most of the time. She wasn’t great at her job, but she managed to get Joey the role of Dr. Drake Ramoray on Days of Our Lives. After believing that Joey left her behind as a client, she set out to sabotage his career. Estelle passed away during Friends’ tenth and final season. Joey gave a speech at Estelle’s funeral where he learned that he was her only client besides Al Zebooker, a man known to eat paper.
The character of Estelle was officially introduced in Friends season 2 with the episode “The One with Russ.” However, Estelle made an appearance in season 1’s “The One with the Butt,” but her scene was cut from the TV version. In the scene, Estelle signed Joey after seeing his performance in Freud! but the final cut only revealed that an agent sent him a business card. Even though Gable’s part as Estelle was cut from the TV version, the actress still appeared in the first season as an entirely different role.
June Gable Played Double Duty In Friends Season 1
In the Friends season 1 episode, “The One with the Birth,” Ross’ ex-wife Carol gave birth to a baby boy. Carol’s wife, Susan, as well as the rest of the gang, were at the hospital for the arrival of Ben Geller. Gable portrayed the nurse in the episode, marking it as her first on-screen appearance on the sitcom since her initial scene as Estelle was held for the DVD.
It’s possible that Friends had more plans for Gable in the future, but since Estelle wasn’t necessary to the story at the time, they used the actress to fill in as an extra. When Gable was cast as Estelle, they wanted her to further develop the character to introduce an odd and amusing character to the series. She later succeeded, but it was a little known fact that she played an additional character on the show. Estelle ended up being one of the best guest characters from the series. Gable only popped up in a handful of episodes, but viewers can now recognize one more to that list with the birth of Ben.
Next: Friends: The Characters’ Ages (& How They Get It Wrong)
