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Lucille Bluth

Lucille Bluth is the critical matriarch of the Bluth family
Actor: Jessica Walter & Kristen Wiig — First Appearance: "Pilot" — Last Appearance: "The Fallout"

Lucille is primarily portrayed by the late Jessica Walter, who has appeared in 82 episodes of Arrested Development. A young version of Lucille is portrayed by Kristen Wiig for seven episodes of Season Four, including one episode where the present-day Lucille does not appear, technically meaning Lucille appears in 75 episodes. Lucille was last seen in "The Fallout" at the Fakeblock Unveiling.

About[]

Lucille Bluth (née Lucille Jenkins) is the wife of George Bluth, mother of G.O.B., Michael, Lindsay, Buster, and Annyong Bluth, and grandmother of George Michael, Maeby and Steve Holt. She is also mother-in-law to both Tobias Fünke and the deceased Tracey Bluth. She may have a sister, as in "Justice is Blind," Buster Bluth comments that George Sr. brought home a black statue with an erect penis, which remained in the room until "his aunt disapproved." The Bluth family as we know it began when George met and impregnated Lucille, who was working at a Stuckeys. In Season 5 it is revealed that Lindsay is really Lucille's half-sister.

She is an alcoholic, rarely being seen without a drink in her hand, and spends a short time in rehab. It has been suggested, by her husband, that she is responsible for the family company's morally suspect endeavors. Lucille lives at Balboa Towers with her son Buster, whom she has coddled into a neurotic mess.

The Matriarch[]

4x13 It Gets Better (19)

A young Lucille Bluth, from "It Gets Better"

The Bluth family began when Lucille left Oscar Bluth for his more successful identical twin brother George Bluth. Their first child, G.O.B. is Lucille's least favorite child of the entire lot. ("Pilot") Their only other biological son, Michael Bluth, is by appreciated Lucille in rare moments of affection. ("Whistler's Mother")​​​  George and Lucille adopted Lindsay at age three from under Stan Sitwell, just to stick it to him, but grew to love her more than G.O.B.. ("Development Arrested") Lucille has always been extremely critical of Lindsay, always suggesting she diet.

Lucille and Oscar's romance never waned and they conceived Buster Bluth, who was raised under the guise that George was his father. Buster spent eleven months in his mother's womb and grew entirely dependent on her. ("Bringing Up Buster") Lucille groomed him to be her companion and took him to Motherboy events and posed on the cover of Balboa Bay Window together. ("Motherboy XXX") Despite her constant belittling, Buster is loyal to her and helps "zip up" her dresses.

1x15 Staff Infection (07)

Lucille and Annyong in "Staff Infection"

Decades later Lucille and George adopted a Korean child they named Annyong to look sympathetic to the SEC. ("Shock and Aww") She got bored of using him as a fashion accessory and sent him to the Milford School to teach him a lesson. ("Afternoon Delight")

As a mother-in-law, Lucille liked Michael's wife Tracey ("Visiting Ours") but never grew to like Lindsay's husband Tobias Fünke, whom Lindsay married as an act of rebellion. As a grandmother, Lucille is extremely coddling to George Michael (as she is to Buster) and extremely critical to Maeby (as she is to Lindsay), despite Lucille and Maeby sharing similar jaded views of their family and the world around them.

Tendencies[]

1x06 Visiting Ours (09)

Lucille, poolside in "Visiting Ours"

Lucille is extremely critical and manipulative of those around her and usually acts in a completely self-serving way. Years of living a life of luxury have brought out her harsh elitism, perhaps best shown by how poorly she treats Lupe, her Hispanic housekeeper. Even those of her social status are not immune, such as her "best friend" Lucille Austero who is constantly plotted against by Lucille Bluth.

She is a functional alcoholic and enjoys Cloudmir vodka tonics and martinis. Lucille is very conscious of her age and has G.O.B. make her fake IDs to appear younger. ("My Mother, the Car") She also has regular chemical peels. ("Making a Stand")

Love Life[]

Lucille was a member of the USO and dated General Anderson during the Vietnam war. During the war she met Oscar Bluth and the two fell in love. ("Switch Hitter") Lucille left Oscar for his more successful twin brother George Bluth. Lucille got pregnant with G.O.B. while working as a waitress at a Stuckey's and the two later got married. ("The Ocean Walker")

Knowing very well that George was cheating on her, Lucille had a brief fling with Oscar and got pregnant with Buster, but she never revealed the truth to George and tried to keep it hidden from Buster. After George was arrested, Oscar moved into Balboa Towers with Lucille for a year until he was mistaken by the police to be George and was arrested. ("Righteous Brothers") George was put under house arrest and Lucille was made his unofficial warden and he became her sex prisoner. ("For British Eyes Only")

Character history[]

Season One[]

Orange - Season One photoshoot (7)

Lucille in Season One

Lucille attends her husband's retirement party aboard the Marina Hornblower and is put in charge of the Bluth Company. When George is arrested she puts Buster in charge but later realizes the family needs Michael. ("Pilot") Michael tricks Lucille into revealing the location of the family's storage unit by telling her the IRS wants to inventory her furs. She later dines with Lindsay to celebrate an acting job. ("Top Banana") Lucille grows tired of Buster's prolonged presence at Balboa Towers so she has him spend time with Michael. Buster rags on his mother to impress his siblings but ultimately returns home to his mother, where he feels safe. ("Bringing Up Buster") Lucille obtains tickets to Los Premios Desi so she can maintain her social status against her best friend and rival Lucille Austero. ("Key Decisions")

Lucille asks Buster to bid $10,000 on her at a Bachelorette auction, but he flubs and bids on the wrong Lucille. ("Charity Drive") Michael thinks George is lonely in prison so he arranges a conjugal visit on unfortunately the same day George planned a conjugal visit from Kitty. ("Visiting Ours") The Bluth children think Lucille is starting to date Barry Zuckerkorn so they pay a $10,000 bond to have George catch her in the act, to shame her, at the Living Classics Pageant. Instead, she is seeing the prospectful new lawyer Wayne Jarvis. ("In God We Trust") Michael decides to throw his mother a surprise party and Lucille finds out and invites everyone. No one shows up so he plans a second. Again, no one shows up so he lets her drive the car, but she crashes and blames the accident on Michael, who suffers short-term memory loss. ("My Mother, the Car")

Furniture - Season One photoshoot (6)

Lucille in Season One

Buster's relationship with Lucille Bluth's social rival Lucille Austero makes both women uncomfortable. Lucille decides to extend an olive branch, which smooths things over with Lucille 2 but causes Buster must frustration. ("Storming the Castle") Lindsay sentences Maeby to help Lucille with some paperwork and they bond over their disdain for Lindsay, but Maeby eventually realizes that Lindsay was malformed by her mother's extreme criticism. ("Pier Pressure") Lucille and Lindsay drunkenly brawl at a Klimpy's restaurant before hearing from PR agent Jessie that people think she's cold. When Jessie turns against Michael, he lets Lindsay and Lucille have at her at Rud. ("Public Relations") Lucille throws a Valentine's Day party during which Buster decides to move out. Initially afraid of living alone, she soon revels in her newfound freedom. ("Marta Complex")

G.O.B. and Lucille are the only two to support George at his arraignment. Lucille also tells George Michael that the Bluth family spent $130,000 on Maeby's conception. ("Beef Consommé") A Korean boy shows up at Lucille's apartment and she remembers she drunkenly adopted him. She decides to name him Annyong and keep him when she finds out he makes Buster extremely jealous. ("Shock and Aww") Lupe takes the day off so Lucille shops at Quantity Plus by herself and drives around town looking for someone to unload her car. ("Staff Infection") Lucille catches George tweaking Cindi Lightballoon's nipple through the prison fence. ("Altar Egos")

1x19 Best Man for the Gob (24)

Lucille in "Best Man for the Gob"

Lucille meets George and Barry at prison to go over the evidence Tobias stole from Maggie Lizer's house and comments that they have evidence against her. ("Justice Is Blind") Lucille hides her inheritance from her mother's death from her family, as well as the fact that he mother has died. ("Missing Kitty") Lucille throws a party for G.O.B.'s wife and later forces G.O.B. to invite Buster to his bachelor party. ("Best Man for the Gob")

Michael accidentally gives Oscar $10,000 for a lemon grove and Lucille, a former flame of Oscar's, convinces him to give the money back. ("Whistler's Mother")​​​ Lucille begins seeing Oscar socially and attends a soccer game of Annyong's, which he is allowed to play solely to spite Buster. ("Not Without My Daughter") Lucille refuses to cooperate with Michael when he questions her about his father's business in Iraq. She also attended the hospital when George was admitted. ("Let 'Em Eat Cake")

Season Two[]

Season 2 Character Promos - Lucille Bluth 01

Lucille in Season Two

Oscar's trailer is impounded when he is mistaken for George so he moves in with Lucille to Balboa Towers. Lucille tires of how Buster bonds with his uncle so she signs him up for Army when confronted with a Michael Moore impostor. ("The One Where Michael Leaves") Lucille tries to resist Oscar's advances but eventually gives in, upsetting Buster who decides to follow through with his Army training. ("The One Where They Build a House") Lucille contracts her private investigator Gene Parmesan to track down George. Meanwhile, Buster sneaks off to Mexico so Lucille and Oscar get extra physical. ("¡Amigos!") Lucille is shocked when Ice reports that George has been killed, but the news doesn't make her any less harsh to the rest of the family. ("Good Grief")

Lucille falls in love with Oscar and he starts to pull away because her standoffishness was what attracted him to her. ("Sad Sack") When Oscar leaves for his walkabout and Buster gone at Army training, Lucille grows afraid and lonely. She tries to convince Michael to move in but he asks Oscar to sleep with her to calm her down. Instead, he gives her some Afternoon Deelite and she drives her Mercedes-Benz W126 S-Class over Tobias and G.O.B. in the Banana Stand. ("Afternoon Delight") To get Buster out of serving in Iraq, Lucille pays an old flame General Anderson a visit. ("Switch Hitter") Lucille passively aggressively punishes Buster for rekindling his relationship with Lucille Austero. ("Queen for a Day")

Michael and Lucille trade favors: Country Club access in exchange for his bidding on her at the bachelorette auction. He backs out and she gets G.O.B. to fill in. ("Burning Love") Lucille, angry at Lucille Austero for buying Bluth Company stock and sleeping with G.O.B. encourages Michael to call Jack Dorso to gather money to regain control of the company. ("Ready, Aim, Marry Me") When Buster is finally called to Iraq, Lucille finally snaps to reality. George Michael and Maeby try to repulse Ann from George Michael by introducing her to Lucille but a frightened Lucille accepts Ann's offering to pray. ("Out on a Limb") Lucille attempts to keep Buster distracted from remembering that he fought with her, causing him to swim in the ocean and lose his hand. ("Hand to God")

2x13 Motherboy XXX (81)

Lucille and Buster attend Motherboy in "Motherboy XXX"

Disgusted by Buster's claw, Lucille attempts to talk Michael into attending Motherboy but instead goes with George Michael. Michael and Buster break in and rescue George Michael and Lucille makes up with Buster. ("Motherboy XXX") Lucille fires Lupe for sleeping with Buster and buys a robot vacuum to spite him. ("The Immaculate Election") Lucille stands by Michael as he is admitted to the hospital for stress related ulcers. ("Sword of Destiny") George has G.O.B. and Franklin kidnap Lucille and take her to the Church of the Good Shepherd to renew their vows. ("Meat the Veals")

Lucille mistakes an alcohol warning drowsy eye with an alcohol suggestion winking eye and drinks with some pills. At the Bluth Company offices she drunkenly insults Cal Cullen so Michael sends her to rehab. G.O.B. then has to sneak her out so she can compete with Kitty in a drinking contest to keep her distracted while G.O.B. and Michael rescue George. ("Spring Breakout") Lucille finally kicks Oscar out of her apartment for good, and informs Lindsay that her husband is absconding with Kitty. ("Righteous Brothers")

Season Three[]

Season 3 Character Promos - Lucille Bluth 01

Lucille in Season Three

After 32 years, Lucille finally goes off her post-partum medication making her slightly homicidal. She decides to drive to Reno before she accidentally kills Buster. ("The Cabin Show") George is placed under house arrest in Balboa Towers with Lucille as his warden, and she is happy to have her partner back. Lucille mocks Michael for being afraid of women by performing her Chicken Dance. ("For British Eyes Only") Lucille throws a party to spite Buster for his new medal from Army but cancels it to throw a "Welcome Rita" party. After their polite gesture to Rita turns into a kidnapping and drugging, she changes the banner and party to read "Family Love Michael". ("Forget-Me-Now") Lucille arranges a "one in one out" program via Bob Loblaw for Buster to get out of Army. ("Notapusy")

Lucille teases Michael for his relationship with Rita and becomes upset when the Bluth Company offices are out of vodka. ("Mr. F") When Lucille and George discover that Rita is a millionaire and MRF they expedite Michael's wedding to her. ("The Ocean Walker") Lucille flirts with Warden Stefan Gentles and convinces him to host the Bluth family's annual TBA auction in the Orange County Prison. During the event she gets the combination to George's ankle monitor. Michael reads the New Warden script and thinks Warden Gentiles is just seducing her as revenge for George's escape. In the end, George arrives to reclaim Lucille from the Warden, who was just happy to have Lucille help him with his script. ("Prison Break-In")

3x11 Family Ties (10)

Lucille in "Family Ties"

While her apartment undergoes a repainting she has her annual chemical peel. Her bloody face inspires Maeby's film Gangie. ("Making a Stand") Lucille dines with several socialites and convinces them to attend the "Save Our Bluths" dinner party. She grows embarrassed when G.O.B. begins working as a waiter at the Country Club. ("S.O.B.s")

Afraid he knows too much from Lucille's bedside confessions, Buster takes some Forget-Me-Now and falls into a "light coma". Lucille bribes him to stay in the coma and later takes the stand in the Bluth family episode of Mock Trial with J. Reinhold. ("Fakin' It")​​​ Tired of his hospital bills, Lucille attempts to cut Buster's feeding tube. Representative John van Heusen petitions to keep him alive, to her chagrin. ("Family Ties") Lucille and Lindsay check into rehab to avoid being summoned to testify at George's trial. ("Exit Strategy") Lucille celebrates George's exoneration aboard the RMS Queen Mary. During the party the SEC arrives via police boats to arrest Lucille for masterminding George's thieving and fraud. She attempts to take the Queen Mary out to sea. ("Development Arrested")

Season Four[]

Season 4 Poster - Lucille Bluth 01

Lucille in Season Four

Arrested for sinking the RMS Queen Mary, Lucille prepares for her trial with rescuing Buster as her excuse for sinking the ship. She and George pretend to get a divorce so he can build the wall on the Mexican border. At her trial, no one but Lucille Austero show up so she is sent to L.I.T.E. prison for 3–5 years. She befriends the Jade Dragon Triad gang and borrows money to get the wall built. Years pass and the wall is never built so the Triads try to kill her.

She self admits to Austerity to reduce her sentence and is theralysed by Tobias. She signs up for his Fantastic 4: An Action Musical so she and George can abscond on the night of Cinco de Cuatro.

After she realizes that George had Oscar visit her in his stead, she realized the hopelessness of their relationship and commits to a real divorce. She then encountered Oscar, with whom she was tempted to abscond with, until she discovers he had an affair with Lucille 2 and promptly leaves him.

She last sees Tobias, who tells her she's "not the villain, but the invisible girl." She takes this realization and returns to rehab, finally done with being invisible.

Argyle Austero to Tobias: Well, then you're going to have to work with our new patient and good luck with her; we call her the b-word from the C ward, or is it the c-word from the B ward?  

 From "Smashed"

Lucille's focal episode of Season Four is "Queen B.". She also appears in "Flight of the Phoenix", "Borderline Personalities", "Indian Takers", "A New Start", "Double Crossers", "Colony Collapse", "Red Hairing", "Smashed", "A New Attitude", "Señoritis", "It Gets Better" and "Off the Hook".

Season five[]

Lucille Bluth appears in Season Five pulling the strings on Lindsay's election and attempting to regain control of the Bluth Company.

Notes[]

Image[]

→ See 566 pictures of Lucille Bluth at Images of Lucille Bluth.

Videos[]

→ Watch more videos of Lucille Bluth at Category:Videos of Lucille Bluth


Main Arrested Development Characters
BusterG.O.B.George MichaelGeorgeLindsayLucilleMaebyMichaelTobias
AnnAnnyongBarry ZuckerkornJohn BeardKittyLucille 2LupeMort MeyersOscarRebelSteve HoltOfficer Taylor
All characters
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