Malory Archer is the tritagonist and former Chief Executive Officer of ISIS and of the show. Malory governs her employees with harsh criticism, raw commentary and belligerent vilification and almost always with a drink in one hand. Malory is Sterling Archer's mother.
Background
Malory's mother is apparently still alive, and it's implied they don't get along. Both Malory and Archer call her "Bub." As a young woman, Malory pursued an acting career before being recruited as a spy by Wild Bill Donovan of the OSS. Her first mission was to kill a German man in Tunisia, possibly Wolfgang Fischer.
Malory gave birth to Sterling while on an OSS assignment in Tangier, Morocco in Reggie's Bar, an establishment owned and operated by Woodhouse. Malory was a harsh and frequently unavailable working mother when her son was growing up. She didn't see him for 5 years during World War II and spent one Christmas in Iran for Operation Ajax. She is unsure about who fathered Sterling. One possibility is an unnamed Italian activist she describes in the episode Lo Scandalo. Other "possibles in the mix" are: Major Nikolai Jakov (head of the KGB with whom she has appeared in a sex tape), Len Trexler (head of rival organization, ODIN), and famous jazz drummer, Buddy Rich. Malory frequently voices her displeasure at being a mother. She also displays grudging affection for her son and hysterical emotional distress when she believes he is in danger.
In Skorpio, she shows a definite tendency to micro-manage her agents. During her entire vacation, she observes Lana Kane and Sterling carrying out their mission to take out Spirodon Skorpio. She watches the entire operation unfold nearby, from the deck of the Chum Guzzler, a small boat rented by Nikolai Jakov.
Malory has recently shown an interest in returning to acting, by collaborating with Cyril Figgis on a script in which she would play the lead character, a spymaster based on her.
Malory occupies a large apartment in a fashionable co-op apartment building located in Manhattan's Upper East Side. In the second episode of season five after being charged with treason, she informs her ISIS employees that she put the apartment in her husband's name to prevent the FBI from confiscating it. She also owns a condo in South Beach Florida. Malory is voiced by Jessica Walter.
Personality
Her description of her son in Jeu Monegasque as a "vain, selfish, lying, and quite possibly alcoholic man-whore" works equally well for her. She is politically conservative, proudly elitist, and casually but inconsistently racist (in the episode The Limited she calls a black conductor George, which turned out to be his real name, which she didn't know before). She also harbors prejudice towards Irish people as well as bitterness towards the Japanese and Germans for World War II.
She is also very amoral. In Skytanic, she went to extreme lengths to fake a bomb threat in order to get a room on the rigid airship, simply because her neighbor/rival, Trudy Beekman, was bragging about her suite. After she couldn't book a reservation at restaurant "16", she faked another phony case of emergency in Live and Let Dine; this time she set up a threat against the life of the ambassador of Albania, but again, this too came to fruition. She is an excessive drinker bordering on alcoholism, near-constantly having a drink in hand or looking for any liquids of alcoholic content to consume.
She was absent most of Sterling's life, most notably letting Woodhouse raise him for the first five years of his life (until she decided to suddenly show up out of the woodwork, bringing with her gifts for him to buy back his love).
When she was with him, she emotionally bullied him, claiming it was for his own good. Once, for his birthday, she got him a bike; when she later found the bike on the sidewalk, she took the bike, and then beat him with a ping pong paddle for his supposed negligence. Malory is also frequently dishonest and withholding towards Archer. She once even went as far to donate money to a Junior ROTC team who later faked a 21 gun salute for Archer's benefit after she lied to him that his father died a hero, but the Junior ROTC went on to win a trophy later that year, so she believed that it was still a noble thing to do.She has also displayed the same attitude with her then presumed infant grandson,Seamus Macgoon, Where she would take away the infants toy bee right in front of him, and psychologically manipulate him into only trusting her.
When she wasn't bullying her son, she was often neglectful to him, even leaving him at a police station on Christmas Eve. She was shown to quickly abandon her son for the sake of a lover or lavishing affection on her beloved dog, Duchess, right in front of Sterling, caring little for his feelings.
Malory harbors a number of grudges from World War II, among them hating the Irish for not helping the Allies and the Japanese for their attack on Pearl Harbor. She hates Germans (except Kreiger) and disrespects the French for being invaded during the war.
Like her son, she is homicidally protective of baby A.J., however is constantly insisting that she is overweight and tries to force a diet on her.
Love Life
Because of her career as a spy, Malory is an expert in seduction and has access to social circles that include very powerful and high-profile men; and on rare occasions, women. It can be implied that Malory was very promiscuous in her youth, as she is unsure of who the father of her son is. Her sexual appetite has not subsided despite her older age and her less action-filled role as a spymaster, and her son seems to have inherited his mother's libido as he himself is a notorious womanizer. Though an unapologetic racist, she is attracted to black men, fantasizing over them in typically racist fashion. Malory is currently married to Ron Cadillac, though the marriage is greatly strained due to her demanding ways and hints of unfaithfulness. They even at one point tried an open marriage, though it was clear she didn't want him with another woman.
Malory has had sexual encounters with many people including:
- Major Nikolai Jakov
- Len Trexler
- Buddy Rich
- Rip Riley
- Savio Mascalzoni
- Franny Delaney
- Conway Stern - "Diversity Hire" (though it appears to be merely a one-sided flirtation as, Conway tells a worried Archer that nothing happened physically).
- Cyril Figgis - "Movie Star"
- Pam Poovey - "Swiss Miss"
- Conrad Schlotz - "Swiss Miss"
- Burt Reynolds
- Ron Cadillac
- Kermit Roosevelt, Jr.
Operations and Associations
Malory has been part of a number of covert operations in her lifetime; she has been associated with a number of historical figures in that world. Some of the ones mentioned thus far are:
- Her recruitment into the OSS by "Wild Bill" Donovan.[1]
- Operation Gladio, where she met Mascalzoni.[2]
- Operation AJAX, where she may have had a relationship with the agent tasked with leading the operation, Kermit Roosevelt, Jr..[3] She refers to him in a telegram to Archer (sent in lieu of being present for Christmas that year) as "Uncle Kermit," a common convention for single mothers to refer to their boyfriends when talking with their children. She had also referred to Buddy Rich as "Uncle Buddy." [4]
- Operation PBSUCCESS,[5] for which she missed Archer's sixth birthday.
Dream Personas
After the events at the end of season 7, seasons 8 and 9 see Malory take the form of a dream persona:
Quotes
- "Well then you better nut up" - The Rock
- "Cause I swallowed just about enough that I can take from you!" - The Rock
- "Well, people in Hell want ice water." - A Going Concern
- "Now it's all Sterling this and ribbons that!"- Response to Archer's positive breast cancer diagnosis. - Stage Two
- "If I cared what you did on a weekend I'd put a shotgun in my mouth and pull the trigger with my toes." - Stage Two
- "Do you want ants? Because THAT'S how you get ants." - Mole Hunt
- "My god! What shade is this, crackwhore red?!" - The Rock
- "Who is it? what do you want? Because all you're gonna get are holes! Not my holes I mean holes in you!" - Dial M For Mother
- "Immigrants! That's how they do, you know. Just drive around listening to raps and shooting all the jobs." - Training Day
- "Both of you, imagine shutting up!" - Diversity Hire
- "And I don't want another one of your sullen whores using my medicine cabinet like a... a Pez dispenser!" - Killing Utne
- "Now, then. We want this to look like a classic hooker/murder/suicide. Cyril, take Sterling's gun and pump a round into this prostitute." - Killing Utne
- "Oh, but I will. And I'll get to see Trudy Beekman try to explain this little barbecue to the co-op board!" - Killing Utne
- "Oh, shut up! I bet you're barren!" - Job Offer
- "Yes, Pam, get me some poison, because I am already dead inside." - Job Offer
- "And are you going to loom over me all day, like some sort of… henge?" - Job Offer
- "Yes, I was a single mother. And it's a big dangerous world out there…are you idiots still here?" - Training Day
- "Do you mind? I'm trying to parent! (Fires gun five times) That was for Pearl Harbor!" - Drift Problem
- "And I think I just had a flashback so...these antihistamines are inSANE!" - Training Day
- "Keep her out of the medicine cabinet. One more dead body in here and that bitch Trudy Beekman will have me right back in front of the co-op board!" - Killing Utne
- "But if I did want a grandchild, I'd just scrape all your previous mishaps into a big pile and knit a onesie for it." - Skorpio
- "Now remember I want the entire data system on those new servers or I will just make it rain pink slips!" - Skorpio
- "Oh, like you'd recognize a vegetable that wasn't wrapped in a Monte Cristo sandwich. (Pam- What's that supposed to mean?)...That is Pam, isn't it?" - Training Day
- "Pfft! Security Deposit! What was it? A pair of flip flops?" - Skorpio
- "Oh, congratulations! You beat up a nazi, a nerd, and queen of the robots."
- "Oh you don't look like a whore... An idiot Maybe...or both...yes A whordiot!"
- "Sterling Mallory Archer"
- "Where's the other one...Greasing up in the bathroom?" - In response to Rays description of the room having "no view but it's got two queens" - Jeu Monegasque
- "Busted! And now all the candy is Mother's. Cos, Crybaby hit on seventeen again! (burps)" -
Trivia
- Kathleen Cohen served as the model for Malory.
- She had a beloved Afghan hound named Duchess, though she denies this is the reason why Sterling's codename is "Duchess". She is seen naked, spooning the dog, in a framed photo, which is a parody of a famous photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. However, she does not have a photo with both her and Sterling Archer in it - "Placebo Effect", largely due to her near-total absence in her son's upbringing.
- She is allergic to zucchini.
- It has been frequently displayed in the series that Malory is homophobic.
- Malory holds an open dislike for ISIS operative Ray Gillette, for reasons yet to be explained. Her animosity may stem from Ray's homosexuality, often referring to him as "Ms. Gillette" and "Missy" and goes as far as refusing to negotiate a ransom for his release from Malaysian pirates, while planning to pay for everybody else.
- Her apparent homophobia also makes her act unreasonable and make illogical decisions, as shown as she pulled Sterling out of one boarding school due to someone working there being gay.
- She is the only member of ISIS to regularly carry a revolver. In a flashback, she tells Lana Kane, "This is a .44 Magnum." It is equipped with both optical and laser sights, and does not need to be cocked after every round (Dial M for Mother) in the context of the show, which is a defining trait of a double-action revolver. It is most likely a Colt Anaconda, a .44 magnum, double-action revolver.
- She has $2,302,725 in her ISIS 401(k). (The Largest amount of anyone at ISIS) - "Jeu Monégasque"
- She is currently writing her memoirs, Secrets and Silk: The Malory Archer Story.
- Malory believes in behavior modification through punishment, largely contributing to Sterling's difficult childhood and her mistreatment of ISIS staff.
- She has slept with Pam Poovey by way of a threesome while under the influence of "Green Russians".
- Has a fixation on muscular black men, as is seen with her infatuation with Conway Stern (Diversity Hire), and her rewriting of the Disavowed script into a love story between her and a "coal-black" spy named Cassius (Movie Star)
- Her racist attitudes, which she often displays but always denies, do not prevent her from truly liking and admiring Lana, whom she often calls "Dear". She adores her bi-racial granddaughter, but her self awareness is so limited that she doesn't realize she has insulted Lana by offering to pay her five thousand dollars if the child has a Christening ceremony in a white church.
- She despises fat people and frequently insults Pam and Bilbo for their weight. Whenever she babysits for Abbiejean, she starves the baby in the belief that it will prevent her from becoming fat later in life.
- Jessica Walter also played Lucille Bluth in Arrested Development. Lucille was the drunk matriarch of the family sort of like Malory Archer and her business. Malory's relationship with Len Trexler could be a possible reference to her on Arrested Development, for on the show, her husband George Bluth was portrayed by Jeffery Tambor and he voices Len Trexler.
- Malory is likely inspired by Female M from the James Bond movies Goldeneye to Skyfall, and the stern, pseudo-maternal relationship that she and James Bond shared. The title of the episode "Dial M for Mother" could be a pun for this, although it could also refer to the Alfred Hitchcock movie "Dial M for Murder ".
- It is hinted to that Malory has been evading taxes for quite sometime to that point in White Elephant.
- In White Elephant, it is hinted that Malory is friends with, or has incriminating evidence on someone with very high authority in the United States, possibly the President.
- Malory appears to have an extremely strong metabolism possibly caused by her excessive drinking, as she is hit in the chest with a Tranquilizer in "Archer Vice: House Call" and is not knocked out by it.
- She wants Abbiejean to call her "Grandmother Archer".
- In the Season 5 finale, Lana gives birth to Malory's granddaughter, Abbiejean Kane-Archer. Malory is very vocal in her disapproval of Lana's chosen name for her granddaughter, and attempted on multiple occasions to coax Lana into legally changing Abbiejean's name to Malory (just as she gave Sterling her own name as his middle name). Lana eventually acquiesces to Malory's efforts, though only after being bribed with $10,000, agreeing to give Abbiejean her grandmother's name as a middle name, like her father.
- Malory spent a Christmas in Iran for Operation Ajax, a real covert military operation headed by the CIA, and British SIS to replace Iran's elected prime minister, Mohammed Mosaddegh (who happened to be communist and wanted to nationalize Iranian oil) and replace him with General Fazlollah Zahedi.
References
Gallery of Images
There are 153 images of Malory Archer on this Wiki, visit the Malory Archer gallery to view all the images and screenshots.
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