The main Friends cast has always been the regular focus of the show, so it’s no surprise that many viewers may not have noticed June Gable playing two roles. Joey’s acting agent, Estelle Leonard originally had a scene in “The One With the Butt,” which was cut from the TV version. In it, she signed Joey to her agency after seeing his performance in Freud! She officially became part of Friends in Season 2’s episode, “The One with Russ.” In it, Joey talks to Estelle about an audition he had, explaining that it went well, but he got the impression he’d need to sleep with the casting director to get the part. Estelle made a call to Lori (the casting director), which confirmed Joey’s suspicions.
The scene set Estelle up for audiences to understand what she was about. Her husky voice, likely symptomatic of her chain-smoking, coupled with her lack of professionalism, highlighted that she was always going to be a funny character to watch. Her garish makeup and bouffant hair did little to convince anyone that she was a great agent. The characterization Gable gave to Estelle made the supporting role stand out. She even appeared in Friends Season 1 as a different character.
Updated by Jordan Iacobucci on September 13, 2024: Friends is still an iconic sitcom even decades after its premiere. While fans love the six core characters, the series is also famous for its many memorable recurring characters, including June Gable’s Estelle. This article has been updated to include additional information and to adhere to CBR’s current formatting guidelines.
June Gable Played a Nurse Early in the Show and Estelle
Gable’s Two Appearances Were Separated By Less Than A Year
Gable was a nurse when Carol gave birth on Friends. In the episode, Ross and his friends all go to the hospital, waiting for the big moment to happen. Ross, the father of the child, and Susan, Carol’s current partner, are at odds with each other over who has more responsibility, simply because they both want to be part of the baby’s life as much as possible. Other subplots ran through the episode, but it was the core scenario that brought in Gable as one of Carol’s nurses. This time, she wasn’t sporting outlandish blouses. Rather, she donned hospital attire and glasses that remained perched on the end of her nose. Her personality was much more down-to-earth than Estelle’s, but she had to be quite firm when kicking out some of the group while Carol gave birth.
Again, Gable contributed humor to the sitcom’s episode with a seemingly natural flair for conveying bolshy characters. Somehow, she was able to make her character stand out in a chaotic episode. While everyone was panicking about the baby coming, and with Susan and Ross making a late entrance, Gable was the clear-thinking, no-nonsense nurse who was there to do her job and do it well. As Carol was giving birth, Gable gave the character a softer side that showed her to be caring and committed to helping her patients.
The actress nailed creating completely different personalities for her two characters on the show. So much so that audiences aren’t always aware that Estelle and the nurse are played by the same person. Had she not been able to differentiate between the two, it could’ve caused some confusion as to why Joey’s agent was delivering a baby. Needless to say, Gable was the perfect performer to be given two roles and make them unrelated to each other.
Estelle Was an Important part of Joey’s Character Arc
Estelle Helped Joey Finally Land An Acting Role
The characters that were in pretty much every episode of Friends were, of course, a key part in making the sitcom a success. But, the smaller supporting roles were also vital in making the show popular. Estelle became quite a big aspect of Joey’s life. He was a young, budding actor who needed some guidance in landing jobs. It was a huge deal for Joey to secure himself an agent, becoming the next step in his career. Though she wasn’t the most prestigious in her field, Estelle did help Joey get auditions for good parts. His breakthrough role came on Days of our Lives, as Dr. Drake Ramoray, for whom he was a recurring actor, and gained recognition from fans and received a “Soapy” award nomination. Joey had spent a long time trying to make it in the industry, facing knockbacks and a lull in acting work.
His time came with Days of our Lives, which potentially wouldn’t have happened if Estelle hadn’t got him the audition. Joey wasn’t Estelle’s only client as she also had an act with a pyramid of dogs and a man who ate paper called Al Zebooker. Judging by these two acts, she was reliant on Joey’s success, as he had the potential to go further. After a period of no communication with Estelle, Joey becomes frustrated that she’s not putting him forward for any parts. Phoebe had read that Estelle had passed away, but she didn’t want Joey to find out straight away as he was already stressed about the changes that were happening in his life. Phoebe phoned Joey and impersonated the agent.
Still angry, Joey fired who he thought was Estelle, but he felt guilty about his actions later on. Joey receives a voice recording saying that Estelle has died, but he then receives another phone call from Phoebe pretending to be the agent. She explained that there were no hard feelings between them, and Joey felt better with the reassurance but a little rattled that she was calling from the dead. The scene was a nice way to round off Joey’s time with Estelle, as it showed that although she hadn’t been the greatest agent out there, Joey still respected her.
Estelle Almost Appeared Earlier In Friends
Deleted Scenes From a Season 1 Episode Would Have Introduced Estelle Earlier
Although June Gable didn’t make her debut as Estelle until season 2 of Friends, she was originally slated to appear much earlier in the series. In the Season 1 episode “The One with the Butt,” Joey first hires Estelle as his manager, who gets him a job as Al Pacino’s “Butt Double” in a movie. Estelle’s scenes were eventually cut from the episode, though Joey mentions her on several occasions throughout it and her presence is still felt. However, on certain home and streaming releases, Estelle’s scenes are included in the episode.
The original release of “The One with the Butt” would have introduced June Gable’s character before the actress starred as a nurse in “The One with the Birth.” The showrunners’ decision to cast Gable as a nurse after cutting her scenes as a different character in an earlier episode could have been an oversight. However, it may also hint at the fact that they didn’t know whether Estelle Leonard was going to be a recurring character in the series. Believing that the world might never see Estelle, the producers of Friends may have seen no issue with casting Gable in another role. However, as audiences know now, Estelle would go on to enjoy a memorable run as a recurring character throughout Friends’ entire run.
June Gable Recently Appeared in Maestro
Gable Makes A Cameo As An Old Woman In Maestro
In an article for Wealth Simple Magazine, Gable explained that she quit acting for a while after her ten episodes in Friends. The man she loved was ill and she wanted to be there to take care of him, crediting the Screen Actors Guild, which meant she could afford to do so. Luckily, that wasn’t the end of her career. Gable returned to acting, most recently in Bradley Cooper’s Maestro. In last year’s movie, she played an unnamed woman. A year before, in 2022, she also appeared in Ray Romano’s Somewhere in Queen’s, which scored an impressive 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. Gable took on the character of Mama Russo.
For many, Friends will always be the show that Gable is most known for. Estelle was a necessary part of Joey’s journey and helped the writers delve further into the acting side of his life, away from the core friendship group. The character could have easily blended into the background and become just another random character that didn’t have much influence or impact on the program. Gable may have had smaller roles on the hit sitcom and wasn’t in a vast number of episodes. But what is undeniable, and with the little screen time she had, is that she added to the show. Her jobs on Friends weren’t redundant, nor were they easily forgettable. Among what became a very famous cast, she held her own in two separate roles and deserves to be acknowledged for the adept performer she so clearly is.
