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 Teresa Betancourt (Liz Torres) is a hospital worker who becomes the Bunkers' temporary live-in boarder in season 7 of All in the Family. | ||||
| Personal Information | ||||
| Gender: | Female | |||
| Nationality | Puerto Rican | |||
| Ethnicity | Hispanic | |||
| Occupation/ Career: |
Hospital Admissions Clerk | |||
| Character description: |
Hospital employee and temporary live-in boarder while studying to be an x-ray technician | |||
| Character information | ||||
| Appeared on: | All in the Family | |||
| Episodes appeared in: | Seven episodes in season 7 | |||
| Character played by: | Liz Torres | |||
Teresa Betancourt was the Bunker's Puerto Rican boarder in seven episodes in Season 7 of All in the Family. The part of Teresa was played by actress Liz Torres. Teresa rented a room in the Bunkers' house while studying to be an X-ray technician at a local hospital where she was employed as an admissions clerk. At the same time, she struggled to break away from a possessive boyfriend, Hector, who is never seen.
About Teresa[]
Teresa first meets the Bunkers while working as an admissions nurse at the hospital where Archie undergoes a gallbladder removal operation in the episode "Archie's Operation (Part 1)". Her character serves as a foil to Archie (much like the Jeffersons' maid, Florence Johnston, served as one to George Jefferson on the spinoff series The Jeffersons) by offering some snappy comments and retorts to Archie's sarcastic remarks and jokes about her Puerto-Rican accent.
Some time later, Teresa randomly shows up at the Bunker household in response to an ad for a room for rent. Archie first attempts to drive her away but then reluctantly agrees with Edith (who has quickly taken a liking to Teresa) to allow her to occupy Mike's and Gloria's old upstairs bedroom.
In appreciation of the Bunkers' hospitality, Teresa often cooked authentic Latin-American meals for the household - much to Archie's disapproval. "Meat-and potatoes" Archie made it quite clear to all that he was not a fan of "ethnic" cuisine.
By the time the episode "The Boarder Patrol" aired, Teresa had already broken up with Hector and was dating Brian Schlemmer (played by Patrick Cronin), an amorous white man whose presence she must hide from Archie when she invites him "home" to the Bunker residence - and eventually upstairs for a "nightcap!"