| “ | Dick Solomon: Dr. Albright, have I been a perfect ass?
Mary Albright: Aw, nobody's perfect. |
” |
–Dick Solomon and Mary Albright | ||
Dr. Mary Albright is a professor at Pendleton State University. She is Dick's on-and-off girlfriend.
Early Life and Family
Mary formerly drank a lot and often used her femininity to get what she wanted from men. Her father had many affairs and her mother drank a lot. Mary comes from a seemingly average, yet trashy family, but she and sister Renata have become successful - Renata is rich, while Mary is a professor and doctor. In one episode, Dick marries Renata, in order to divorce her and get her to promise she will not build a library at Pendelton that will cast a shadow in Mary's office. Mary also has a younger brother, Roy Albright, who claims to have been abducted by aliens. This completely freaks out the family, to this end Sally and Harry take out the cornfield to perform operation "KillRoy", an operation that meant hitting Roy over the head killing him to ensure he won't talk. In the end he is found out to be lying and is let go.
Mary was a part of the 1960s counterculture in her youth (flashbacks in the episode The Dicks They Are A'Changin showed her dressed in hippie garb), though she mentions she "never made it to Woodstock". Mary attended UC Berkeley in the late '60s and was apparently involved in the Free Speech Movement there.
Relationships
She and Dick Solomon have a long lasting relationship throughout the course of his stay on earth. Mary is often embarrassed by Dick's antics and reprimands him constantly. On one case Dick actually proposed to Mary and she said yes, but this was just as the Big Giant Head sent his niece to pose as Dick's wife. Mary found out and the wedding was called off. A poor relationship between Dick and Mary ensued only to end when Dick and Mary got locked in the university's library for an entire weekend.
Mary and Dick
The rest of the Solomon family has little to no respect for Mary, referring to her as 'Albright' or as a 'Slut'.
However Mary learns to like them and even has a short relationship with Tommy. She often helps Sally with advice on being a woman, and her relationship with Don. She even learns to love Harry and often finds his antics funny and charming.
When the Big Giant Head came to visit and he met Mary accidentally joked about how she had a crooked ear, he then referred to her as Crooked Ear for the remainder of his stay. She works in her office at the university with her assistant Nina Campbell.
Career
Mary has a Ph.D in anthropology and is a professor at Pendleton State University. She also served as Dean of Pendleton's School of Arts and Sciences during Series 4. However, she lost this job and returned to her role as professor after she was caught breaking in to friend and colleague Judith's office after Dick convinced her that Judith was after her job.
Alternate Universe
In the two-part episode "Dick'll Take Manhattan" Mary was a singer for a local bar in downtown Manhattan where she met the Dick from the home universe. At first she was reluctant to fall for Dick as she didn't believe that true love existed. But soon she gave into Dick's advances and was unknowingly invited by Dick to go to the home universe though for unknown reasons he forgot about her when he decided to go back home with Sally and Harry.