Alex Borstein’s Voice Was Used in a Famous Gilmore Girls Scene
Alex Borstein was set to play Sookie St. James in Gilmore Girls. She even appeared in the unaired pilot for the series. Then, Fox wouldn’t allow Borstein to do both MadTV and Gilmore Girls. Melissa McCarthy, a relatively unknown at the time, stepped in to fill the role and shined in it. Borstein didn’t disappear from Gilmore Girls completely, though. She was close friends with show creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino and writer Dan Palladino, and they worked her into the series when feasible. Most loyal fans already know she took on two different side roles during the show’s seven-season run. What most people don’t know is that Borstein also lent her voice to the series.
Alex Borstein lent her voice to a memorable season 2 episode
There are a handful of Gilmore Girls episodes that seemed uneventful at the time but remain seared into the brains of fans. The season 2 episode, “Eight O’Clock at the Oasis,’ is one of those episodes. While nothing truly major happens in the episode, Lorelai Gilmore is tricked into caring for her new neighbor’s lawn. Dwight, an oversharer, told Lorelai all about his troubled marriage and his angry wife, Doris, before giving her instructions on watering the lawn, all within moments of meeting her. During the watering duties, Rory Gilmore learned just how angry Dwight’s wife was with him when she left an answering machine message that still has us shaking in our boots.
Fans of the famed series never got a chance to see Doris in action. In fact, Dwight never appeared again. Perhaps his wife’s maniacal answering machine message scared him out of Stars Hollow for good. Regardless of what became of Dwight, fans still love the voicemail that Doris left on his answering machine. It’s among the most memorable voicemails left during the show’s seven-season run (believe it or not, there were more than a few).
Because Doris was never seen and the part was uncredited, some fans might not know that the voice actor behind the phone call was Alex Borstein. Gilmore Girls costume designer, Valerie Campbell, revealed that Borstein’s voice is the one heard in the voicemail via TikTok. Campbell has amassed a huge following on her TikTok account, Valeriecateyescream. On the page, she shares plenty of behind the scene facts about Gilmore Girls, but is she holding out on more fun facts about Borstein? According to IMDb, it’s possible.
Alex Borstein lent her voice to ‘Gilmore Girls’ a second time in 2005, too
Campbell spilled the tea about Borstein’s job as Dwight’s jilted lover. Still, according to IMDb, Borstein lent her voice to the series a second time. Borstein is listed as one of the “museum voices” in the season 5 episode “To Live and Let Diorama.” In the episode, Stars Hollow honors the wishes of Old Man Twickham by turning his home into a museum. While Twickham was a collector of “things,” none were particularly valuable or interesting. Much hilarity and drama ensue.
While Borstein’s voice was used in two episodes of Gilmore Girls, most fans more easily connect her to the roles she appeared on-screen for. She played Drella, the angsty harpist at the Independence Inn during season 1 of Gilmore Girls. Later, she returned as Miss Celine, Emily Gilmore’s seamstress. While Borstein was happy to be involved in the series, she did tell Buzzfeed in 2013 that not getting the chance to portray Sookie St. James hurt for a long time.
