Downy McDuck

Downy McDuck (née O'Drake), also known as McMama, is Scrooge McDuck's mother and Donald Duck's maternal grandmother.

Early appearances
Scrooge McDuck's mother first appeared in the 1977 Uncle Scrooge comic Zio Paperone e l'oro del Klondike ("Uncle Scrooge and the Gold of the Klondike"), drawn by classic Disney artist Romano Scarpa. In this story, she shared her money-loving and stingy personality with her husband. Scrooge's young and unmarried parents have moved to the Klondike, where they decide to marry and have their first son. In the original version of this story, Scrooge's mother was called Oretta Paporetta ('oro' meaning 'gold' in Italian). The story is the eleventh chapter of the Italian series Storia e gloria della dinastia dei paperi, which shows the history of the McDucks from the ancient Egyptians to the present date.

Scrooge briefly mentoined his mother in an unnamed 1983 Donald Duck newpaper strip, when he says: 'My mother always said: "Work is its own reward"'.

DuckTales
In the DuckTales episode "The Curse of Castle McDuck", Scrooge also mentioned his mother, saying that she always told him the story of the hound of castle McDuck, so that Scrooge would keep away from the castle. Scrooge also returns to cottage McDuck, where he and his parents used to live. According to this episode, Scrooge's parents were poor farmers. Scrooge's parents made their animated debut in the season 1 episode "Once Upon a Dime", in which Scrooge refers to Downy as ' McMama '. She, Scrooge and Scrooge's father can be seen living in cottage McDuck, as it previously appeared in the series. She was voiced by June Foray, who gave Downy a thick Scottish accent.

Backwoods Beagle briefly mentioned Scrooge's mother in the season three episode "Ducky Mountain High". When he is trying to come up with a reason for Scrooge to leave the room, he says: "Your mother is sick!".

Later appearances
She also became a recurring character in the 1990s comic book series The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. In these stories, she and her family live in Scotland and her full name 'Downy O'Drake' was first mentoined. Downy was also featured on Don Rosa's Duck Family Tree.

According to the 1992 comic King of the Klondike, Scrooge's mother passed away in 1897.

Downy reappeared in Uncle Scrooge's flashback in the Christmas-themed comic Donald's Homemade Christmas (first published in 2012) alongside Hortense, Matilda and Fergus.

Trivia

 * Both Donald Duck's paternal grandmother (Grandma Duck) and his maternal grandmother (Downy) were voiced by June Foray.