Don Draper

Don Draper
Mad Men character
Jon Hamm as Don Draper.
Portrayed by	Jon Hamm
First appearance	Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (1.01)
Created by	Matthew Weiner
In-universe information Other names "Don" (nickname) "Dick" (nickname) Richard Whitman (birth name) Occupation Founding Partner, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Parents Archibald Whitman (father; deceased) Abigail Whitman (step-mother; deceased) Evangeline (mother; deceased) Siblings Adam Whitman (half-brother; deceased) Spouse Betty Draper (ex-wife) Children Sally Draper (daughter with Betty Draper) Bobby Draper (son with Betty Draper) Gene Draper (son with Betty Draper)

Donald Francis "Don" Draper is a fictional character and the protagonist of AMC's television series Mad Men. He is portrayed by 2008 Golden Globe winner Jon Hamm. Until the third season finale, Draper was Creative Director of Manhattan advertising firm Sterling Cooper. He became a founding partner at a new firm, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, after he and his superiors abandoned their old agency in advance of an unwanted acquisition.

Draper's character is partially based on Draper Daniels, the creative head of the Leo Burnett advertising agency in Chicago in the 1950s who created the Marlboro Man campaign.

In 2009, the fictional Draper was named the most influential man in the world by Ask Men ahead of such real-life figures as Michael Phelps and Barack Obama.

Character biography

Most of the characters in the series know little, if anything, of Draper’s history and true identity; Harry Crane remarks in the third episode of the series, "Draper? Who knows anything about that guy? No one’s ever lifted that rock. He could be Batman for all we know." Clues are given through flashbacks, confessions, and clandestine visits to figures from his past.

The name "Don Draper" is an alias; his given name is Richard Whitman. Draper was born in Illinois, and his birth mother was a 22-year-old prostitute who died giving birth to him. He was subsequently taken in by his biological father Archibald "Archie" Whitman and stepmother Abigail.

When Dick was ten years old, following an allotment act that slashed the price of Archibald's crops in half, Archie was killed by a spooked horse that kicked him in the face during an electrical storm; Dick was a witness to this. Subsequently, Abigail, Dick and his half-brother Adam moved to Pennsylvania (described by Draper as "coal country") and were raised by Abigail and a man referred to as "Uncle Mac."

Dick's relationship with his family was apparently contentious - he revealed to Betty that Archibald "beat the hell out of him" on a regular basis, and he "fantasized" about the day he could murder him. It is unclear if Abigail also abused him, but she made no effort to conceal Dick's past from him and referred to him as a "whore child." When told of her death from stomach cancer by Adam, he simply commented "Good." However, Don states during his confession to Betty regarding his past that Uncle Mac was "nice to him." He also appeared to be close to his half-brother Adam, who was eleven years younger than he. When Adam seeks Don out simply to meet him after all these years, Don rebuffs his attempt and walks away. When Don later decides to speak and possibly reconcile with his younger brother, he discovers he is too late after Adam commits suicide by hanging.

Korean War

When Whitman was in his early twenties, he enlisted in the U.S. Army - he mentioned that he "ran away" to do so - and was sent to serve in the Korean War. Whitman was put under the command of Lt. Donald Draper, an engineer who was in charge of building a field hospital with only Whitman to assist him.

The two men are fired upon by the enemy, but they are unharmed, and after dusting themselves off soon begin to light cigarettes. When Lt. Draper tells Whitman that he has pissed himself, Whitman accidentally drops his lighter and ignites a pool of gasoline, which sets off a stockpile of explosives. Lt. Draper is killed in the explosion, his face burned beyond recognition. Upon seeing this, Whitman removes Lt. Draper's dog tags and switches them for his own.

Whitman, now believed to be Draper, awakens in the hospital, and is awarded the Purple Heart. He is then sent home with Lt. Draper's coffin (now believed to be Whitman's) to offer the Army's regrets to Whitman's survivors. He avoids meeting the Whitmans at the train station, but is spotted by Adam. Whitman makes his escape and begins his life as Don Draper.

Life as "Don Draper"

Draper is working as a used car salesman when he is tracked down by Anna Draper, the real Draper's widow. The two become close friends, though their contact is limited after Draper meets and marries Betty Hofstadt. After securing a legal divorce, he continues to support Anna, a piano teacher, financially. Their relationship evolves from confrontational at first to more supportive, and Don visits her during a trip to California for a few weeks in the later part of the second season to help clear his head. Don was deeply attached to Anna and regarded her as his closest confidant, regarding her as the only one who truly knew him. Anna dies of cancer in Season 4.

Not many details have been provided as to how Don Draper became the creative director at Sterling Cooper. For some time, Draper was a used car salesman, and he was a salesman at a fur company and attended City College in New York City at night, though in Season 4 he reveals he did not finish high school. It was at this job that he met his future wife, Betty. Roger Sterling claims that he "discovered" Draper in this job, and brought him to work at Sterling Cooper. In actuality, Don convinced Roger to share drinks and Roger became very drunk. The next day, Don reports to work at Sterling Cooper, explaining to Roger that he was "welcomed aboard" to have a job at Sterling Cooper. Roger, having been completely drunk, has no recollection and does not dispute Don's word, thus Don's account cannot be called into question. At some point Don and Betty marry, and move into a house at 42 Bullet Park Road, Ossining in Westchester County, New York.

Draper eventually became Creative Director, and then a junior partner, at Sterling Cooper. He is considered a great asset to the company as he has considerable talent for understanding the desires of others, and for effectively pitching and selling ideas. Because of this, he has occasionally been courted by other advertising firms. Although his true character remains mysterious and heavily guarded, almost everyone at the firm respects his talent. Among these is account executive Pete Campbell, who seems to view Draper as both a mentor and a hindrance to his advancement within the firm. When Campbell purposely takes a package addressed to Draper from his late, estranged brother Adam, Campbell discovers Draper’s true identity, subsequently attempting to blackmail Draper with this information. However, when Campbell confronts Draper in his office with what he's discovered, Don walks directly to senior partner Bert Cooper's office, with Campbell following behind incredulously. Once in Cooper's office, Campbell, getting in the first word, reveals Don's true identity to Cooper, who simply shrugs off the news, much to Campbell's astonishment. However, Cooper later uses the same information to compel Don to sign, under duress, a three-year employment contract.

Peggy Olson begins her career at Sterling Cooper as Draper's secretary, but with his support becomes a copywriter. He carefully but firmly nurtures her talent as she learns the process, although in the first season he makes sure she continues with her secretarial duties until promoting her in the episode "The Wheel." The relationship between Peggy and Don gradually evolves into one of mutual dependency and understanding. In Season 2, Don visits Peggy in the hospital after she gives birth and encourages her to move forward and forget the entire episode, assuring her that the incident will be kept a secret and won't affect her standing at the firm. Peggy bails Don out of police custody after a drunk-driving accident and allows his female companion to recuperate at her apartment. Don generally does not show her any favoritism, and aggressively shuts down her request for a pay raise (which she argues she should be given under emerging "equal pay for equal work" statutes), which leads her to seriously consider taking a job at another agency. In Season 4, Peggy is given more demanding assignments and greater responsibility as a copywriter at Don's new firm, and they develop a greater level of trust and comfort with each other both professionally and personally. In the season 4 episode "The Suitcase" we see Don go through a drunken breakdown after receiving word to call California, which he took to mean his confidant Anna Draper, who he knew was suffering from cancer at the time, had passed away. By the end of the episode's emotional journey he has confided in Peggy more about his past (his military service in Korea, having his father die in front of him) than anyone else at the agency to date.

Betty Draper was unaware of Don's past until she discovered a collection of photographs and other documents from his previous life which Don kept in a locked drawer in his desk. When Betty confronts Don and demands to know the truth, Don breaks down and reveals to her the secret of his true identity. Their marriage suffers another setback when Betty realizes, in the wake of John F. Kennedy's assassination, that she does not love or trust Don. She relocates to Nevada to file for divorce shortly thereafter. After being kicked out of the Draper family residence, Don moves into an apartment.

In December 1963, Don convinces Bert Cooper, Roger Sterling, and Lane Pryce, along with Peggy, Pete, Joan and Harry Crane, to leave Sterling Cooper rather than take their chances when they learn that their parent company is being purchased by rival firm McCann Erickson. They form the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce agency, working out of a hotel suite before moving to the Time-Life Building.

Both in and out of the office, Don's life is an entanglement of boozing and sex with a large group of women he has met in business and social settings, including at least two secretaries (Allison and Megan), a stewardess (Shelly), an unemployed friend of a friend (Bethany), a teacher (Suzanne Farrell), a client (Rachel Menken), an artist (Midge Daniels), a waitress (Doris), a prostitute (unnamed), a business consultant (Dr. Faye Miller), a nurse, a Hedonist (Joy), and the wife of the lead performer in the Utz campaign (Bobbie Barrett).

Personality

He warns Pete Campbell in the first episode ("Smoke Gets in Your Eyes") about his rude remarks to and about Peggy Olson, whom he has just met.

In the first episode of the second season (For Those Who Think Young), Draper is in an elevator listening to two younger men having a crude sexual conversation. Draper is disgusted and, when an older woman enters the elevator and they continue their graphic conversation, Draper tells one of the men to remove his hat. The man ignores Draper, who proceeds to remove the man's hat himself, thereby ending the men's conversation and sparing the woman further embarrassment.

During the episode "Six Month Leave," Draper admonishes several subordinates for mocking Freddy Rumsen's episode of urinary incontinence, a symptom of his alcoholism.

In "My Old Kentucky Home" (Season 3, Episode 3), Draper attends a festive Kentucky Derby party hosted by Roger Sterling, where he watches as Sterling serenades his young wife in blackface minstrel makeup. He and Pete Campbell seem to be the only guests who disapprove of or are uncomfortable with the spectacle.

In a fourth season episode Draper briefly scolds Ken Cosgrove in front of other employees for mocking a client with a severe stuttering problem.

Draper also adheres to a more strict code of business ethics than many of his colleagues. A second season arc has Draper upset about being told to drop the small local Mohawk Airlines client in favor of a chance at American Airlines. In Season 3, he is hesitant to sign a wealthy client eager to pour his fortune into promoting jai alai, a sport the client thinks will replace baseball as "America's game," Don knowing the client is about to squander his considerable fortune on a doomed enterprise.

He also keeps the secret of Art Director Sal Romano, a closeted and struggling homosexual, whom Don sees in a compromising position in a Baltimore hotel during a fire evacuation. Although Don continues to keep the secret, he nonetheless expresses his distaste for Sal's sexual orientation when he fires him in Season 3 because the son of a prominent client is irate at Sal's refusal to accept his sexual advances in the film editing room.

Don has demonstrated a bold streak, perhaps best displayed in his snap decision to get fired from Sterling Cooper in order to form a new advertising agency.

It is also shown throughout different episodes that Don regrets how he treats his family. In the season three episode where Betty gives birth to their third child, he has a conversation with another man in the waiting room who says that he's going to be a better man for his wife and child. It is clear that Don feels exactly the same way.

Draper and women

Draper met his ex-wife Betty Draper (née Hofstadt) in her modeling days, surprising Betty by buying her the fur she wore on a photo shoot where he was in attendance; this gesture appears to be the start of their relationship. Betty and Don marry when she is in her early twenties, and she gave birth to their first child Sally soon after. A few years later, she gave birth to their first son, Bobby. In Season 3, Betty gave birth to a second son named Eugene after her recently-deceased father, with whom Don shared a mutually antagonistic relationship

Don cheats on Betty repeatedly throughout seasons one and two. In season one, Draper is involved with Midge, a pot-smoking beatnik and illustrator who works out of her small, dingy apartment. Midge's beatnik lifestyle and friends do not appeal to Don, but she offers him an escape from his high-pressure job. Don receives a bonus check of $2,500 from Sterling Cooper and asks her to vacation with him to Paris. However, Don changes his mind after realizing Midge is in love with a fellow beatnik, and instead stuffs the check into her blouse. He tells her to go buy a car with it and leaves. Don doesn't see her again until season four, when Midge pretends to run into Don, hoping to sell him a painting in order to help fund her heroin addiction. He agrees to visit her apartment, but after learning of her true intentions he purchases a painting and leaves.

Also during season one, Don pursues Rachel Menken. She is Jewish and the daughter of Abraham Menken, the elderly founder of upscale Menken's department store. Rachel, 28, is educated, sophisticated, and a savvy businesswoman, assisting her father in running the family business. Despite bickering with her during initial business meetings, Draper begins an affair with her. She ends their affair on November 8, 1960, the night the 1960 Presidential election results are being tabulated. She leaves on a cruise for Europe and suddenly marries a Jewish man sometime before the beginning of season 2.

In season two, Draper turns to an older woman, Bobbie Barrett. She is the wife of Jimmy Barrett, an insult comic loosely based on Rat Packer Joey Bishop, filming a commercial for one Sterling Cooper's clients, Utz Potato Chips. Don does not like Bobbie's demanding and often unprofessional behavior.

Draper and Bobbie continue their affair, taking a trip to the beach at "Stony Brook" on Long Island, but their plans are interrupted by a car accident followed by his arrest for drunken driving. Unable to post bond with the cash on his person, Don reaches out to Peggy Olson, who travels the great distance from Brooklyn to Long Island by car in the middle of the night, posts Don's bail of $110, and later boards Bobbie until her injuries from the accident heal. Bobbie and Don continue their affair until "Maidenform," when Bobbie lets slip that Draper's previous mistresses have been talking about his sexual skills. Don, who values his privacy highly, is aghast that his extramarital escapades are being gossiped about, and immediately ends the affair. Don must continue his professional relationship with Bobbie and Jimmy, and the four of them (including Betty) meet at The Stork Club for a night out. It is at the end of the evening that Jimmy reveals to Betty that their spouses are having an affair. Betty is shocked and sickened. Jimmy finishes the night by telling Draper off with Betty within earshot.

A distraught Betty confronts Don but he repeatedly denies the accusations, which infuriates Betty. Eventually, Betty appears willing to put the suspicion behind her, but when she coincidentally sees the commercial Jimmy made for Utz air on television, her anger is reignited. She calls her husband at work and tells him not to come home, whereafter Don moves into a hotel room and frequently sleeps in his office. Betty's father Eugene has another stroke, necessitating a visit from Betty, and to keep up appearances, the two of them pretend to be a happily married couple while staying at her father's home. In his growing senility, Eugene openly expresses his disdain for Don, saying, "He's got no people. You can't trust a man like that." After witnessing the rapid decline of her father, Betty surprises Don with a sexual encounter in the middle of the night, leading Don to believe that she has now forgiven him. When they arrive home, however, Betty tells a confused Don not to move back in. Betty later discovers that she is pregnant.

Don impulsively decides to join Campbell on a business trip to Los Angeles. In California, Don meets a mysterious European viscount with a 21-year-old daughter named Joy. Despite telling Campbell that the trip is strictly business, Don joins Joy and her "jet set" family of self-described nomads at their lavish vacation home in Palm Springs. Joy is topless in the pool one night, attempting to seduce Don again—despite being surrounded by other relatives and even small children, around their large pool. Draper realizes that this "sexual freedom" is excessive, even for him, and seeks out his confidante, Anna Draper. Anna reassures Don, who tells her that he's "ruined everything," that his loving Betty doesn't mean he has to tell her everything. Don then bathes in the Pacific Ocean, in a symbolic baptismal gesture of new beginnings, and returns home to profess his love for Betty and ask her to take him back.

In season three, Don had an affair lasting several months with his daughter Sally's schoolteacher Suzanne Farrell. Their relationship builds slowly over several accidental meetings and conversations laden with innuendo. They finally consummate their attraction in September, 1963. Don ended the affair with Suzanne on October 30, 1963. Thinking Betty and his children are out of town, he plans a weekend get-away with Suzanne. With Suzanne waiting out in the car, and intending only to go into the house for a suitcase, Don is stunned to find Betty at home. Before he can make his escape, however, Betty reveals she has found the key to the locked drawer in Don's desk in which he keeps a box of photographs and other evidence of his past life, as well as several hundred dollars in emergency escape funds, and has discovered he has been lying to her. She coerces him into telling her the truth about his past, and he confesses his real name and the details of his deception. Don never returns to the car where Suzanne awaits him, apparently for hours, before giving up and returning home. He calls her the next day to break things off, even though they have not been discovered, in an attempt to save his marriage. Betty later decides she can no longer be with Don and divorces him to be with Henry Francis.

Don's womanizing hits its peak during season four, which takes place in 1964-1965. At the beginning of season four in 1964, Don hires a prostitute to slap him around during sex. Roger's wife Jane Sterling also sets Don up with a young, beautiful friend named Betthany, thinking Don hasn't been on a date since his marriage ended in November 1963. During one weekend of extreme drinking, Don goes to bed with one woman, blacks out, wakes up with a different woman in his bed, and has no idea what has happened. He continues to see the prostitute and pay her and even sets Lane up with her hooker friend one night in his apartment.

During a visit to San Pedro, California to visit Anna Draper, he also tries to put the moves on Anna's 18-year-old niece, whom Don has known since she was a child. She refuses Don and instead tells him that her Aunt Anna is dying of cancer. The news rocks Don to his very core.

When Don goes home drunk after an office Christmas party, and he forgets the keys to his apartment and has Allison, his secretary, bring them over. He quickly seduces her that night on his couch. This later creates tension in their professional relationship when Don acts as if nothing happened. Confused and heartbroken over the affair, Allison decides she can no longer work for Don or the agency, she asks Don to write a letter of recommendation for her to another potential job. But when his insensitivity offends her, Allison becomes greatly upset. She throws a brass cigarette dispenser at Don and calls him "a bad person" before quitting her job and storming off in tears. Don is visibly shaken by the encounter, and Allison is replaced with an older secretary by Joan, who hints that she's aware of Don having seduced her. Don later tries to write a letter of apology to Allison but gives up on it. Allison is replaced by Ida Blankenship, Bert Cooper's former secretary, and shockingly, Roger's lover from many years prior. Blankenship is an old woman with a blunt and cantankerous manner who may occasionally annoy Don, but proves to be the secretary he needs, since she is old and unattractive. Ida later dies sitting up at her desk, shocking Don and the staff.

During season four, Don becomes friendly with Dr. Faye Miller, a consumer psychologist he frequently works with. At the beginning of 1965, before she dates Don, she informs him, "you'll be married by the end of the year." After fending off his gentlemanly advances on several occasions she begins a romantic relationship with him. During one of his existential crises, Don somewhat reveals his checkered past; she sympathizes with him and offers emotional support. Faye however warns Don that she is "not good with kids and is inexperienced around them." At the end of that same episode, Sally runs down the hall at SCDP after a tantrum, and falls down hard. Instead of running into her father's arms, she falls naturally into Don's new secretary, Megan's arms. Megan previously worked as the lobby receptionist but became Don's secretary after Blankenship's sudden death.

Don in no longer seeing prostitutes and seems to have settled down with Faye. Although Don seems to be in love with the classy and intelligent Faye, Megan suddenly seduces him in his office one night, telling him not to worry, she won't make a scene like Allison did. Megan doesn't seem all that interested in Don, she just knows that Don wants quick sex with no strings attached. When Faye's consulting firm can no longer work with SCDP, she is excited because she and Don can be "out in the open" now with their relationship during episode 12.

During the season for finale "Tomorrowland," Faye believes their relationship is stronger than ever. However, Don's ex-wife, Betty Francis, suddenly fires Carla, the children's nanny since birth, and Don has to scramble to find a full-time nanny for his three kids during their visit to California (to sign the "sold" papers for Don's house in San Pedro, which he bought for Anna in the 1950s). Don remembers how Sally fell into her arms several months previously, and decides to take Megan with him so she can take the three kids to Disneyland, and watch them at the hotel pool. When he goes to Anna's house one last time, Anna's niece says Anna left her diamond solitaire engagement ring (the one that the real Don Draper gave to Anna before Don (Dick Whitman) accidentally killed him in Korea) to Don. Don looks at the ring and is very touched by Anna's gift to him. Don realizes that it was Anna's dying wish for Don to be happy and to marry again. He suddenly realizes that all his children and him are very relaxed with the 25-year-old Megan. Although Faye is very intelligent and beautiful, Don realizes that Megan is a better match for him because he "finally feels like himself" around her. He sleeps with Megan during the California trip and decides to propose with Anna's engagement ring, telling Megan that the ring is very special to him. Megan knows nothing about Anna or his past, just as Betty didn't either when she married Don around 1952. Megan accepts and Don returns to New York to let the partners and Joan know about his very sudden engagement. He telephones Faye and wants to meet her in person. Faye realizes that something is wrong and demands to know over the phone, rather than over coffee. Don shocks Faye by telling her he is engaged. Faye is shattered. Peggy Olsen, Don's one-time secretary, is flabbergasted. Don also informs his ex-wife Betty, as she is packing up the last moving box from their one-time marital home, that he is engaged. Don informs her it is his secretary, Megan. Betty realizes it was Megan who watched the kids in California and that she put the wheels in motion for Don's sudden engagement (because Carla, their house keeper/nanny was supposed to watch them on this trip, not Megan). Betty seems sad about Don's news because her marriage to the much-older Henry Francis has been rocky. Betty, Henry, and the children are moving to a new house in Rye.

Draper and vehicles

Don worked as a used-car salesman at the time Anna Draper found him, and on at least one occasion enjoyed the company of motorcyclists and hot rod enthusiasts while he was visiting Anna in Southern California. At the outset of the series, Don drives a 1959 Oldsmobile, then a 1960 Buick Electra 225 convertible. Later, Don wrecks an unassuming and utilitarian 1961 Dodge Polara, after which he is goaded by Roger Sterling into purchasing an ice blue & white 1962 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. Sterling tells him that the Cadillac was a sign that Don had 'arrived.'

Draper and drinking

Don: (angrily waving an empty bottle of rye) "Why is this empty?"

Allison: (staring at him) "Because you drank it all?"

Don is frequently seen drinking, on the job and at home. Numerous mishaps have arisen from his drinking, including an auto accident which led to a DUI arrest. His drinking has become progressively more serious. Others have had to care for him in his drunkenness, and he has begun to experience blackouts. He eventually realizes his problem, and curbs it, however at times of stress is still tempted, and sometimes succumbs, to imbibing.

Mr. Draper's Drink of Choice is Rye Whiskey (Specifically Canadian Club), Old Fashioned.

Pop culture references

Don Draper is imitated by the character Abed in the show Community in Season 1, Episode 17, "Physical Education" while trying to learn to pick up women at the encouragement of his Spanish study group. He practices on friend Annie, who is portrayed by actress Alison Brie - a cast member of both Community and Mad Men.

In Season 3 of the NBC sitcom 30 Rock (Episode 19, "The Ones"), page Kenneth Parcell shouts out, "My real name is Dick Whitman!" as he is succumbing to a strawberry allergy. Jon Hamm appears on 30 Rock as the recurring character Dr. Drew Baird.

The Don Draper character was also parodied in a skit on Saturday Night Live, in "Don Draper's Guide to Picking Up Women."

Don Draper was announced the "Number 1 Most Influential Man of 2009" in AskMen.com

In her Daily Beast article, Natasha Vargas-Cooper compared Don Draper's appeal as a combination of Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, and John Wayne.

College Humor has created several videos and articles about Don Draper, exaggerating his dark attitude and elaborate speeches by putting him in everyday situations. They have portrayed him at college orientation, explaining the pop-up ad to a salesman, and giving presents to his children at Christmas.

Draper appeared with Conan O'Brien in the cold open of the first episode of O'Brien's current talk show, Conan.

A still frame from "The Suitcase," a shot of Draper in tears after hearing confirmation of Anna's death, sparked an internet meme called "Sad Don Draper", in which the crying Draper is photoshopped into unlikely locations and images.

External links

• "The Secret of Don Draper's Sex Appeal" by Natasha Vargas-Cooper - Daily Beast - July 22, 2010
• "Articles of fandom" - PacificSticker - October 16, 2010