History Main / CoolOldLady

* WesternAnimation/AngelaAnaconda's grandmother. She's so wild even Angela is unnerved by her...and it's implied that this is Angela's [[GenerationXerox future.]]

* WesternAnimation/AtomicBetty's grandmother Beatrixo, a former Galactic Guardian.

* Davey's Grandma in the WesternAnimation/DaveyAndGoliath EasterSpecial "Happy Easter" definitely counts, going as far as to help Davey perfect his baseball skills. [[spoiler: No wonder Davey was so depressed when she died later in the episode.]]

* WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'s Grandma Opal from "Doug on the Wild Side" may have odd taste in fashionable gifts, but she rides a motorcycle (and shows off family photos to a scary, leather-clad biker, [[BruiserWithASoftCenter who responds in kind]]), encourages Doug to try sushi, and gives him advice on how to talk to Patti when he's feeling shy. Doug starts out wishing she was more of a GrannyClassic but eventually comes to appreciate her for who she is.

* WesternAnimation/KimPossible's Nana started as an overprotective granny until she started kicking Kim's ass in Kung Fu.

** Adelaide Drubman from ''VideoGame/FarCry5''. Apart from being the mother of series mainstay [[GunNut Hurk]] [[IdiotHero Drubman]] [[StoutStrength Jr.]], she's a SilverVixen with a ContraltoOfDanger, [[AllWomenAreLustful as unapologetically sex-obsessed]] as her son, and she brings her own helicopter with heavy-artillery guns into battle against the Project at Eden's Gate.

* ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'': Henrietta "Hetty" Lange is about four feet tall, into her seventies, and runs a team of experts who don't even begin to question who's in charge.

* The Jewish grandmother in Creator/JudyBlume's ''Literature/AreYouThereGodItsMeMargaret'' is a mild example, who gives Margaret presents, takes her places, pays for her summer camp, and only occasionally insists that's she's really Jewish. The Christian grandmother is a rather dowdy old woman, who visits only because she's taking a trip to New York anyway, and makes a point of wearing a huge cross and insisting that Margaret is Christian.

* ''LightNovel/BookOfBantorra'' has Ireia Kitty, a heavy-set old lady who can kick some serious ass.

* ''Series/AsTimeGoesBy'' has Madge, who sings country music, goes bungee-jumping, protests fox hunting, and plays the drums, all in her early eighties.
* ''Series/AwkwafinaIsNoraFromQueens'' has Nora's grandmother, the foundation of the family and the funniest character in the show according to most fans.
* From ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'': President Laura Roslin certainly qualifies. Knowing that a) her job is literally the survival of the human species and b) her knowing she was living on borrowed time for the entire series, Roslin can have all the credit for Cool Old Ladydom she wants.

* Madeline Westen from ''Series/BurnNotice'' has moments of these. She made a terrorist hijacker's pilot more terrified of her than he was of his employer.

* ''Series/DowntonAbbey'': Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, can [[DeadpanSnarker snark]] with the best of them and tends to have the [[OlderAndWiser wisest]] outlook in the family. Also, despite her rigidly traditional outlook, she has proved surprisingly progressive and adaptable on numerous occasions, making younger generations see her differently than they might have before.
* Edna of ''Series/{{Everwood}}''. She even rides a motorbike! Her granddaughter adores her and even moves in for a while, and she acts as a great (grand)mother figure to Delia.
* Estelle Winslow from ''Series/FamilyMatters''. She manages to use the young people slang of the 1990s without any awkwardness, had a ''very'' active sex life (much to her son's chagrin), was physically active, and quite often ended up serving as the voice of reason in the family.
* Noranti becomes one of these in the last season of ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. She starts out seeming a bit sinister but really she's just trying to do the right thing. Her coolness mostly stems from her willingness to do crazy things like dance naked (while disguised as a sexy young woman) to distract guards from the rest of the team and her genuine desire to take care of the crew on Moya.

* At the start of the punch episode of ''Series/GoodEats'', Alton is attending a dry wedding at some church hall, and talking about how most people today think of "punch" as a low-quality mix of cheap juice and ginger ale, with maybe some sherbet, when in actuality it can be much more than that (and that real punch utilizes alcohol.) While he's talking, a little old lady walks up to the punch bowl and pours in an entire bottle of alcohol, and starts handing out cups of her newly-made GargleBlaster to other wedding guests, including Alton.
* Double subverted with Celia in ''Series/GossipGirl''. Serena is excited for Dan to meet her grandmother, but she turns out to be a BitchInSheepsClothing. Then when she reappears in Season 2, she has had a HeelRealization and becomes a ShipperOnDeck for the two of them.

* Louise Chatham from ''Series/H2OJustAddWater''. Especially after admitting to the [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent girls]] that she was in the original trio of mermaids in the 1950s.
* While a bit of a MagnificentBastard, Angela Petrelli of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' fame has a bit of this. Despite threats of violence, plans blowing up in her face, and other negatives, she very seldom loses her cool. [[spoiler:Having precognition for a power tends to do that.]]

* A very brief one from the ''Series/{{Monk}}'' episode "Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa Claus". An old lady named Alice [=DuBois=] is walking home from work when a thug, who has been waiting for her, steps from the shadows with a knife. She promptly pulls pepper spray out of her purse and shoots it directly into his eyeballs, continuing to spray while he reacts with pain and even ''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill tracking his eyes]]'' with the spray as he jerks around in agony. Unfortunately, the thug in question works for a gang that needs Alice dead to further their crime scheme. That is solved when Michael Kenworthy, the gang leader, comes up and bludgeons her to death with a bell.
* Cora Hudson, Mindy's grandmother in ''Series/MorkAndMindy''. Imagine an old lady who loved both rock music and Mork with his lovable silliness, even after she learned he is an alien.
* A recurring act on ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' is Geri and the Atrics, a band of old ladies that play rock 'n' roll songs.
* Hetty from ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'' is about four feet tall, into her seventies and runs a team of experts who don't even begin to question who's in charge.
* Widow Lucas/Ruby's grandmother in ''Series/OnceUponATime''. In the fairy tale land, she puts a group of enraged villagers and hunters in their places, and she wields a crossbow with efficiency. In Storybrooke, she runs a Breakfast in Bed AND a Diner, not to mention appears to like motorcycles and still like cute guys, when she tells Emma "If you won't, I will!" When August offers Emma a ride on his motorcycle.
* Ruby's grandmother in ''Series/OnMyBlock'' smokes marijuana, eagerly helps Jamal search for [[AMacGuffinFullOfMoney [=RollerWorld=]]], and helps the kids in their various misadventures.
* Mrs. Davis on ''Series/OurMissBrooks'', Miss Brooks' landlady who's a CordonBleughChef, confidant, blabbermouth, and occasional fortune teller.

* The titular characters of ''Series/RosemaryAndThyme'' definitely count. They are wandering gardeners/detectives who are fiercely independent and unafraid to get aggressive when it's needed.

* Though she doesn't look it, Jadzia Dax in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' is the [[TheNthDoctor eighth incarnation of a 350-year-old alien]]. She's a master of hand to hand combat and an [[AcePilot expert pilot]], drinks and parties hard, [[BarBrawl likes to brawl with Klingons]], [[DeadpanSnarker snarks]] and makes dirty jokes a lot. She once destroyed an entire bar, caused [[NoodleIncident a couple of diplomatic incidents]], and thinks that spending early mornings having broken bones fixed is a healthy sex life.

* Lwaxanna Troi from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' was very active for an older lady, but there is some strong evidence that she was acting rather annoying to her own daughter, Captain Picard and Worf.
* Deconstructed in ''{{Series/Tucker}}''. Tucker finds his grandmother full of fun, but it's gradually shown that her abuse of Aunt Claire affects the woman so negatively that he realises what a real piece of work she is. Then Claire reprimands him for calling her out -- and the two women bond over that. He lampshades the {{Irony}} of this.

* Claire Meade from ''Series/UglyBetty'' often plays this role, giving Betty and her own children valuable life advice, but she's also shown as a flawed person (TheAlcoholic, and [[spoiler:she only got acquitted of murder due to temporary insanity]]). She and Betty seem to have an [[IntergenerationalFriendship Intergenerational]] OddFriendship.
* Diana Trent in the BritCom ''Series/WaitingForGod'', played by Stephanie Cole (who was only 50 at the time); she was a photojournalist and a war correspondent for most of her life, spent her 65th birthday hanging from a helicopter and gives everyone hell in her.
* Dolores Landingham of ''Series/TheWestWing'' is a fine example. She routinely matches wits with the often extremely witty senior staff and is the only member of the cast never seen to be intimidated by working with the President.
* Women of all ages come out of the woodwork to help in all sorts of situations in ''Series/WhatWouldYouDo'', a hidden camera show that tests passers-by in many RippedFromTheHeadlines scenarios, but older women tend to be the most forthright (and awesome) when coming to the defense of others.
* June from ''Series/WhiteCollar.'' Has no problem letting Neal (a conman) live in her house, and occasionally mentions hanging around with the who's who of the 50's social scene.

* ''Series/DowntonAbbey'': Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, can [[DeadpanSnarker snark]] with the best of them and tends to have the [[OlderAndWiser wisest]] outlook in the family.

* Amelia's great-aunt Esme from ''VideoGame/LoveAndPies'' may be a kooky, [[DirtyOldWoman dirty-minded]] FortuneTeller who used to be a circus performer, but she's happy to help fix up the café after her van crashed into it. Her old age also doesn't stop her from [[GamerChick playing online games]] such as ''[[FictionalVideoGame Battle Dwarves]]'' with Kate.

* Amelia's great-aunt Esme from ''VideoGame/LoveAndPies'' may be a kooky, [[DirtyOldWoman dirty-minded]] FortuneTeller who used to be a circus performer, but she's happy to help at the café. Her old age also doesn't stop her from [[GamerChick playing online games]] such as ''[[FictionalVideoGame Battle Dwarves]]'' with Kate.

* Ana Amari from ''{{VideoGame/Overwatch}}'' was not only one of the founding members of the titular organization decades ago, but she's also still fighting well into her 60s [[BadassFamily alongside her daughter, Pharah.]] Not even a sniper shot ''[[EyeScream to the eye]]'' was able to put her into more than a TenMinuteRetirement. While she's a support hero, her arsenal comes equipped with a sniper rifle that doubles as a HealingShiv, allowing her to both shoot down enemies and heal her teammates from a distance.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' Any of the trainer classes depicted as old ladies are examples of this. Special mention goes to [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Agatha]], [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Bertha]] and [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY Drasna]], who are all members of the ''Elite Four.'' (Drasna even uses Dragon-types, to boot.)

Much like its SpearCounterpart the CoolOldGuy, the Cool Old Lady is a character that's much older than the main cast but for whatever reason, they become deeply attached to her. She can be a "hip" grandma that rollerblades, bungee jumps, can speak the teenage slang without it coming across as TotallyRadical, an ApronMatron who's gruff but caring, or a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} who is a joy to have around. Or she could be a kindly old lady who obviously [[LadyOfAdventure led a very rich life]] (when she was younger, she bungee jumped, rode a motorcycle, knows the teenage slang of her era but doesn't dare try to incorporate it into her current speech) and regales the cast with saucy stories of her escapades. The fact that she's ''survived'' doing all that and ''lived'' to that age tells you that you should NeverMessWithGranny.

-->'''Clinton:''' My mom gets 2am booty calls. My mom is cooler than me.

Much like its SpearCounterpart the CoolOldGuy, the Cool Old Lady is a character that's much older than the main cast but for whatever reason, they become deeply attached to her. She can be a "hip" grandma that rollerblades, bungee jumps, can speak the teenage slang without it coming across as TotallyRadical, an ApronMatron who's gruff but caring, or a CloudcuckooLander who is a joy to have around. Or she could be a kindly old lady who obviously [[LadyOfAdventure led a very rich life]] (when she was younger, she bungee jumped, rode a motorcycle, knows the teenage slang of her era but doesn't dare try to incorporate it into her current speech) and regales the cast with saucy stories of her escapades. The fact that she's ''survived'' doing all that and ''lived'' to that age tells you that you should NeverMessWithGranny.

** Granny Weatherwax has defeated master vampires, [[LightIsNotGood fairy godmothers]], and ''Death himself'' (in a card game). Her precise age is unknown, but she's definitely an old lady and she's definitely cool.
** Nanny Ogg, Granny's life-long best friend. She's less direct than Granny, but she's willing to walk into the Elf King's home and threaten him to get him to intervene when his Queen is running amok, and she may even be more powerful than Granny.
** Topsy Lavish, nee Turvy, from ''Literature/MakingMoney'' -- the page quote is the main character (who is a very good judge of character) appraising her.

* Fortuneteller Baba from ''Franchise/DragonBall'' while her brother Roshi is a mostly DirtyOldMan as well as a martial artist, Baba is a [[MellowFellow chill]] if not somewhat arrogant little old witch who rides her crystal ball and helps the Z-Fighters when it comes to spiritual and mystical matters. Baba also can come to and fro from the MundaneAfterlife, having gone to fetch Vegeta after he dies in Buu Saga and in fact she's the only Earthling in the whole franchise who's never died once. Baba even lives long enough to appear in ''VideoGame/DragonBallOnline''.

* Fortuneteller Baba from ''Franchise/DragonBall'' while her brother Roshi is mostly DirtyOldMan as well as martial artist, Baba is a [[MellowFellow chill]] if not somewhat arrogant little old witch who rides her crystal ball and helps the Z-Fighters when it comes to spiritual and mystical matters. Baba also can come to and fro from the MundaneAfterlife, having gone to fetch Vegeta after he dies in Buu Saga and in fact she's the only Earthling in the whole franchise who's never died once. Baba even lives long enough to appear in ''VideoGame/DragonBallOnline''.

%% Image kept on page per two Image Pickin' threads:

->"''What we have here, [Moist] told himself, is a [=Mk1=] Feisty Old Lady: Turkey neck, embarrassing sense of humour, a gleeful pleasure in mild cruelty, direct way of speaking that flirts with rudeness and, more importantly, also flirts with flirting. Likes to think she's no 'lady'. Game for anything that doesn't carry the risk of falling over and with a look in her eye that says 'I can do what I like because I am old. And I have a soft spot for rascals.' Old ladies like that were hard to fool, but there was no need to.''"

* Fortuneteller Baba from ''Franchise/DragonBall'' while her brother Roshi is mostly DirtyOldMan as well as martial artist, Baba is a [[MellowFellow chill]] if not somewhat arrogant little old witch who rides her crystal ball and helps the Z-Fighters when it comes to spiritual and mystical matters. Baba also can come to and fro from the MundaneAfterlife, having gone to fetch Vegeta after he dies in Buu Saga and in fact she’s the only Earthling in the whole franchise who’s never died once. Baba even lives long enough to appear in ''VideoGame/DragonBallOnline''.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Kokoro's a rather lively old woman (outside, at least) with a penchant for [[TheAlcoholic alcohol]] who loves her granddaughter and adoptive sons and [[DrivesLikeCrazy drives the Sea Train]] around Enies Lobby and uses it to tackle and defeat a giant. There’s also Kureha (Chopper’s mentor) a 141 year old doctor whose also a booze hound and is spirited enough to walk around with her midriff showing and act like a woman a many decades younger. Can’t forget Great Staff Officer Tsuru either, a former Vice-Admiral and friend of Luffy’s grandpa Garp whose still powerful enough literally hang {{Mooks}} to dry and even the AxCrazy Donflamingo (whom she isn’t intimidated by in the slightest) listens to her when she commands him to stop [[MarionetteMaster puppeting]] two marines in front of her.

-->'''Queen Lillian:''' Well, you didn’t actually think you got your fighting skills from ''your father'', did you?

“Would you kids like to watch television with me? We don’t have to tell your mother.”

* ''Literature/TwentySixSixtySix'': Mrs. Bubis, [[spoiler: aka Baroness Von Zumpe and one of the few people to know Archimboldi’s real identity.]]

* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': Porter Webb, UsefulNotes/{{CIA}} officer Clayton Webb’s mother, a former UsefulNotes/{{NSA}} analyst who is perfectly comfortable with her son’s fake deaths and other cloak and dagger shenanigans.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' Any of the trainer classes depicted as old ladies are examples of this. Special mention goes to [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Agatha]], [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Bertha]] and [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY Drasna]], who are all members of the ''Elite Four.'' (Drasna even uses Dragon-types, to boot.