LaWanda Dumore is a woman who tried to marry Ben "Little Ben" Healy Jr. but it turns out that she only cared about money. She is the main antagonist of the second film.
Biography[]
Ben Healy and his son, Junior move from Cold River to Mortville, a quiet, peaceful community, apparently as a way to start a new life. When Ben is opening an account at the local bank and wishes to be self-employed, LaWanda Dumore, the wealthiest woman in Mortville who along with her dimwitted assistant, Smith, notices Ben inside her bank from her upstairs office. She demands Smith to find out everything about him since she wants to make him her seventh husband. Meanwhile, LaWanda looks over Ben's records in her office but has serious doubts when she sees Junior's and notices news headlines indicating all the trouble he caused. She decides to handle him in her own way so she can move over to Ben. Ben "Big Ben" Healy Sr. landed in a tree after getting into a fight with Junior and he yells to Ben to no avail. As they drive off, LaWanda and her moving crew show up and notice him up in the tree. Smith asks if he is Ben's father and LaWanda tells him to get him down but he eventually falls to the ground. When Junior and Ben arrive home, they find that the house has been wonderfully decorated. They find out that LaWanda was responsible for it. As she begins to leave, she promises Ben she will make dinner tomorrow night. The next day, Junior hypnotizes Nippy so he can scare LaWanda away but Nippy freezes solid. When Junior enters his room, he finds that it has been decorated with clowns, the one thing that he hates. He goes over to his Roach Motel keeper and notices his pet roaches, triggering another plan. At dinner, everyone notices something weird with their salads. Then the bowl of salad tips over and lands all over the table, causing all the cockroaches to land on LaWanda, Ben and Big Ben. Fed up, an unwitting Ben indignantly reprimands Junior and coldly tells him that he will never trust him ever again and storms out of the room. Next, LaWanda comes in and verbally warns him not to mess with her anymore and tells him she will marry Ben and then send him to boarding school in Baghdad. He tries to explain it to Ben the next night at his school's open house but he dismisses it by telling him he's no longer credible. later Ben proposes to LaWanda believing she is the only woman who will marry him. When animal control officers visit the house, they help Nippy out of his trance and Junior switches LaWanda's blood sample with that of a rabid dog. While celebrating her engagement to Ben, she gets cake icing on her face, which bears a striking resemblance to foaming at the mouth (a symptom of rabies). As a result, she is handcuffed by health department officers and sent to the hospital for observation. With her in the hospital, Junior overhears a patient in the room across from her saying he wants to hold the world record for the world's longest nose. Overhearing this, Junior sabotages LaWanda's plastic surgery by switching the patient files, resulting in her receiving a gigantic nose - this is Junior attempting to make her so ugly Ben will not marry her. Unfortunately, she uses her funds to get last minute surgery to undo the damage. At the altar, Trixie, Junior's new friend, destroys the wedding and Ben finally realizes that her mother, Annie is the one for him. Big Ben decides to marry LaWanda himself while Junior and Trixie use explosives to splatter the two of them with wedding cake.
Appearance[]
LaWanda is an attractive Southern-American woman in her late-30s, who is 5 ft 5 in (5 ft 9 in while wearing heels), has a slender pear-shaped figure, a pale complexion, a full thick head of curly auburn hair, a sizable bust with cleavage, green eyes, long legs, red lips and a big behind that she often uses to seduce most men. She also has a great sense of fashion.
Personality[]
Lawanda has a meanness and wickeness matched only by her wealth. She is greedy, superficial and materialistic, and she has no qualms about throwing those who can't pay the rent onto the street, commenting bored "poor, poor, always poor!" and she fiercely hates children, not having a problem with insulting and threatening them. Despite this, she seems to hate greedy men like her (complaining when the gigolos she frequents constantly ask her for money) and longs for a man who is not superficial and who would be willing to love her regardless of her assets.
Behind the scenes[]
- When LaWanda sees Ben in the bank, she says she plans to make him "Hubbie #7" and a bunch of pictures are shown of her previous husbands. Her other husbands are John Ritter in several costumes.
- John Ritter and Laraine Newman had both previously appeared in the all-star biblical comedy spoof "Wholly Moses!" (1980).
Trivia[]
- The character of LaWanda who appears in this film is sort of similar to Flo Healy (Little Ben's ex wife from the first film). Both women are mean and have shown hatred towards Junior. In the first film, Flo hated Junior from the start (wanted to send him back to the orphanage) and in this film, LaWanda wanted to send him to a boarding school in Baghdad so she can marry Ben.
- LaWanda drives a 1990 Mercedes-Benz 500 SL [R129] and a 1987 Mitsubishi Fuso FE. Her assistant drives a 1957 BMW Isetta 300.
- Bright colors are featured prominently in this movie, with various characters being associated with a specific color. Most noticeably, LaWanda is always seen wearing/being surrounded by red, while Ben is often seen wearing/being surrounded by the color blue. Less noticeably, Nurse Annie is always in white. The Burger family (father and twin daughters) are often wearing/ being surrounded by the color yellow. Big Ben is often seen in green.
- When LaWanda is reading various newspaper headlines that detail Junior's actions in the first film, one of the headlines reads, "Union Carbide Plant Explodes." This was not Junior's fault. This is referencing the incident known as "The Bhopal Disaster" that occurred on December 2, 1984 at the Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Methyl isocyanate gas leaked, exposing 500,000 people. It is estimated that 16,000 died from pesticide exposure.