Co-creator Marta Kauffman recalled in Littlefield's book, “There was something about Courteney that was adorable.”
The Monica part was narrowed down to Courteney and Nancy McKeon, an actress from “The Facts of Life,” and Kauffman and co-creator David Crane made the call.
“Courteney brought a whole bunch of colors to [the role],” Crane said. “We decided that, week after week, that would be a lovelier place to go to.”
Monica was the Mother Hen of the gang, a bossy, competitive, take charge woman. As her love life went, after a relationship with an older man, Richard (Tom Selleck), who was a generation older than her. Monica eventually dated and married fellow Friend Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry), and they adopted twins in the series finale.
Comparing herself to Monica, Courteney said, “It's not like I let people do things for me, so I guess you can call me a control freak, or you can call me passionate. I'm not a passive person by any stretch of the imagination.”
Classic TV Beauties 1990s Countdown
COURTENEY COX as Monica Geller in "Friends"
Courteney was originally slated to play Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) but she was so similiar to Monica that she was destined to play her. Both could be described as organized, obsessive, and control freaks, as well as vibrant and beautiful.
The Southern brunette charmed us for 10 years as one of three beauties on the culture-changing, most popular sitcom of the decade
"There's no ego with her, which is the extraordinary thing,” praised “Friends” co-star Lisa Kudrow of Courteney. “She's one of the most beautiful women that you can look at in person, and there's no competition with her. She is really smart about focusing on the task at hand and the bigger picture, the job, the work. It was always extraordinary to me that emotion never clouded her professionalism."
The show that was originally titled “Six of One” became a sitcom standard for series based on young urban adults. Centered around the six friends all in their twenties living in Manhattan, “Friends” was the first series to depict young people living on their own.
“It may seem hard to believe today, but in '94 we were playing in core-conceptual territory that hadn't been explored that much on network TV – young adult relationships,” wrote Warren Littlefield, former NBC president of entertainment in his book “Top of the Rock: Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV.”
Courteney called Monica the role of a lifetime. “I had fun playing her, and I think it will be sad not to play her,” she said in a USA Today interview just before the series finale. “I'm so lucky I've been on a show that's been so wonderful. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing.
“But I think it's all good timing, Ten years. It feels right.”
Courteney was originally asked to audition for the Rachel Green role. but she preferred playing Monica.
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Courteney was born outside Birmingham in the suburb of Mountain Brook, Alabama.
“In some ways I grew up faster,” she said in an interview with www.telegraph.co.uk. “We didn't have much money so I got a job when I was 13. I learned to take care of myself.”
Courteney attended Mount Vernon College in the District of Columbia and studied architecture but left school for a modeling and acting career.
“My mother's beautiful, my dad was really a handsome man, and there was a lot of talk about looks when I was growing up,” she said in a 2008 Marie Claire article. “So I'd probably have this [insecurity] no matter what. But then you move to Los Angeles, and that's a whole separate set of issues.”
.Still, Courteney wasn't earning starring roles and she told InStyle magazine in 2010,
“There was a time when my dad thought I should get out. It was right before I got 'Friends' and I probably had a month to go before I was completely broke.
“At one point my dad called me and said, 'You have always been a great salesman, I think it's time you come home and sell swimming pools.'”
From the beginning, “Friends” became “Must See” TV. After a No. 9 rating the first season (1994-95), “Friends” garnered Top 5 ratings for all of the next nine seasons, including one season as the top rated show (2001-2002) when ratings increased 17% from the previous year.
And the show made the three female stars – Courteney, Jennifer, and Lisa – very famous and very wealthy. All three actresses, along with their three male co-stars, earned seven-figure per episode salaries the final two seasons.
The finale was the fourth most watched series finale in TV history – behind only series endings of “M*A*S*H,” “Cheers,” and “Seinfeld” – and was the most watched entertainment telecast in six years.
“Friends” was nominated for 63 Emmys during its 10-seasons, and TV Guide magazine named it No. 21 on its list of the 50 Greatest Shows of All Time. The series won the 2002 Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series and was nominated five other season
Despite all the awards “Friends” racked up, Courteney was the only cast member who was never nominated for an Emmy. “I wish I didn't care about stuff like that, but I do.”
Although Courteney once complained that she wasn't exotic looking, she appeared on the cover of People and was named one of its 50 Most Beautiful People in 1995, and was placed as No. 9 in FHM's Sexiest Women of the World issues in 1997 and 1998.
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She earned her first national recognition when she was whisked on stage by Bruce Springsteen to dance on his video “Dancing in the Dark.”
A year later she appeared in a tampon commercial and was the first person to utter the word “period” on U.S. Television. Modeling, though, wasn't for Courteney. Years later, she said, “I wasn't going to go far. I'm only 5'5” and I don't have that look.”
Over the next decade Courteney made numerous TV and film appearances. She played Gloria Dinallo for 16 episodes in “Misfits of Science,” and was Alex Keaton's girlfriend Lauren Miller for three seasons in “Family Ties,” as well as Jerry Seinfeld's girlfriend in a 1994 “Seinfeld” episode.
Courteney also appeared in several notable movies during this time, including “Masters of the Universe” (1987), “Cocoon: The Return” (1988), and Jim Carrey's “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” (1994).
During and after her stint on “Friends,” Courteney starred in all four of the “Scream” horror series, playing news reporter Gale Weathers.
She avoided TV work for five years after “Friends” concluded.
“'Friends was such a benchmark of television success that I shied away from trying anything else. I felt as if people would say, 'She was supposed to be good on that show, what happened to her?'"
Five years after “Friends,” Courteney returned to TV in the ABC sitcom “Cougar Town,” starring as Jules Cobb, a forty-something, insecure single mother faced with dating and a mid-life crisis.
“Cougar Town” attracted its share of controversy. Although the show's setting – the fictional town of Gulfhaven, Florida -- is nicknamed Cougar Town because the local high school mascot is a cougar, many critics said the series unfairly portrayed the female characters as desperate aging floozies willing to jump on every young male in sight.
“I think a lot of people were turned off by the title,” Courteney said. “It's the worst title in the history of all television and it's not what the show's about... A lot of people didn't want to watch because the word 'cougar' is offensive to some people and they didn't want to see me with younger guys. It's very polarizing... you either love it or hate it.
“Also, a cougar is someone who takes care of herself and goes out with younger guys. She doesn't need a man to take care of her.”
Although younger viewers may remember her more as a Cougar, Courteney will always be one of our favorite Friends.
“I'm just starting to watch ['Friends'] again because my daughter likes to watch it,” she said in 2012. “And I'm looking at it and thinking, 'That's hysterical.' It was such a great show."
