80-489: Along with the Simpson family , The Simpsons includes a large array of characters: co-workers, teachers, family friends, extended relatives, townspeople, local celebrities. The creators originally intended many of these characters as one-time jokesters or for fulfilling needed functions in the town. A number of them have gained expanded roles and subsequently starred in their own episodes. According to creator Matt Groening ,
160-517: A dysfunctional family . He named the characters after his own family members – his father Homer, his mother Margaret, and his younger sisters Lisa and Maggie. He substituted "Bart", an anagram of "brat", for his own name, and modeled the character after his older brother, Mark. The five family members were given simple designs so that their facial emotions could easily be changed with almost no effort and so that they would be recognizable in silhouette. Groening submitted only basic sketches to
240-993: A one man play in which he portrays a dozen different characters, including artist Vincent van Gogh . He first officially performed the play at the ACME Comedy Theatre in Los Angeles in 1999. In 2007, he appeared in The Bicycle Men at King's Head Theatre in London. Castellaneta hosted the final of New York comedy show Thrills and Spills on December 31, 2015. The final was held in Montgomery, Alabama . In 1987, Castellaneta married writer and actress Deb Lacusta , whom he had met at an improv class in Chicago . They divide their time between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, California . Castellaneta
320-463: A student teacher and would entertain his students with his impressions. Castellaneta was a regular participant in The Ron Petke and His Dead Uncle Show , a radio show at NIU. The show helped Castellaneta hone his skills as a voice-over actor. He recalled "We did parodies and sketches, we would double up on, so you learned to switch between voices. I got my feet wet doing a voiceover. The show
400-538: A Clown ", and 2009 for voicing Homer in " Father Knows Worst ". In 1993, Castellaneta was given a special Annie Award , "Outstanding Individual Achievement in the Field of Animation", for his work as Homer on The Simpsons . In 2004, Castellaneta and Julie Kavner (the voice of Marge) won a Young Artist Award for "Most Popular Mom & Dad in a TV Series". Homer was placed second on TV Guide ' s 2002 Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters, and in 2000, Homer and
480-593: A basic point, transcribing the results, and then editing them to the finished scene. Castellaneta chose the title I Am Not Homer as a parody of Leonard Nimoy 's famous first autobiography I Am Not Spock , as well as to show that most of the comedy featured "is not the typical Homer comedy." Alongside his television and film work, Castellaneta has appeared in a number of theatrical productions. In 1992, he starred in Deb & Dan's Show alongside his wife. In 1995, Castellaneta started writing Where Did Vincent van Gogh? ,
560-428: A borderline alcoholic. He has occasionally displayed flashes of great intellect and fitness whenever the situation calls for it, and an integrity reflecting his own values, including a fierce devotion to and protectiveness of his family. His voice started out as an impression of Walter Matthau but eventually evolved into a more robust voice during the second and third season of the half-hour show, allowing Homer to cover
640-519: A chance to try something else. He began taking improvisation classes, where he met his future wife Deb Lacusta . He started to work at The Second City , an improvisational theatre in Chicago , in 1983 and continued to work there until 1987. During this period, he did voice-over work with his wife for various radio stations. He auditioned for a role in The Tracey Ullman Show and his first meeting underwhelmed Tracey Ullman and
720-551: A fuller range of emotions. Homer has since become one of the most influential fictional characters and has been described by the UK newspaper The Sunday Times as the greatest comedic creation of modern time. He has inspired an entire line of merchandise, and his catchphrase, the annoyed grunt " D'oh! ", has been included in the Oxford English Dictionary . During the production of the episode Insane Clown Poppy
800-429: A girl. I read two lines as Bart and they said, 'Thanks for coming!'" Smith was given the role of Lisa instead. On March 13, 1987, Nancy Cartwright went in to audition for the role of Lisa. After arriving at the audition, she found that Lisa was simply described as the "middle child" and at the time did not have much personality. Cartwright became more interested in the role of Bart who she found more fascinating because he
880-545: A name. By coincidence, the writers chose the name Abraham. Mona J. Simpson (née Olsen , voiced by Glenn Close ) is Homer's long-lost mother, Marge's mother-in-law, and Abe's estranged first wife. Her first major appearance was in " Mother Simpson " where she reveals that she was forced to abandon her family after being caught up in the hippie movement and participated in various acts of activism. The writers used this episode as an opportunity to solve several little puzzles, such as where Lisa's intelligence came from. Prior to
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#1732793474664960-466: A nomination for "Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature" at the 2007 Annie Awards , but lost to Ian Holm in Ratatouille . Kavner's emotional performance in the movie got positive reviews and one critic said she "gave what must be the most heartfelt performance ever". Part of Kavner's contract says that she will never have to promote The Simpsons on video because she does not want to "destroy
1040-642: A poor role model for children. This prompted George H. W. Bush to rally, "We're going to keep trying to strengthen the American family. To make them more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons." Bart, and other Simpsons characters, have appeared in numerous television commercials for Nestlé 's Butterfinger candy bars from 1990 to 2001, with the slogan "Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger!" Lisa Marie Simpson (voiced by Yeardley Smith )
1120-473: A recording of what he believed was his best belch and told the producers to make that the standard. Groundskeeper Willie's first appearance was in the season two episode " Principal Charming ". The character was written as an angry janitor and Castellaneta was assigned to perform the voice. He did not know what voice to use and Sam Simon , who was directing at the time, suggested he use an accent. Castellaneta first tried using Hispanic voicing, which Simon felt
1200-621: A recurring character and has appeared in several episodes. She seems to get along well with her cousin Maggie. Since Patty told Selma to give up smoking once the baby came home, Selma claimed she would switch to chewing tobacco, although it is shown she has not followed through with this. Selma has married six times, resulting in the lengthy last name Bouvier-Terwilliger-Hutz-McClure-Stu-Simpson-D'Amico. Dan Castellaneta Daniel Louis Castellaneta ( / ˌ k æ s t ə l ə ˈ n ɛ t ə / KAST -ə-lə- NET -ə ; born October 29, 1957)
1280-667: A regular cast member in several other television series. In 1991, he played Warren Morris in the short-lived ABC live-action sitcom Sibs . Heide Perlman, creator of Sibs , wrote the part with Castellaneta in mind. He provided the voice of the eponymous character in The Adventures of Dynamo Duck , Megavolt in Darkwing Duck , "Doc" Emmett Brown in Back to the Future: The Animated Series ,
1360-470: A scene in his mind so that he can give the proper voice to it. Despite Homer's fame, Castellaneta claims he is rarely recognized in public, "except, maybe, by a die-hard fan." Castellaneta also provides the voices for numerous other characters, including Grampa Simpson , Barney Gumble , Krusty the Clown , Groundskeeper Willie , Mayor Quimby , Hans Moleman , Sideshow Mel , Itchy , Kodos , Arnie Pye ,
1440-424: A script for an episode in which Barney becomes sober, and pitched it to showrunner Al Jean . He liked the story but turned it down because he felt that it was too similar to " Duffless ", an episode that the writers were already working on. The two waited for nearly a decade and offered an updated version of the script to later showrunner Mike Scully , who liked it and had them make a few changes. Their script became
1520-434: A series of animated shorts about a dysfunctional family . Voices were needed for the shorts, so the producers decided to ask Castellaneta and fellow cast member Julie Kavner to voice Homer and Marge Simpson respectively, rather than hire more actors. Homer's voice began as a loose impression of Walter Matthau , but Castellaneta could not "get enough power behind that voice" and could not sustain his Matthau impression for
1600-456: A speaking appearance in season ten 's " D'oh-in in the Wind ", this time voiced by Tress MacNeille . Patricia Maleficent "Patty" and Selma Bouvier (both voiced by Julie Kavner ) are Marge's older twin sisters. They are apparently in their mid-to-late 40s, since Selma has gone through menopause and they were shown as teenagers in flashbacks while Marge was still a small child. They work at
1680-424: A ten-year-old troublemaker; Lisa, an eight-year-old child prodigy ; and Maggie , a toddler who rarely speaks, but communicates by sucking on a pacifier . The family owns a dog, Santa's Little Helper , and a cat, Snowball II. Both pets have had starring roles in several seasons. Despite the passing of yearly milestones such as holidays or birthdays, the Simpsons do not physically age and still appear as they did at
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#17327934746641760-467: A voice of reason and a force of good in her family and city struck a chord with the Japanese. Margaret Lenny "Maggie" Simpson is the youngest of the five main family members and is almost always seen as a baby. She has blonde spiked hair like Lisa. Her first word was "daddy", shown at one point after Homer tucks her in. She is almost 2 years old and still uses a pacifier despite teething, although this
1840-472: Is Mona Simpson. Mona was designed in a way so that she has little bit of Homer in her face, such as the shape of her upper lip and her nose. There were several design changes because the directors were trying to make her an attractive older and younger woman, but still be Simpson-esque. Glenn Close recorded original material for another episode, season fifteen 's " My Mother the Carjacker ". Mona also has
1920-642: Is Selma Bouvier's adopted daughter. She shares Selma's laugh. In " Goo Goo Gai Pan ", Selma discovers that she has reached menopause and adopts Ling in China, after lying that she is married to Homer, to fool the Chinese authorities into thinking that Ling would be part of a traditional family as opposed to being raised by a single mother. The authorities briefly reclaim Ling, but the adoption agent Ms. Woo relates to her experiences of her childhood with her single mother and allows Selma to adopt Ling. Ling has since become
2000-565: Is a parody of various members of the Kennedy family . The episode script did not call for Quimby to be a parody of them, and Castellaneta improvised the accent. Sideshow Mel's voice is Castellaneta's impression of Kelsey Grammer , the voice of Sideshow Bob . Hapless Gil Gunderson is a spoof of actor Jack Lemmon 's portrayal of Shelley Levene in the 1992 film adaptation of the play Glengarry Glen Ross . Showrunner Mike Scully thought that Gil would be "a one-shot thing" but "Dan Castellaneta
2080-635: Is an American actor and writer. He is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series The Simpsons (as well as other characters on the show such as Grampa Simpson , Krusty the Clown , Groundskeeper Willie , Mayor Quimby , Sideshow Mel , Mr. Teeny , Santa's Little Helper , Itchy , and Barney Gumble ). Castellaneta is also known for voicing Grandpa in Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold! , and has had voice roles in several other programs, including Futurama , Sibs , Darkwing Duck , The Adventures of Dynamo Duck , The Batman , Back to
2160-596: Is the patriarch of the Simpson family and the father of Homer. He is a World War II veteran who was later sent to the Springfield Retirement Castle by Homer. He is known for his borderline senility, his long rambling (and probably apocryphal) stories and his love of Matlock . He shares his name with one of Matt Groening's relatives, in this case his grandfather. However, Groening says he refused to name him, leaving it to other writers to choose
2240-594: Is the eldest daughter and middle child of the family, at 8 years old. Lisa's political convictions are generally socially liberal . She is a vegetarian, and a supporter of the Free Tibet movement , and while still supportive of the Christian church in which she was raised, Lisa became a practicing Buddhist following her decision to follow the Noble Eightfold Path . She is musically proficient on
2320-412: Is voiced by Kavner, and has large, unique hair, resembling Marge's, only a light gray color due to her old age. In her younger days she smoked heavily but has quit, although she still speaks more raspily than Patty and Selma. The series creator Matt Groening named the character after the former American First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis , whose maiden name was Bouvier. Out of all the characters on
2400-619: The Stargate SG-1 season eight episode " Citizen Joe ". He also appeared in episodes of ALF , Campus Ladies , Castle , Entourage , Everybody Loves Raymond , Frasier , Friends , Greek , How I Met Your Mother , Mad About You , Married... with Children , Murphy Brown , NYPD Blue , Parks and Recreation , Reba , Reno 911! , That '70s Show , Veronica Mars , Hot in Cleveland , Yes, Dear , and Desperate Housewives . He appeared as
2480-603: The Environmental Media Awards . " Lisa the Vegetarian ", an episode from the seventh season , won both an Environmental Media Award for "Best Television Episodic Comedy" and a Genesis Award for "Best Television Comedy Series, Ongoing Commitment". In Japan, the broadcasters of the series found they were able to turn the apparent viewer dislike of the series around by focusing marketing attention on Lisa. Lisa's well-intended but ill-fated struggles to be
List of The Simpsons characters - Misplaced Pages Continue
2560-565: The Fox Broadcasting Company . The Simpson family remained the main characters on this new show. Dan Castellaneta , Julie Kavner , Nancy Cartwright , and Yeardley Smith all began voicing their characters on The Tracey Ullman Show . Nancy Cartwright was the only one of the group who had been trained to be a voice actor while Castellaneta had done some voice over work in Chicago. Castellaneta and Kavner had been part of
2640-806: The Genie in the Aladdin sequel The Return of Jafar and on the 1994 Aladdin television series. The Genie had been voiced by Robin Williams in Aladdin , and Castellaneta described replacing him as "sort of like stepping into Hamlet after Laurence Olivier did it, how can you win?" He also provided Genie's voice in the Kingdom Hearts video game series for both Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II (with archived audio used for Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and its remake as well as for
2720-477: The Springfield Department of Motor Vehicles , and possess a strong dislike for their brother-in-law, Homer . Selma is the elder by two minutes, possesses a strong desire for family, and has been married and divorced six times, and also sought to have a child on numerous occasions despite her age. Her sister, Patty, is one of the show's few openly gay (or bisexual, as she once commented "there go
2800-481: The Squeaky Voiced Teen and Gil Gunderson . Krusty's voice is based on Chicago television's Bob Bell , who had a very raspy voice and portrayed WGN-TV 's Bozo the Clown from 1960 to 1984. During early recording sessions, he recorded a new version of Barney's loud trademark belch for every episode but discovered that it was not easy for him to belch each time a script called for it. Castellaneta chose
2880-710: The legal drama L.A. Law , as a Homer Simpson meetable character at a California amusement park who is dismissed for inappropriate behavior while in costume. In 1996, he made a guest appearance as a Zoo Keeper in Season 2, Episode 12 “ The One After the Superbowl ” in Friends . In 2005, he appeared in the episode "Sword of Destiny" in Arrested Development as Dr. Stein, a deadpan incompetent doctor. In 2005, Castellaneta guest-starred as Joe Spencer in
2960-498: The swear jar . In the episode " Puffless ", it is revealed that he died of lung cancer, which provoked Patty and Selma to abstain from smoking cigarettes. While Clancy does not appear with the rest of the Bouvier family in " I Married Marge ", implying he was deceased before Homer and Marge were married, he is shown to be still alive when Bart and Lisa were toddlers in the episode " Walking Big & Tall ", but he died before Maggie
3040-542: The "two-minute bits" that they were original, while several others were stage sketches performed in a comedy club in Santa Monica . Additionally, "Citizen Kane", a sketch in which two people discuss the film Citizen Kane with different meanings, was something the pair had performed at an art gallery. Castellaneta noted that "we already knew that these skits were funny, [but] some of them we polished and tightened." The skits were principally written by improvising from
3120-654: The Future: The Animated Series , Aladdin , Earthworm Jim , and Taz-Mania . In 1999, he appeared in the Christmas special Olive, the Other Reindeer and won an Annie Award for his portrayal of the Postman. Castellaneta released a comedy album I Am Not Homer , and wrote and starred in a one-person show titled Where Did Vincent van Gogh? Daniel Louis Castellaneta was born on October 29, 1957, at Roseland Community Hospital on Chicago's south side and
3200-513: The Hat and The Pursuit of Happyness . In 2000, he won an Annie Award for his portrayal of the Postman in the animated Christmas television special Olive, the Other Reindeer . In 2006, he appeared in Jeff Garlin 's independent film I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With along with several other Second City alumni . On February 22, 2000, his first music CD Two Lips was published. It
3280-576: The U.S. on December 17, 1989, and started airing in Winter 1990. Alongside the five main family members are Homer's father Abraham "Grampa" Simpson , Marge's sisters Patty and Selma Bouvier , and the family's two pets, Santa's Little Helper and Snowball V ; all of them feature in major supporting roles. Other, less prominent relatives that appear infrequently include Marge's mother Jacqueline Bouvier , Homer's mother Mona Simpson , his half-brother Herb Powell and minor relatives. Groening conceived of
List of The Simpsons characters - Misplaced Pages Continue
3360-480: The animators and assumed that the figures would be cleaned-up in production. However, the animators merely re-traced his drawings, which led to the crude appearance of the characters in the initial short episodes. The Simpson family made their debut on April 19, 1987, in The Tracey Ullman Show short " Good Night ". In 1989, the shorts were adapted into The Simpsons , a half-hour series airing on
3440-399: The artists. He was a "devotee" of the works of many performers, including Alan Arkin and Barbara Harris and directors Mike Nichols and Elaine May . He attended Oak Park and River Forest High School and upon graduation, started attending Northern Illinois University (NIU) in the fall of 1975. Castellaneta studied art education, with the goal of becoming an art teacher. He became
3520-455: The cast demanded to be paid $ 360,000 an episode. The issue was resolved a month later, with Castellaneta starting to earn $ 250,000 per episode. Following salary negotiations in 2008, the cast received approximately $ 400,000 per episode. In 2011, with Fox threatening to cancel the series unless production costs were cut, the cast accepted a pay cut to around $ 300,000 per episode. In the early 1990s, Castellaneta and his wife Deb Lacusta wrote
3600-420: The end of the 1980s. Although the family is dysfunctional, many episodes examine their relationships and bonds with each other and they are often shown to care about one another. Homer Jay Simpson (voiced by Dan Castellaneta ) is the protagonist of the show and the father of the Simpson family. He embodies several American working class stereotypes: he is crude, overweight, incompetent, clumsy, thoughtless and
3680-635: The end of the episode. Although it seems that she disapproves of Marge's marriage to Homer , stating that he is never to address her as "Mom", she does tolerate Homer much more than her elder daughters, Patty and Selma. In " Moe Letter Blues ", she admits that Patty and Selma are really to blame for ruining her birthday party, not Homer; also Jacqueline never has been shown to cause trouble in Homer and Marge's marriage, unlike her daughters. Jacqueline has celebrated her 80th birthday twice, in " Moe Letter Blues " and again in " Puffless ". Like all Bouvier women, she
3760-413: The episode " Days of Wine and D'oh'ses ". Castellaneta and his wife have also written the episodes " Gump Roast ", " The Ziff Who Came to Dinner ", " Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore ", and " The Fight Before Christmas ". In 2007 , they were nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for the episode "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore". Castellaneta is also credited as a consulting producer. Castellaneta has been
3840-521: The fall. It's a running joke in the show to be as vague and ambiguous as possible whenever hinting at which U.S. state the town of Springfield might be located in. Homer, the father, works as a safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant , a position at odds with his careless, buffoonish personality. He is married to Marge Simpson, a stereotypical American housewife and mother. They have three children: Bart,
3920-438: The first four seasons of The Simpsons , Bart was the show's main character. The name "Bart" is an anagram of the word "brat". Groening conceived Bart as an extreme version of the typical misbehaving child character, merging all of the extreme traits of characters such as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn into one person. Groening's older brother Mark provided most of the inspiration for Bart. Bart's catchphrase "Eat My Shorts"
4000-406: The future often show her as some kind of businesswoman. Maggie rarely speaks, but has been voiced by several different actors including Jodie Foster , Elizabeth Taylor , James Earl Jones , Harry Shearer (who used his Kang voice) in "Starship Poopers", Yeardley Smith , and Nancy Cartwright . Abraham Jay "Abe" Simpson II (better known simply as Grampa , voiced by Dan Castellaneta )
4080-465: The idea for the Simpsons in the lobby of James L. Brooks 's office. Brooks had asked Groening to pitch an idea for a series of animated shorts, which Groening initially intended to present as his Life in Hell series. However, when Groening realized that animating Life in Hell would require the rescinding of publication rights for his life's work, he chose another approach and formulated his version of
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#17327934746644160-405: The illusion for children". In 2008, CityNews published an article entitled "Top 10 Greatest TV Moms of All Time", and placed Marge in eighth spot. Bartholomew Jojo "Bart" Simpson (voiced by Nancy Cartwright ) is the eldest child and only son in the family, at age 10. Bart's most prominent character traits are his mischievousness, rebelliousness, disrespect for authority, and sharp wit. During
4240-401: The last remaining threads of my heterosexuality") recurring characters although for the most part she has avoided relationships. Kavner voices them as characters "who suck the life out of everything". Kavner makes Patty's voice more masculine and a lower register, while Selma's voice is a little sweeter. The origins of their names are unknown – Matt Groening has a sister named Patty, but unlike
4320-782: The later HD collections Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix and Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix ). Castellaneta portrayed Aaron Spelling in the 2004 NBC film Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie's Angels , which followed the true story of how Spelling created the show. Other films in which Castellaneta has appeared include Nothing in Common , Say Anything... , Super Mario Bros. , The Client , Space Jam , My Giant , The Simpsons Movie , Rugrats in Paris: The Movie , Recess: School's Out , Hey Arnold!: The Movie , The Cat in
4400-649: The lead character in Earthworm Jim and several characters, including Grandpa Phil and the Jolly Olly Man, the mentally unstable ice cream truck driver, on Nickelodeon 's Hey Arnold! . He guest starred as The Robot Devil in five episodes of Futurama , as well as the Futurama film The Beast with a Billion Backs . Castellaneta has also made guest appearances in a number of television series episodes. In 1992, he guest-starred in an episode of
4480-646: The main fictional characters featured in the animated television series The Simpsons . The Simpsons are a nuclear family consisting of married couple Homer and Marge and their three children, Bart , Lisa , and Maggie . They live at 742 Evergreen Terrace in the fictional town of Springfield , United States, and they were created by cartoonist Matt Groening , who conceived the characters after his own family members, substituting "Bart" for his own name. The family debuted on Fox on April 19, 1987, in The Tracey Ullman Show short " Good Night " and were later spun off into their own series, which debuted on Fox in
4560-432: The nine- to ten-hour long recording sessions. He tried to find something easier, so he "dropped the voice down", and developed it into a more versatile and humorous voice during the second and third season of the half-hour show. To perform Homer's voice, Castellaneta lowers his chin to his chest, and is said to "let his IQ go." Castellaneta likes to stay in character during recording sessions, and tries to visualize
4640-412: The other Simpson relatives, this has not been explicitly revealed. Jacqueline Bouvier (née Gurney , voiced by Julie Kavner ) is the mother of Marge, Patty and Selma, the maternal grandmother of Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, the mother-in-law of Homer, the daughter-in-law of Pepe and Bambi Bouvier, the sister-in-law of Herman, Charlene, Jojo, Chester, and Arthur Bouvier, and the widow of Clancy Bouvier. She
4720-511: The other producers. Ullman decided to fly to Chicago to watch Castellaneta perform. His performance that night was about a blind man who tries to become a comedian and Ullman later recalled that although there were flashier performances that night, Castellaneta made her cry. She was impressed and Castellaneta was hired. Castellaneta is most famous for his roles on the longest-running American animated television show The Simpsons , most notably as Homer Simpson . The Tracey Ullman Show included
4800-446: The regular cast of The Tracey Ullman Show and voices were needed for the shorts, so the producers decided to ask them to voice Homer and Marge rather than hire more actors. The producers decided to hold casting for the roles of Bart and Lisa. Yeardley Smith had initially been asked to audition for the role of Bart, but casting director Bonita Pietila believed her voice was too high. Smith later recalled, "I always sounded too much like
4880-495: The rest of the Simpson family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard. Until 1998, Castellaneta was paid $ 30,000 per episode. During a pay dispute in 1998, Fox threatened to replace the six main voice actors with new actors, going as far as preparing for casting of new voices. The dispute was soon resolved and Castellaneta began receiving $ 125,000 per episode until 2004, when
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#17327934746644960-598: The saxophone; besides the occasional riff during the opening credit sequence Carole King 's Jazzman and Gerry Rafferty 's Baker Street have been prominently placed during episodes. In the Tracey Ullman Show shorts, Lisa was more of a "female Bart" and was equally mischievous. As the series progressed, Lisa began to develop into a more intelligent and emotional character. When she was a baby, Bart started out not liking her, although he became nicer to her after Marge pointed out that Lisa loves him. Her first word
5040-437: The seventh season , Mona Simpson had only made two brief flashback appearances, the first being season two 's " Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? " and the second being season six 's " Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy " and in both episodes she was voiced by Maggie Roswell . Mona dies in the episode " Mona Leaves-a ", as Homer struggles to come to terms with her death. The character is named after writer Richard Appel 's wife, whose name
5120-497: The show adopted the concept of a large supporting cast from the Canadian sketch comedy show Second City Television . The main episode characters, the Simpson family, are listed first; all other characters are listed in alphabetical order. Only main, supporting, and recurring characters are listed. For other recurring characters, see List of recurring The Simpsons characters . Simpson family The Simpson family are
5200-533: The show, Jacqueline has the tallest hair. Clarence "Clancy" Bouvier (voiced by Harry Shearer ) is the deceased father of Marge, Patty and Selma and the husband of Jacqueline Bouvier. His first appearance was in the episode " The Way We Was ". He was kind and complimentary to teenage Homer when he arrived to pick up Marge for the prom , but after finding out that Artie Ziff was really her date remarked that Homer "took years off my life". This provoked Marge to go back and go out with Homer. In "Fear of Flying" it
5280-561: The voice of reason, but displays exaggerated behavior traits of stereotypical mothers and takes the blatant dysfunctionality of her family for granted, unlike the other family members, who are aware that they are eccentric. Her most notable physical feature is her blue hair , styled into an improbably high beehive . Julie Kavner received a Primetime Emmy Award in 1992 for voicing Marge in the episode " I Married Marge ". For her performance in The Simpsons Movie , Kavner received
5360-493: The writers toyed with the idea of giving Homer a long lost illegitimate biological daughter, but when the shows showrunner and writer Mike Scully , as well as Matt Groening rejected the idea, the writers changed the story so the clown Krusty would be the one who finds he has a lost daughter. Marjorie Jacqueline "Marge" Simpson (née Bouvier , voiced by Julie Kavner ) is the well-meaning and extremely patient wife of Homer and mother of Bart, Lisa and Maggie. She often acts as
5440-403: Was "Bart", with Bart happily teaching her more names. Many episodes focusing on Lisa have an emotional nature, the first one being " Moaning Lisa ". The idea for the episode was pitched by James L. Brooks , who had wanted to do an emotional episode where Lisa is sad because the show had done a lot of "jokey episodes". In 2001 Lisa received a special "board of directors Ongoing Commitment Award" at
5520-554: Was an ad-lib by Cartwright in one of the original table readings, harking back to an incident when she was at college. In 1998, Time magazine selected Bart as 46th of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, and the only fictional character to make the list. He had previously appeared on the cover of the December 31, 1990 edition. Bart is rebellious and frequently escapes without punishment, which led some parents' groups and conservative spokespeople to believe he provided
5600-526: Was born. Marge was particularly upset by her father's death, as Homer had to buy her a white noise machine to try and get her to deal with it. In " Homer's Adventures Through the Windshield Glass ", it is revealed that Clancy left Marge a inheritance in which she would be paid $ 1,000 per month. This was because he did not trust Homer to provide for her. When he died, Clancy went to Hell for a check forging scheme. In " Treehouse of Horror III ", he
5680-490: Was described as "devious, underachieving, school-hating, irreverent, [and] clever." Matt Groening let her try out for the part instead, and upon hearing her read, gave her the job on the spot. The Simpsons are a family who live at 742 Evergreen Terrace in the town of Springfield in the United States. The state in which this town is located is never specified, however they do have snow and sometimes wear sweaters in
5760-416: Was eaten at King Homer and Marge's wedding by the former. He also appeared as a ghost in " Treehouse of Horror XXVI ". Like all the Bouvier family, his voice has become croaky through chain-smoking for a number of years. He also shares the same grunt as Patty and Selma , both of whom resemble younger female versions of him, while Marge more resembles her mother. Ling Bouvier (voiced by Nancy Cartwright )
5840-473: Was first referenced in a flashback in the episode " Moaning Lisa " and made her first appearance in the episode " Bart vs. Thanksgiving ". She had a spinster sister named Gladys, who is deceased; Jacqueline and her family attended her funeral in " Selma's Choice ". Mr. Burns and Homer's father Abe Simpson once battled for her affections; she became engaged to Burns, but eventually decided not to marry either man, although she and Abe still ran away together at
5920-499: Was followed on April 23, 2002, by his first comedy CD, I Am Not Homer , in which he and his wife perform several comedy skits. The majority of the sketches had been written and performed before the CD was recorded, and Castellaneta thought that it would be a good idea to preserve them "since [he and Lacusta] don't perform them much anymore." Some came from their sketch series on a local radio station in Chicago and had to be lengthened from
6000-513: Was just barely audible, but we didn't care. It was that we got a chance to do it and write our own material." He took a play-writing class and auditioned for an improvisational show. A classmate first thought Castellaneta would "fall on his face with improvisation" but soon "was churning out material faster than [they] could make it work." Castellaneta began his acting career after his graduation from Northern Illinois University in 1979. He decided that if his career went nowhere he would still have
6080-416: Was mentioned in a Treehouse of Horror episode ("Starship Poopers") and is not considered canon. She was quite prominent in the Tracey Ullman Show shorts, often being featured alongside Bart and Lisa but has since become the least seen and heard of the five main Simpsons. It has been revealed that Maggie has outstanding artistic and academic abilities, much like her sister Lisa. The episodes taking place in
6160-485: Was raised in River Forest and Oak Park, Illinois . He is of Italian descent, born to Elsie ( née Lagorio ; 1926–2008) and Louis Castellaneta (1915–2014), an amateur actor who worked for a printing company. Castellaneta became adept at impressions at a young age and his mother enrolled him in an acting class when he was 16 years old. He would listen to his father's comedy records and do impressions of
6240-525: Was revealed that he was one of the earliest male flight attendants ; Marge initially believed he was a heroic pilot and was traumatized when she discovered he was a flight attendant instead. According to Marge in " Bart the Lover " after Clancy got out of the Navy, he had trouble with his cursing that nearly cost him a job as a baby photographer, but Jacqueline was able to curtail that by having him donate money to
6320-454: Was so funny at the table read doing the character, we kept making up excuses in subsequent episodes to put him in." The Blue-Haired Lawyer 's voice, as well as his demeanor, is based on lawyer Roy Cohn . Castellaneta has won several awards for voicing Homer, including four Primetime Emmy Awards for " Outstanding Voice-Over Performance " in 1992 for " Lisa's Pony ", 1993 for " Mr. Plow ", 2004 for voicing several characters in " Today I Am
6400-429: Was too clichéd . He then tried a "big dumb Swede ", which was also rejected. For his third try, he used the voice of a grumpy Scotsman , which was deemed appropriate enough and was used in the episode. The voice was based partially on Angus Crock, a kilt -wearing chef from the sketch comedy show Second City Television , who was portrayed by Dave Thomas . Mayor Quimby, who first appeared in " Bart Gets an 'F' " ,
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