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- The Simpsons' oldest and richest character, Mr. Burns, has a complicated backstory that has changed a couple of times through the series.
screenrant.com/simpsons-mr-burns-backstory-history-changes-explained/The Simpsons: Mr. Burns' Backstory (& How It Changed Over Time)
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Aug 16, 2023 · The backstory of C. Montgomery Burns is likely more vast and detailed than even 30 years' worth of episodes of The Simpsons can express. That's because he's incredibly old.
Apr 24, 2020 · The Simpsons' oldest and richest character, Mr. Burns, has a complicated backstory that has changed a couple of times through the series.
- Senior Staff Writer
- Overview
- Biography
- Criminal Record
- Character
- Non-Canon
- Behind the Laughter
- Trivia
- Appearances
―Burns' catchphrase
―Burns' order to release his hounds
―Burns calling for Smithers
[put down]―Burns when he does not remember Homer's name
―Burns re-learning Homer's name
―Burns telling someone they are fired
Charles Montgomery Burns's birthday is September 15. His age and time of birth varied depending on which account was given. In 1909 he appeared as a small child. He once mentioned surviving the Titanic by making a raft out of steerage passengers. In one episode he graduated from college in 1914 and attended the 25-year reunion in 1939. However, in another episode, he was a child in 1913, and in a different episode he was a child in 1935. In another episode, he was a wealthy tycoon in the 1920s who used his wealth to hold excessive parties in his Middle Hampton mansion and described by Homer Simpson's narration as "the last tycoon of the Jazz Age". In another episode's flashback, Burns was a young man in Paris "between the wars". He mentioned last checking his stocks in September 1929, living through five years of "McKinley-omics", and meeting Calvin Coolidge. He appeared as an old man terrorizing children in a 19th-century woodcut. In the 1990s, he gave his age to Homer as 81, although other people in the 1990s and 2000s including Homer understood his age to have been 104. In the 2000s, his age was large enough to be a four-digit personal identification number, and he gave his place of birth as Pangaea. When the 108-year-old Cornelius Chapman died in 2000, Burns officially became Springfield's oldest living resident. In the 2010s, Burns told Homer his age has four digits. Burns implied he was rounding down his actual age, whichever it was, to 89, when after mistaking a eulogy for the millennia-old Geezer Rock for himself, Burns said, "I have been 89 for a while now." During the musical number "Thanks for the Currency" in Burns' dream, Burns told George Washington that he was present at the Revolutionary War. Homer once narrated that Burns was a man who dated Betsy Ross.
As a child, Burns lived happily with his natural parents, Clifford and Daphne Burns, and his teddy bear Bobo. He was described as either the older brother of George Burns, or the youngest of eleven siblings, all of whom aside from Montgomery Burns himself died young. As a child, Burns was so jubilant and amiable that his parents called him "Happy", though accounts disagreed on whether his own parents were happy as well or cold and distant. How he left his parents varied depending on the account. According to some early episodes, at a young age, he left his parents, and Bobo, to live with a twisted and heartless billionaire, who was his grandfather, Wainwright Montgomery Burns, the owner of the Springfield Power Works, where laborers split atoms by hitting anvils with sledgehammers. In another episode, his parents were rich and sent him to boarding school on Christmas Day, which left him heartbroken as he had previously asked a mall Santa Claus for a hug from his mother and a smile from his father. According to Sideshow Bob, disguised as Santa, this was to toughen him up and make him a ruthless tycoon as a better expression of love than with hugs and kisses. When Burns returned home, his parents had died, and it was too late for him to hug them, although yet another episode described his mother as living to be at least 122 years old in the 1990s (after Burns failed to murder her five decades prior to that for her extramarital affair with President William Howard Taft). He also listed the cause of his parents' deaths during a medical check up as "got in my way", and in another episode claimed that the lack of indoor plumbing killed his mother, again suggesting she had died well before the 1990s. Accounts varied as to whether Burns inherited his fortune, or if he gained it from the nuclear power business or by hanging onto the song "White Christmas". According to one episode, Burns first came to Springfield when Marge Simpson and Moe Szyslak were children, while other episodes show him living in Springfield in the 1900s, 1910s, and 1920s.
Burns attended Yale University, where he studied science and business, played on the varsity football team, and was inducted into the Skull and Bones secret society.
After becoming a CEO with a power tie and a bonsai tree, Burns got a book contract to write the business advice guide called The Rungs of Ruthlessness.
Burns' social security number is 000-00-0002. Once, while filling it in, he muttered to himself, "Damn Roosevelt."
At Burns' Yale University reunion, he had an affair with the daughter of an old flame named Lily Bancroft. She would later bear his long-lost child, Larry Burns, who was given up for adoption and would later enter Burns' life briefly.
•Threat of violence - After Bart was going to maul Burns (mainly for injuring his dog and destroying Bart's Treehouse), he showed his holster, indicating that he would actually fire at Bart if he tried to attack him. This could be argued as self-defense, yet they both have had history with each other, as previously mentioned. Burns may have bribed the authorities, as this is a serious felony.
•Hit & Run: In "Bart Gets Hit by a Car", Mr. Burns hit Bart, yet drove off after Smithers suggested to take him to the hospital.
•Attempted Murder: In the same previously mentioned episode, Mr. Burns hit Bart, killing him, yet being revived. In "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish"", he tried to kill Abe to cheat on a tontine, and later attempted to drown Bart.
•Attempted Treason: It is revealed in the comic "Big House Homer" that he sold plutonium to third-world countries for vacation money. Further more, in the episode "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes", Homer spied on Burns selling deadly uranium to Middle-Eastern terrorists and ratted him out to the FBI.
•Framing: Burns had Smithers edit footage of his Attempted Treason (above) by putting Homer in his place; this resulted in Homer being arrested and sent to prison.
•Child Labor: He has been known to force children to work for him under terrible conditions, a great example of this is from the episode "Undercover Burns".
Personality
Mr. Burn's personality classification is that he is a sadistic, cold, life-hating ecological terrorist with a sadistic passion for autarchy. He has an incurable process addiction of devising destructive, disruptive, life-hating plots for his own gain. Mr Burns personally enjoys the dehumanization of new, creative, bright employees because he ignores how that dehumanization relates to his profits. Mr. Burns' main conflict with himself is his musculoskeletal condition is so bad, that he is constantly achy and he is generally of poor and low character. Mr. Burns never took his billions of dollars to buy any class for himself. Mr. Burns embodies a number of sometimes accurate stereotypes about Corporate America, as he has an unquenchable desire to increase his own wealth and power. Burns also embodies the stereotype of a manager by forgetting his employees' names (especially Homer's, despite Homer appearing that he interacts more than Burns does with most of his employees), though this can be attributed to his senility. Burns is also unconcerned for their safety and well-being (the plant, for example, is filled with obvious safety violations). Because Burns has become like an authoritarian bloated tick operator in his local economy, he is incredibly greedy as well as incredibly short-tempered, the latter trait being best demonstrated by his often releasing his attack dogs, the hounds, on those requesting charity. He uses his wealth on absurdly extravagant things, such as a life-size chess set (with humans as pieces), using the town's snow plows to play a soccer-type game, and having "money fights" with Smithers. Also due to his riches, Mr. Burns is very stingy and averse to rewarding good deeds with money. His exact status on his stinginess has varied, however, especially when made to pay fines. When undergoing a state-level nuclear inspection, Mr. Burns when learning the cost to pay off the 342 safety violations to get rid of them as being $56 million got so incensed and depressed at having to pay the fines (with his exact reaction implying the possibility that he didn't have that amount of cash on him) that he proceeded to drink himself to a stupor until Homer suggested he run for governor. On the other hand, when he was made to pay a $3 million fine for illegally dumping nuclear waste in a public park, Mr. Burns largely took the whole thing in stride, casually telling Smithers to get his wallet out of his restraints' pocket, and then offered to take the Justice statue in exchange (with Roy Snyder agreeing to these terms). It is heavily implied that the reason why Mr. Burns was vicious towards his own employees and presumably most of Springfield if not all of humanity is because his employees and possibly everyone else have frequently abused his trust to goof off earlier. Burns appears to be completely removed from modern conventions and, sometimes, reality. Although he is evil, he sometimes loses his train of thought completely, becoming a helpless old man and sometimes actually a nice, caring person. He continually fails to remember who Homer is, despite the two having interacted extensively throughout the series. Not even Homer spray-painting "I AM HOMER SIMPSON" on Burns' office wall was sufficient to get Burns to remember Homer's name, this incident only resulting in an altercation. In addition, Mr. Burns, when planning his Sun Blocker plan shortly after firing Smithers, and while literally stomping down on potential rivals at his model of Springfield, proceeded to stamp down on one of the cooling towers of the plant and yell "Take that, Springfield Nuclear Power Pl..." before realizing that the plant was actually already under his control and then sheepishly muttered, "Oh, fiddlesticks!" Burns is also, for the most part, unaware of the townspeople's general hatred of him. He also tends to be extremely selfish and does not even seem to realize or even care about his selfish actions. However, he also had redeemable traits despite his status as a villain; He was good friends with Simon Woosterfield, and gave Bart advice on what was going on in his family (although at that time, he had mistaken Bart for Simon due to the two switching places), and he also once supplied his workers, as part of Employee Appreciation Day, a trip to the drag racing track, although this largely backfired when Lenny Leonard, while drunk, inadvertently terrorized Mr. Burns when trying to thank him for the great evening. He also willingly allowed Smithers to take a week off from the Power Plant and presumably his duties as Mr. Burns' primary caregiver to perform in a Malibu Stacy musical he wrote and directed at the Alburquerque Theater in New Mexico, despite his personally thinking that the play would fail due to its subject matter, and earlier also prevented Smithers from drowning himself in a mental breakdown from perceived failure in defending him or doing basic duties and even suggested he take a vacation. Once, he even aided Marge in an attempt to protect Springfield's children from Lindsey Naegle's anti-child group (although it's implied that he had more selfish motives for backing the group, as he needed the children's' "supple young organs" to stave off death). He is also shown to hate the lawyers he hires in large part because of the latter party's unethical practices, and only has them available under necessity. At one point, in an uncharacteristic act of charity, he also managed to pay for a then-dangerously overweight Homer Simpson's liposuction to make him comparatively thin again to repay the latter for reducing a potentially catastrophic Chernobyl-style nuclear meltdown at the plant to "a mere Three-Mile Island" (although it should be noted that he did this task after Homer failed to do one sit-up). In addition, during Frank Grimes' last moments when he, having entered a psychotic break, ended up grabbing extremely high voltage cables under the delusion that he was Homer Simpson, Burns was seen grimacing at the result alongside Homer Simpson, Smithers, and at least two other workers. In addition, Mr. Burns when watching a play Skinner organized to get him to provide funds for the then-recently closed Springfield Elementary School, reacted with horror after the Chef, out of incompetence caused by the school being closed, placed rat poison into broth instead of salt, before Skinner pointed out that Mr. Burns could have ingested it. Similarly, when Homer had a manatee pose as himself, Mr. Burns was shown to befriend him, and when learning he was about to die from dehydration, he immediately requested they give the manatee a sponge bath. Burns also proceeded to make sure Homer went to college for a Nuclear 101 course so that he can be allowed to keep his job, even going as far as to use his holding a chair at Springfield University to pull several strings to make sure he was enrolled (though it should be noted that he mostly did it for somewhat selfish reasons, as he implied that if Homer did not go to college, then the nuclear power plant would be shut down as a result of Homer's incompetence). He also organized a team-building exercise upon witnessing first hand his employees failing to clear the power plant during a fire drill within at least fifteen minutes (especially when the optimal clearance time was forty-five seconds), and was genuinely disgusted with his employees' actions beforehand (in particular, Homer blocking the fire escape with a bench). In addition, when Homer was revealed to have had mental trauma caused by his accidental discovery of Waylon Smithers, Sr.'s half-decayed corpse in a local watering hole that he was swimming at that got re-exposed during a hypnotist session, Mr. Burns also supplied a videotape explaining how Waylon Smithers, Sr. died to help Homer recover from the trauma (although he also largely did it because they assumed that Mr. Burns had him murdered due to the place where Smithers' body was discovered being connected directly to Mr. Burns' office, with the alternative being facing jail time, and thus wanted to clear his own name as well.). Mr. Burns uses archaic phrases and antiquated expressions that have either changed meanings or fallen out of common usage in American English, including score (meaning 20), post-haste (quickly), petroleum distillate (gasoline), gay (jolly, which also caused Smithers quite a scare due to the latter initially thinking he asked if he was going to do a homosexual activity during the weekend), dean (principal), velocitator and deceleratrix (a car's accelerator and brake), jumping box and picto-tube (television), Automated Telemachineomeratron (Automated Teller Machine/ATM), Suffragette (Feminist), auto-gyro (helicopter), and the New York Nine (New York Yankees). His use of "ahoy-hoy" when answering the telephone follows the suggestion of its inventor, Alexander Graham Bell, who felt "ahoy" should be the initial greeting instead of "Hello". He also calls Smithers and says "Smithers, come here, I want you", a take on what are reputedly the first words spoken by Alexander Graham Bell on his telephone ("Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."). On a similar note, he also sometimes uses more eloquent expressions, which is best evident during his passive-aggressive treatment of Homer Simpson (who at the time was undergoing the gradual symptoms of a quadruple heart attack) upon calling him to his office, where he berated Homer by saying "Your indolence is inefficacious!", which confused Homer enough for his heart to calm down slightly, only for Mr. Burns to angrily translate that as meaning that Homer's terrible at his job, which ultimately had Homer's stress level rise to catastrophic levels. He is out-of-touch with modern technology and behavior: he practices phrenology, writes with a quill pen, drives a 1936 Stutz Bearcat while wearing an Edwardian motorist outfit which includes a hat, trench coat, driving gloves and goggles, carries antiquated weapons for self-defense, such as a mace or a blunderbuss, and, when not chauffeured, drives without regard to traffic laws in the manner of early 20th century motorists. His driver's license expired in 1909 (he even is still in the possession of several useless items from the same era, such as a Ticket Stub from the silent film "Tillie's Punctured Romance" and his SS ID Card from his time as a Gestapo Officer). It is also implied that part of the reason he once managed to go bankrupt was because he failed to realize that most if not all of the blue chip companies (pertaining to transoceanic Zeppelins, spats, inflammable powders, and hay), as well as the Baltimore Opera Hat Company, either had long been defunct or otherwise never even gained traction by the present era. It has been shown throughout the series that Burns is, despite his somewhat dilapidated mindset, an incredibly intelligent businessman. In the list shown above, Burns can manage a number of commercial operations successfully, and is able to create big profits, which is a likely reason for Burns being so wealthy to begin with. He was able to convert Springfield's church into a successful advertising business, as well as incorporate an oil drilling company in a very short amount of time He is also a skilled business acquirer. His financial skills have come in handy for certain occasions where he loses his fortune, as when he lost his money due to bad investments (which was because of his outdated input), he was able to rebuild his wealth and empire by recycling, thanks to Lisa Simpson's help (he even offered her ten percent of his profits, but she declined). On a similar note, he was implied to have had a hand in the expansion of Ticketmaster via purchasing the company as a way to "widen the gap between the rich and the poor." Burns appears to be unaware of 20th century political and private developments, such as Fidel Castro becoming President of Cuba, Siam becoming Thailand, India gaining its independence from the British Empire, New Mexico becoming a state, women being granted independence rights, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 (with him also blaming Smithers for not warning him about the crash despite the fact that, as Smithers pointed out, the event in question occurred 25 years before he was even born and thus was in absolutely no position to warn him of the event), Idlewild Airport becoming JFK Airport, the extinction of the dodo, confusing The Ramones with The Rolling Stones, and the occurrence of the 1939 World's Fair. Despite serving in World War II, he was unaware (or had forgotten) that Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, prompting World War I. He also was shown to be unaware of more contemporary developments, such as the musicals "Cats" and "The King and I" (where he sarcastically suggested that Smithers try making musicals relating to the common housecat and the King of Siam regarding his learning that Smithers did a musical based on Malibu Stacy). Humorously, he has also asked a vending machine for taffy, thinking its like a candy shop. Mr. Burns' investment portfolio includes long-defunct shares in "Confederated Slave Holdings, Trans-Atlantic Zeppelin, Amalgamated Spats, Congreve's Inflammable Powders, U.S. Hay", and an "up-and-coming Baltimore Opera Hat Company". Burns commonly refers to deceased persons as if they were alive, including Al Jolson, Tallulah Bankhead, Louise Brooks, Honus Wagner, Cap Anson, and Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown. Burns used to pay his employees a salary less than a worker in the United States can normally earn (which is illegal), but the only employee Burns pays a normal salary is Smithers. This attitude entitles Burns to deduct his employees' wages as much as he likes, with Smithers being the only exception. He also believes that some social institutions and inventions are novel or nonexistent, such as the Packard automobile, the Fire Department, ice cream (or, as he calls it, "iced cream"), vending machines, recycling, strip clubs, the Dumont, the word "into", silent films like the 1929 film Lulu(although he has seen other films in the past), and the synonymy of ketchup and catsup. While trying to chat up Gloria Jailbird, Burns offers to play the clavichord and show stereopticon images of the Crimean War.
Health
Due to his vast wealth, Mr. Burns has access to the best health care anyone in Springfield could ever receive. He employs elaborate medical methods, such as frequently replacing his shins and pickling his brain in vinegar, all forcing his body to continue functioning long after its natural expiration date. Due to his unnaturally long life, Burns has numerous physical ailments and health problems, or more accurately, he has every physical ailment and health problem, including several discovered in him. He is often to the point where he seems to straddle the line between life and death. The Mayo Clinic diagnosed Burns with "Three Stooges Syndrome", where a delicate state of homeostasis is created by the presence in his body of every disease known to man cancel each other out. Mr. Burns took this as being invincible, although the doctor who told him this implied that the slightest breeze could kill him. Physically weak, he often has great difficulty performing the most basic physical tasks, such as giving a thumbs up, receiving a hug, crushing a paper cup, or stepping on an insect. He is weak enough to be pushed over by an ant or a high-five, or pushed down by a sponge scrub on his head (although he was able to eventually get up in the latter case). In addition, he was frail enough that even an ant was able to overpower him and knock him on his feet when he tried to stamp it. Oddly enough, he does not seem to be affected by the recoil caused by firing a gun, as seen when he fired a blunderbuss at one of his employees(although the latter did humorously survive). He has a hunched back and his vertebral column is visible when he is viewed from the side. His exposure to radiation during his lifetime of working at the plant has given his skin a healthy green glow and left him infertile and as impotent as a Nevada boxing commissioner. A 1,000 dollar bill dispensed from an ATM bruised him, leaving a reverse imprint of the bill on his chest. When Burns was incarcerated at the Springfield Penitentiary, when he was getting a mugshot, the camera flash was able to slam him against a wall and knock him out. His organs have grown immensely weak over the years: his heart is black and desiccated, it barely beats or does not beat at all, and is shrunken to the size of a cherry. Burns' blood type is double-O negative. When his finger is pricked, he bleeds dust, and when his arm is poked with a needle, it passes through his arm like meringue. A chunk of Burns' brain once fell out through his ear. One time, his lungs came out through his mouth and acted as an airbag. On another occasion, he indicated in an off-hand manner that he only has a single lung. If he is not careful, fluid can build up in his hands, causing them to swell to enormous proportions, and his fingers have been shown to flap in the breeze released from a bowling ball dispenser. It has been revealed that if Burns sweats even one drop, he could die of dehydration unless he takes a bath immediately. Burns had also lost body parts due to leprosy (one example is when he lost an entire fingernail in a cup). Both his legs have a crease in them, down the entire length. Even the mere act of forceful spitting in shock was enough to drain him of his body liquids to such an extent that he appeared severely wrinkled, thus requiring Smithers to spray him with moisturizer to instantly rejuvenate his face. Burns was once persuaded into giving Ralph Wiggum a piece of candy, but after he does, his skull collapses and he nearly dies. He then weakly steals the candy back and regains his health. Apparently, the only reason that he could survive was due to hate, and he could not give out his kindness without getting killed as a result. Although very much frail, he is not immune to the effects of weight gain from increased appetites, as after obviously being inspired by Homer's positive (at the time) food reviews for various food chains when he took up a side job of being a food critic, Mr. Burns became immensely overweight and while congratulating Homer on having gotten him to gain weight, he admits he never felt jollier before then. However, his weight gain still did not alleviate all of his health problems, as Mr. Burns when attempting to "toe-hop" as a gesture had his shin bones snap off, forcing him to waddle off, with his ruefully implying that this was not the first time such a thing happened (and presumably proceeded to incense him enough that he became part of the angry mob that tried to beat Homer up as retribution later on).
Career
Burns is almost entirely work-oriented. At the nuclear plant, Burns spends most of time in his office, monitoring his employees via closed-circuit security cameras. In his office, he keeps a team of ten high-priced lawyers, a scale model of Springfield, a special microbe-resistant chamber, a two-seat escape pod, and the "League of Evil" - a sinister cabal whose members are long deceased, but whose skeletons remain. The booby traps in Burns' office include cricket poison, a secret trapdoor (though he sometimes forgets where it is and was once under renovation), a catapult that fires 100-gram weights, and a ceiling-mounted suction tube, which he can use to transport dissident workers to Morocco. He is also a loan officer at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant Employees’ Credit Union. Kent Brockman also credits Burns with having stolen Christmas from 1981 to 1985. He also claims to have participated in the Boston Tea Party. As evidenced by his role in the series, Burns has owned or co-owned a number of business ventures and companies in Springfield, including the Monty Burns Casino (later demolished), the Little Lisa Recycling Plant, the Burns Slant Drilling Co., Burns Media, the electric company, the water works and even a hotel on Baltic Avenue. He also operated the Burns Germ Warfare Laboratory (which was destroyed by Mona Simpson and a group of protesters). He owns the rights to the song, White Christmas, after blowing the chance to buy Picasso's painting Guernica, but the song ended up earning him billions; one of many possible results of his riches. Burns has used his power and wealth to blackmail and bribe various members of Springfield, including Mayor Quimby, as well as safety inspectors. He once attempted to block out the sun to force Springfield residents to increase their use of electricity produced by the nuclear plant and was subsequently shot by Maggie. The town is routinely subject to Burns' abuse, and there is a general dislike of him throughout the town. In The Simpsons: Hit & Run, during mission 4 in Level 7, it is implied that he had a business partner that he killed. When Homer goes to his office, Mr. Burns mistakes him for the ghost of his former partner.
Comics
In the Simpsons Comics 69 story, "In Burn$ We Tru$t", he takes over the First Church of Springfield, which he uses in order to help spread his influence, with him stating that it is a sin for all environmental organizations, including the Environmental Protection Agency, Green Peace, and "Lisa Simpson's Tree Hugging Society". It is later revealed that he plans to ascend to the position of Pope, so that he can have tax-free access to all of the Vatican gold. However, when he learns that the church is not Catholic, he promptly quits (much to everyone's glee), but only on the condition that Reverend Lovejoy will grant him permission to Heaven when he dies. Eventually, he agrees, but it is comically revealed that Mr. Burns can only go to Dog Heaven when he dies. Later, it is shown in Dog Heaven (a.k.a. Cat Hell) that Mr. Burns is running around, pretending to be a dog, hoping to "rise up the alpha dog ladder!"
"A Serious Flanders: Part One"
He is shot and killed by Kostas Becker alongside Disco Stu, Fat Tony, Legs, Louie, and Johnny Tightlips.
Future
In one possible future, eight years from the present, he was a shut-in who sponsored a Yale scholarship as punishment for stealing Christmas. He kept diamonds to have them changed into Earth's most precious mineral of the age: coal. His home was also guarded by a large group of flying unicorn-clam creatures (uni-clams).[113] In one possible future, 15 years from the present,[114] Mr. Burns was cryogenically frozen. Scientists worked to find a cure for 17 stab wounds to the back so that he could be thawed out and cured. He was cured in time to attend Lisa Simpson's wedding. However, he was not completely thawed, as when he tried to sit down, he snapped in half, which was also cured.[115] In one possible future, in 1,000,000 AD, Burns was alive as a cyborg. He once again found Bobo after leaving him behind roughly every century.
Creation
Burns' character, appearance, and mannerisms are based on several different people. The show's creator, Matt Groening, principally based Burns on Fredrik Olsen, a reclusive Norwegian shipping magnate and the owner of Timex. Drawing further inspiration from oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, David Rockefeller, and fictional character Henry Potter from It's a Wonderful Life, Groening made Burns the "embodiment of corporate greed". Animator David Silverman based Burns' appearance on Fox founder Barry Diller, and modeled his body on a praying mantis. The idea of Burns reading employee names off of cards in "There's No Disgrace Like Home" came from an article about Ronald Reagan that writer Al Jean had read. In some episodes, parallels have been drawn between Burns and moguls such as Howard Hughes and, more frequently, fictional character Charles Foster Kane from Citizen Kane. Writer George Meyer lifted Burns' "Excellent!" hand gesture from his former Saturday Night Live partner Jim Downey. Matt Groening got Burns' middle name from a Montgomery Ward department store in Portland, Oregon's Northwest Industrial district, and his surname from Burnside Street, the main thoroughfare in Portland. Burns' first name being Charles is a reference to Charles Foster Kane. In the script for "There's No Disgrace Like Home", Al Jean and Mike Reiss refer to him as "Mr. Meanie". In Season 2, the writers started to enjoy writing about Smithers and Burns' relationship, and they often pitched episodes with them as the focus, but many never came to fruition.
Voice
Mr. Burns was originally voiced by actor Christopher Collins in the episodes "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire," "Homer's Odyssey," "There's No Disgrace Like Home," and "The Telltale Head".[116] He was soon replaced by Harry Shearer because Sam Simon found Collins "difficult to work with." Additionally, Christopher Collins died on June 12, 1994. Shearer has voiced the character ever since. He modeled the voice on Lionel Barrymore and Ronald Reagan. Shearer is also the voice of Smithers and is able to perform dialogue between the two characters in one take. Shearer said that Mr. Burns is the most difficult character for him to voice because it is rough on his vocal cords and he often needs to drink tea and honey to soothe his voice.[117] He describes Mr. Burns as his favorite character, saying he "like[s] Mr. Burns because he is pure evil. A lot of evil people make the mistake of diluting it. Never adulterate your evil." In 2014, Shearer won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his performance on "Four Regrettings and a Funeral" for voicing Mr. Burns.[118]
•One of his middle names is Schicklgruber. This was the maiden name of Adolf Hitler's paternal grandmother, who later married a man named Hitler who legitimized her son (Hitler's father).
•His other middle name, Plantagenet, was the family name of a branch of the British Royal family in the 1300s. Supposedly, the last Plantagenet was King Richard III who was killed in battle by Henry Tudor. This implies that Mr. Burns is a secret descendant of King Richard.
•Like the inspirations for his voice, Lionel Barrymore and Ronald Reagan, Mr. Burns is a Republican. However, Barry Diller, the inspiration for Mr. Burns' physical appearance, has long been a Democrat and is even regarded as a close friend of the Clinton family. https://www.realclearpolicy.com/2020/01/09/chelsea_made_millions_on_boards_run_by_clinton_mega-donor_43846.htmlhttps://www.foxbusiness.com/money/chelsea-clinton-iac-board-of-directorshttp://www.realclearpolicy.com/2020/01/09/chelsea_made_millions_on_boards_run_by_clinton_mega-donor_43846.html
•One major connection between Mr. Burns' vocal inspirations Lionel Barrymore and Ronald Reagan was their appearance in the 1941 MGM remake of The Bad Man, which saw Reagan play the hero against a Pancho Villa-like Mexican bandit. https://worldhistoryproject.org/1941/3/28/ronald-reagan-appears-as-gilbert-gil-jones-in-the-bad-man This was released eight years before Barrymore's death and years before Reagan, who was once a staunch New Deal Democrat, shifted towards the right wing in the 1950s. Despite Reagan's more liberal political views at the time, the film appealed to conservatives who embraced the Mexican bandit stereotype.
•On the Simpson family tree, Mr. Burns is a distant relative of the Simpsons by marriage.
•In his cabinet, he has a secret safe that is hidden underneath a painting that looks almost alike A Bar at the Folies-Bergère by Manet, except the waitress has Burns' head. Inside of the safe, Burns hides his Last Will and a human heart in a jar.
•Episode – "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"
•Episode – "Homer's Odyssey"
•Episode – "There's No Disgrace Like Home"
•Episode – "The Telltale Head"
•Episode – "Life on the Fast Lane"
•Episode – "Homer's Night Out"
When Lisa Simpson is researching her ancestors from the American Civil War, she comes across a Colonel Burns in the journal, presumably one of Mr. Burns's earlier ancestors. However, when Lisa mentions him, Mr. Burns replies by saying that he has not heard his father's name in years.
Mr. Burns' great-great-grandmother's sister-in-law's 4th great-grandson is Homer Simpson. Mr. Burns had a strained relationship with his own mother—whom he has apparently tried to kill at least once—who had an affair with President Taft and lives in her 120's.
6 days ago · Upon meeting with Mr. Burns (with a young Homer in tow), Burns alludes to the fact that O’Donnell has taken a one way trip out of town and even gone to “paradise.” Abe rightfully guesses ...
Sep 10, 2023 · The Inspiration Behind Mr. Burns. Mr. Burns, the quintessential villain in the beloved animated series “The Simpsons,” was created by Matt Groening. Groening based the character’s appearance and mannerisms on several real-life moguls, including Howard Hughes and Walt Disney.
