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Who is Fred Flintstone?
Fred Flintstone is the lovable Neanderthal best known for bellowing, "Yabba dabba doo!" He first rose to stardom in the 1960s, when he enjoyed the leading role in Hanna-Barbera’s animated series, The Flintstones. His co-stars included his wife Wilma, his daughter Pebbles, his best friend Barney Rubble, Barney's wife Betty, and their son Bamm Bamm. The family also included a pet dinosaur named Dino and a pet saber tooth tiger named Baby Puss.
Aside from these two pets, Fred Flintstone has a house full of animal life that serves as a spoof on modern day appliances. There is a baby elephant that doubles as a vacuum cleaner, a buzzard that serves as a garbage disposal, a long beaked bird that operates the record player, and a turtle for a lawnmower.
Flintstone is an average working class man who, along with his best friend Barney, continually gets involved in various get-rich-quick schemes. When not involved in some misadventure, he is a hardworking dinosaur operator at Slate Rock quarry in Bedrock, USA. He has also held positions as a bus driver and a sheriff.
Fred enjoys the same hobbies as many modern American men. He is a member of the Loyal Order of Water Buffalos and enjoys golfing, team sports, and bowling. His bowling team has nicknamed him Twinkle Toes because of his graceful skill. Like many modern men, he dislikes doing household chores such as lawn mowing, especially after a long day of work.
By now, it might be obvious that the character of Fred Flintstone is reminiscent of Ralph Kramden, played by Jackie Gleason in The Honeymooners. In fact, The Flintstones is an animated parody of the popular sitcom The Honeymooners, which first aired in 1955.
The original animated Fred Flintstone was played by three notable voice artists: Daws Butler, Alan Reed, and Henry Corden, with Alan Reed appearing in the majority of the original episodes. Although never achieving the popularity of the original series, attempts at subsequent versions of The Flintstones included Fred Flintstone and Friends, The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm show, and the 1994 motion picture The Flintstones, starring John Goodman as Fred Flintstone.
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![Fred Flinstone was the animated star of the 1960's cartoon The Flintstones.]()
By: dja65Fred Flinstone was the animated star of the 1960's cartoon The Flintstones.
Discussion Comments
I'm not sure they were Neanderthals. I always thought they were our own species (Homo sapiens sapiens).
Also, I don't think "it might be obvious that the character of Fred Flintstone is reminiscent of Ralph Kramden in The Honeymooners." I doubt anyone who doesn't know who Fred Flintstone is, will remember an 1950s sitcom that is basically only known for inspiring The Flintstones.
@wander - One of my favorite characters has to be Fred Flintstone himself. I always loved him as a rough around the edges dad who ended up in all sorts of wacky circumstances. I think half the fun of watching the show was seeing what Fred was going to get up to in the episode.
The episode 'Invisible Barney' always stuck in my head as Fred was going through one of his "let's make inventions" stages and ended up turning Barney Rubble invisible. Fred was originally looking for a way to cure Barney's hiccups and much hilarity ensued from his slapped-together potion.
My father loved this show, so I got to watch it a lot when I was a child. I like catching old episodes now as I see them quite differently through my adult eyes.
I think my Dad identified with the hapless Fred, who always seemed to mess up, despite the best of intentions. Personally I liked the wives, especially Wilma. They looked so glamorous and stylish, as well as being smart!
@Comfyshoes - I remember the Flintstones movie and I agree that the casting for that movie was excellent. John Goodman really looked like Fred and really played the part well. I was reading that the movie made about $360,000,000 dollars worldwide. I remember when the movie came out everyone wanted to get the Flintstones Halloween costume.
It was so funny to see people dressed up like these cartoons especially when grown adults wore them to costume parties. I think that I would have rather been Betty because I have dark hair and sort of look like her.
I know that these cartoons can still be seen on the Boomerang Channel from your local cable provider. My kids sometimes see these cartoons and I always tell them to look at how different the animation was back then when I was a kid until now. They still enjoy the cartoons even though these cartoons look flat on screen.
Wow, reading this article really brought back some memories. I remember watching the Flintstones when I was a kid and I always loved Fred Flintstone and all the cute dinosaurs that appeared in every episode. I remember thinking of how cool it was that they had dinosaurs powering all of their household items, like the dishwasher.
Does anyone have any favorite episodes or characters from the show?
My favorite character of all time was actually Hoppy, the babysitting dinosaur, who would carry kids around in its kangaroo-like pouch. I sometimes wondered what it would be like to get carried around like that. Weird I know!
I just wanted to say that I loved watching the Flintstones characters as a kid. It was so entertaining. When I would get home from school, I used to watch these cartoons and draw them from the television screen. They were my favorite cartoons to draw.
I thought that the Flintstones movie with Rosie O’Donnell was so funny. I couldn’t get over how high the Betty and Wilma Flintstone’s wig were. It was great how they were able to reproduce that look from the original cartoons. They even had the bone on the wig like the cartoon had.
His name was Gazoo -- voiced by the talented Harvey Korman
what was the name of the little green thing from outer space on the flitstones?
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