Montgomery Burns
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Template:Simpsons character Charles Montgomery Burns (usually Mr. Burns or C. Montgomery Burns, even "Monty" Burns), a fictional character, is the owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant in The Simpsons cartoon series. He is fabulously wealthy, and due to his status as Springfield's leading (and perhaps only) plutocrat, Burns is able to do whatever he wants with little to no consequences. He is attended at almost all times by Waylon Smithers, his loyal aide and confidant. Harry Shearer is the voice behind the character of Mr. Burns, though Christopher Collins voiced him for the first few episodes. With his unapologetic lack of morals, huge wealth and sprawling influence, Burns represents a cynical view of the "true face" of modern Corporate America. Burns' parents' names (as stated in The Simpsons Uncensored Family Album) are Daphne (née Charles) and Clifford; the tree also gives Burns a (rather distant) relationship with Homer. Both of the names "Montgomery" and "Burns" are Scottish; an ethnicity frequently stereotyped for being misers. (In one episode a family picture shows Burns or an ancestor in a kilt.)
Matt Groening told the Portland Tribune that his inspiration for the character's name came from the very large Montgomery Park sign atop a former Montgomery Ward high-rise in Portland, Oregon's Northwest Industrial District. It is also rumored that he took the name from fellow artist Charles Burns, a classmate at Evergreen University in Olympia, Washington.
It is widely believed that the Matt Groening got inspiration for Mr. Burns' look from Norwegian industry tycoon Fred Olsen [1]. Fred Olsen appeared in U.S. news media frequently in the late 80s due to owning a Timex factory going through labour issues. Picture comparance.
Originally, he was called Montgomery Burns, but in "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish," he yelled "You can't do this to me, I'm Charles Montgomery Burns!", which plays on a quotation from Orson Welles's Citizen Kane ("You can't do this to me, I'm Charles Foster Kane!"). His catchphrase is the word "Excellent" muttered in a low, sinister voice as he tents his fingertips.
Burns has a seemingly childlike dependence on Smithers, who performs all his tasks from kidnapping Tom Jones to lying to Congress to serving breakfast.
Burns was originally the real villain of the show. However, his very frail, weak body and 19th century mind have become some of the show's running gags.
He is fluent in German.
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Age
Burns' age is probably one of the most ongoing discussions amongst viewers of the television show. His birthday is September 15, but the year of his birth is uncertain. His age is most often mentioned as being 104 years. (Though once in the episode "Simpson and Delilah" where Homer became an executive, he stated his age as 81 after Homer guessed 102; and he once had a ninetieth birthday during the series.) The season 15 episode "The Regina Monologues" stated that his age was a four-digit number (his ATM code is his age, and he pressed four buttons, including, presumably, the enter key.) In another episode he is portrayed terrorizing children in a 19th century woodcut (in which he already appears fairly old). However, in a flashback episode (see Flying Hellfish squad), WWII stories told to Bart by Grandpa Simpson show Burns as an arrogant private serving under the then Sergeant Simpson in the European Theater - although it was also stated that Burns originally held a higher rank, and suffered a severe demotion, most likely for treason. In one episode, he claimed to have made a bet with the former Empress of Russia Catherine the Great (putting his birthdates somewhere before 1796). He is also seen as the supposed brother of George Burns in one episode, placing his age at sometime in the late 1800s, possibly 1890. When Kent Brockman asks who the oldest man in town is (calling out ages in 10-year intervals), Burns remains standing after Brockman calls out '100 years old'. In the episode "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story", when Burns and Lisa were trying to escape from a Bighorn Sheep by entering a panic room, Burns forgets his password and types in "Pangaea" as part of the authorization question "What is your birthplace?" This would imply that Burns is prehistoric, as Pangaea is the scientific description of the supercontinent that comprised Earth several hundred million years ago.
He has credited his longevity to Satan, and/or an operation done to him every Friday night, meant to keep him alive for a week. (In one episode, though, a parody of The Picture of Dorian Gray, featuring him, is seen hanging on his office wall.) He has the same blood type as Bart Simpson, "double-O negative". After a blood transfusion from Bart, Burns was amazingly vigorous and energetic again, implying that the transfusion from a young boy may have lengthened his life. According to tests done at the Mayo Clinic, he has every single disease known to man (including several newly discovered ones, actually found in him) in him, and survives only because they are just barely but perfectly counteracting one another. This fictional medical anomaly is called "Three Stooges Syndrome." He mentions casually in one episode having leprosy after losing a fingernail in Homer's beer, a malady largely unseen today in the Western Hemisphere.
In "Goo Goo Gai Pan", it was revealed that his driver's license expired in 1909, which would perhaps mean he was received it or last renewed it around 1889–1890 (which is impossible since driver's licenses were first issued to people in 1913... although compared to many of the other anachronisms, this is insignificant). Burns graduated from Yale University in the class of 1914 (accordingly, it is probable that he was born in or around 1892). He also claims that he endured 5 years of 'McKinleynomics', further suggesting that he must have been born at some point in the 19th century.
Biography
Early life
Occasional flashbacks show his early life. When he was very young he lived happily with his loving, natural parents, little brother George, and his teddy bear Bobo, which he recovered from Maggie Simpson. Apparently his parents even called him "Happy." He soon chose to live with a twisted billionaire, again reminiscent of Citizen Kane. His mother is still alive, despite her age being 122 (according to Smithers), and is very resentful of her son; it is mentioned that she had an affair with US President William Howard Taft, which Burns has never forgiven her for. His memories of his own childhood are generally shown in sepia, in the style of late nineteenth-century cinema. Some time after this Burns was filling out medical papers and under cause of parents' death put: got in my way.
The Burns family owned "atom mills" at the start of the 20th century, employing strong laborers to split atoms by repeatedly hitting anvils with sledgehammers (his grandfather once had an employee walled up alive in an abandoned coke oven for stealing six atoms). As a privileged child, Burns amused himself by injuring hapless immigrant laborers (one episode showed a very young Monty kicking a Coney Island worker.) Burns imagines that such activity is still a socially-acceptable amusement for the well-to-do. He and his family members are usually portrayed as archetypal early capitalist exploiters - he employs immigrant workers at slave-labor wages, he claims to have ridden a fat man to work for a time, and when Marge suggested "theme days" to improve worker morale, he leapt at the idea of "Child Labor Day". When spying on his workers via his security camera network, he inevitably refers to them using archaic, derogatory terms.
Burns graduated from Yale University in 1914 where he was tapped for the infamous Skull and Bones secret society. He may have had an affair with Countess von Zeppelin. He claims to have personally known President Calvin Coolidge.
In 1939, Burns went to his 25th college reunion and met Lily Bancroft, the daughter of an old flame. Their brief affair resulted in Lily giving birth to Larry Burns. Her family forced her to give up Larry to an orphanage, then, according to Burns, they "bundled her up to a convent in the South Seas." He did not meet his son until an adult Larry's quest to find his biological father brought him to Springfield. When it became obvious that Burns was more than a bit embarrassed by his boorish progeny, Homer hatched a crazy scheme to "kidnap" Larry in an effort to get Burns to love him. However, the plan backfired, and Larry left Springfield.
In "C.E. D'OH," Burns reveals that he had a fiancée named Gertrude. But he was such a workaholic, he not only missed the wedding but their divorce, too: "She died of loneliness. Loneliness and rabies."
Post-WWII
Burns served in the United States Army in World War II, seeing action in Europe under Sergeant Abraham Simpson (see also: Flying Hellfish squad). However, Burns may also have worked for (or traded with) Nazi Germany, as he remarks, "Schindler and I are like peas in a pod. We're both factory owners, we both made shells for the Nazis; but mine worked damn it!". Burns's close relations with an anachronistic version of Germany are supported by the fact that an Otto von Bismarck look-alike, complete with handlebar moustache and pickelhaube helmet, was the only guest on his side in his failed attempt to marry Marge Simpson's mother Jacqueline "Jackie" Bouvier. When Burns meets with a German business consortium to discuss selling the nuclear plant, it is revealed that he speaks fluent German. In the episode Midnight RX, Mr. Burns describes how he flew the plywood pelican six feet above the ground for four feet untill he learnt that rain made it catch fire. After that he said the Fuhrer fired him, further implying a possible link with the Nazis.
At the end of the war he was personally hired by President Harry S. Truman to transport a specially-printed trillion-dollar bill that was the American Government's original contribution to the reconstruction of Europe, but this bill vanished for many years. Though it was discovered to be carried on his person, besides a single failed arrest attempt there was no known investigation or attempt to retrieve the stolen bill. (It is implied he was charged with a crime but acquitted through bribery.) The bill is currently in the hands of Fidel Castro, who stole it when Burns attempted to buy Cuba.
During the 1960s Burns operated a biological weapons laboratory until it was destroyed by peace activists including Mona Simpson (the laboratory's motto was When the H-Bomb isn't enough). Shortly thereafter he built the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. In the 1970s, his major collaborator, Waylon Smithers Sr., died while trying to prevent a nuclear accident, and Burns took responsibility for Smither's son, Waylon Smithers Jr. However, Burns never told him the truth about Smithers Sr's death, saying that he was killed on the Amazon by a tribe of wild women. In that episode, Burns is also known to sabotage Greenpeace pro-environmental actions from inside: "You stupid hippies. I wasn't Wavy Gravy at all! And all this time I was smoking harmless tobacco!"
Present day
He has owned the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant for the last 50 or so years; several incidents have occurred where he has lost the plant: Briefly when Homer and Lisa staged a hostile takeover, when he found out he was flat broke, sold it to Germans, and when he lost it all in a bet with the rich Texan (episode 1706), obtaining a monopoly over Springfield's energy resources. He also owns the water works and the hotel on Baltic Avenue. Burns has been known to use his control over the city's energy to blackmail mayor Joe Quimby, and the town in general.
He has occasionally run other businesses in Springfield, most notably the Monty Burns Casino, which operated for several years after Springfield legalized gambling. He co-owned the "Li'l Lisa" slurry recycling plant and once slant-drilled for oil under Springfield Elementary School. There has also been reference to possible control of an anti-democratic rebel force in South America (he mentions this to the SNPP workers before realizing he's giving the wrong speech).
Burns resides in a vast, ornate mansion on an immense estate called Burns Manor, located at the corner of Croesus and Mammon streets in Springfield (his address is 1000 Mammon Street). His estate is also the site of the annual company picnic.
Burns's sprawling estate is protected by a high wall, electrified fence, attack dogs (the source of one of his catchphrases, "Release the hounds"), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz-style guards, and his personal paramilitary force. The estate includes a robotic Richard Simmons (only seen in out-take footage in The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular), a room with a thousand monkeys at a thousand typewriters, a bottomless pit (for all intents and purposes), a human chessboard (formerly a tennis court), the largest television in the free world, a Hall of Patriots commemorating his ancestors, and rare historical artifacts including the only existing nude photo of Mark Twain, the suit Charlie Chaplin was buried in, King Arthur's mythical sword Excalibur, and a rare first draft of the Constitution with the word "suckers" in it. His home also contains "the playroom" - a theatre showing round-the clock plays (regardless of whether or not anyone is actually watching), a laboratory filled with bizarre equipment, and a safe containing a Beefeater guard. Instead of making his bed, Burns drops the bed through the floor into an incinerator and after the floor closes, a brand new bed comes out of the wall. Various other contraptions in his home include automatic metal restraints on his dining chairs, an elaborate miniature railway (which disappears through a hole in the wall and frequently returns with snow on it) and an automatic dresser. Burns also controls a unit of paramilitary riot police which he uses to intimidate people, including using them to beat up guests at his birthday party.
Burns's office at the nuclear plant contains similarly odd features. One wall can be raised to reveal various things, including his team of highly-trained lawyers, a special microbe-resistant chamber in which he plans to shelter during a flu epidemic, a two-seat escape pod— Smithers assumes the second seat is for him, but in fact Burns likes to put his feet up. The office also contains a ceiling-mounted suction tube which he can use to transport dissident workers to Morocco. A gigantic stuffed polar bear which has a secret tunnel under it that leads to the old quarry can be seen in the corner and the floor of the office opens up to a miniature scale model of Springfield. He uses this model to demonstrate his sun-blocker in "Who Shot Mr. Burns?". He also riddles the office with trap doors and giant metric weights for use against workers. Apparently his entire office can be rotated so that his window has different views. A sliding wall reveals the headquarters of the "League of Evil", a cabal which consisted of a mad scientist(possibly Graeme from the Goodies), a WWI-era German officer, a cowboy, a US Air Force officer, and a samurai. When Burns calls upon them, however, he finds nothing but their skeletal remains sitting at a conference table, having died due to the lack of air behind the wall. Mr. Burns also had a unit of winged monkeys. However, these were little more than live monkeys with what looked like wings. When Burns unleashed them to go after Homer and Mindy, they jumped out the window and fell to their deaths. Burns then looked at Smithers and said "continue the research".
Burns's telephone number is 636-555-0001 in 'Lisa's Date with Density', and 636-555-0113 in 'A Tale of Two Springfields'. His Social Security number is 000-00-0002("damn Roosevelt"). The specific number is also intended to imply that Roosevelt himself was the first person to be assigned a social security number and Burns was the second, so Burns is irritated that someone got to the 'first' number ahead of him.
In 1995 Burns built an elaborate contraption to block out the sun in Springfield, thus ensuring that citizens would have to use his electricity 24 hours a day. The move earned him widespread animosity, and he was ultimately shot, accidentally as it turns out, by Maggie Simpson. Before Maggie was revealed to be the shooter there was a widespread investigation of nearly every citizen in town, as Burns had angered just about everyone with some of his policies over the years and in that episode particularly. (see: "Who Shot Mr. Burns?") There have been subsequent indications that Maggie might have shot him intentionally.
It is not known who presently stands to inherit his wealth (his manservant and sole confidante, Waylon Smithers, is to be buried alive in Burns' coffin). He chose Bart Simpson as his heir for a period — Burns attempted to isolate Bart from his family and mold him into his own image, but this failed when Bart still displayed loyalty to his family by refusing to fire Homer, and Burns disowned him. Burns may leave his money to the Egg Advisory Council, as he stated he would do this when he felt he had failed to find a suitable heir. He has been engaged at least twice in recent years, to Jacqueline Bouvier and a policewoman named Gloria, but both women left him before the marriage actually took place. It is possible Larry Burns would inherit it (though Burns would later indicate he knew of Larry's existence,in the episode where he adopts Bart he claims to have never fathered a child.)
In an attempt to lure people away from the growing cult of the "Movementarians", Burns attempted to start his own religion, with himself as its god. After Smithers advised him not to adopt the K from the logo of Special K cereal or a Mickey Mouse-style symbol as its motif, the religion's symbol was decided as a Christmas Tree with a giant "B" on the front. At the grand opening of his new religion, Burns used special effects and his riot police to try and awe the crowd. However, a spark from a Catherine wheel ignited his fake beard and body suit, resulting in him falling from his balcony after Smithers tried to extinguish the flames.
Burns is apparently an important figure in an obscure Latin American state. When addressing his workers at the power plant, he mixes up his speeches and tells the crowd "Compadres, it is imperative that we crush the freedom fighters before the start of the rainy season. And remember, a shiny new donkey for whoever brings me the head of Colonel Montoya".
Organizations
- A staunchly conservative Republican
- The head of Springfield's local Republican Party (other members have included Sideshow Bob, the Rich Texan, Rainer Wolfcastle, Dr. Hibbert, Krusty the Clown, Bob Dole, Ralph Nader, and Count Dracula). In a parody of Rupert Murdoch, he once attempted to buy every media outlet in Springfield but his plans failed after Lisa started her own newspaper.
- A member of the "Excluders Club" (episode 1706).
- Member of Skull and Bones
- Member of the Stonecutters (was ranked below Lenny, quit later with everyone but Homer)
- Member of No-Homers, the organization formed by the former members of the Stonecutters based in an ice cream shop upon their rage at their messiah (Homer).
- Flying Hellfish squad (former member, part of a pact regarding the ownership of fine artwork)
- Head of the Burns Religion founded against the Movementarians.
Health
Because of his age, Burns is very physically weak, often to the point where he seems to straddle the line between life and death. In fact, in one episode, he is told by a doctor that he has every disease known to Man. He often has great difficulty doing the most basic physical tasks, such as giving a thumbs-up or stepping on an ant. A single high-five is capable of knocking Burns off his feet. And in another episode, he tries to bunt a baseball but instead gets knocked back with incredible force. Though he often gets hurt, in one episode it was shown that he undergoes a lengthy weekly procedure, which in the words of Smithers allows Burns to "cheat death for another week." His organs have grown immensely weak over the years: his heart is desiccated and shrunken to the size of a cherry, and on one occasion, Burns' brain fell out through his ear. Another time, his lungs came out through his mouth and acted like an airbag. It has been hinted that Burns can survive without his heart - he stated that when some paper money struck his chest, "had my heart been inside at the time, it could have been fatal". This seems to be a reference to the Russian tale of Koschei, who hid his heart (or soul) to achieve immortality. He is also light enough to be pushed over by an ant. Once, accidentally, Smithers let a bathing sponge fall atop Burns' head, leading him to sink in his bathtub (this time, to the point his life flashed before his eyes). He is so old he bleeds smoke if his finger is pricked. He wears dentures, as evidenced in "Homer the Smithers" ("Hmm... I think I'll have fangs today"). Another time, he tells Smithers he must have his brain flushed out with vinegar and his eyes "re-balled". Smithers then tells Burns his knees will be "back from the shop tomorrow".
Burns appears to be 5' 8" - 5' 10".
State of mind
While fully alert and untouched by senility, Burns is wildly out of touch with the modern world. For example:
- He often slips into language appropriate for the early 20th century or the 19th century ("score", meaning 20 years, "twain", meaning 2, and "post-haste", meaning rapidly). He denounces today's non-usage of these words to the advent of "Modern English."
- He calls peanuts "crackleberries".
- He still thinks Prussia is a separate country (it became a part of the newly-formed German Empire in 1871).
- Upon arriving at a gas station, Burns orders Marge (whom he mistakes for an attendant) to "revulcanize my tires post-haste", and refers to gasoline as "petroleum distillate". (Interestingly, Petroleum Distillate is still available for sale in some parts of Australia.)
- He once claimed to have watched the DuMont Network "last night". (To be fair, Burns only mentioned seeing something "on the DuMont," and thus could have been using the name to refer to the TV set itself. This would be (albeit only slightly) less anachronistic.)
- He once created a model airplane which he called the Spruce Moose; later he threatened Smithers with a revolver to board it.
- He believes that Thailand is still called Siam, and that Congo-Kinshasa is still the Belgian Congo.
- He thinks that Cuba is still controlled by Fulgencio Batista (until he flies there and discovers Fidel Castro).
- He calls Principal Skinner "dean" and refers to his grade as "fourth form" while pretending to be a student at Springfield Elementary School.
- He thinks that Al Jolson is still alive.
- He is substantially confused by the marketing of both ketchup and catsup.
- He has an actual mace instead of pepper spray (which is also called mace).
- He thinks that India is still part of the British Empire, despite India's having gained independence in 1947.
- He thinks that JFK Airport is still called Idlewild Airport.
- He demands that his mail be delivered by autogyro, considers donuts to be "ethnic food," and he answers his "telephone machine" with "ahoy-hoy?" (in the manner of Alexander Graham Bell before "hello" became commonplace).
- He still uses the word "gay" in its meaning of "jolly".
- He refers to the television as a "jumping box" and a "picto-tube".
- With regards to professional baseball, he believes that there is still a Negro League. When he orders Smithers to find the nine celebrity baseball players who would be on his company softball team, he asks for Honus Wagner, Cap Anson and Mordecai Brown, all of whom are both retired and dead.
- Also related to baseball is when he says, after giving Homer Simpson a Joe DiMaggio baseball card, "Apparently they've started letting ethnics into the big leagues". At the same time he gave Homer the DiMaggio card, he says DiMaggio is "that rookie from the New York Nine"; to be exact, he thinks that they continue to use the "New York Nine" nickname for the New York Yankees. DiMaggio's rookie year was 1936.
- When asked about his hobbies during a date, Burns spies the crowd for youthful-looking answers. He says his hobbies include (from seeing kids riding bumper cars) "piloting motorcoaches" and (from seeing a man pick up after his dog) "collecting dog waste", believing that the latter is a commonplace pastime for young people.
- He says of the Fire Department; "They're new but they're good."
- He believes cars still have levers instead of a driving wheel; when learning to drive a car for the first time, he is confident that the manual will tell him "which lever is the velocitator and which is the deceleratrix." He still thinks of driving an automobile as being a special privilege — he drives around town with no regard for traffic laws in the style of rich young motorists of the early 1900's. He drives dressed in the style of early 20th century drivers -- gloves, a hat and a mask.
- In addition to his limousine, he owns a 1936 maroon Stutz Bearcat, which he drives whilst wearing a Victorian motorists' outfit which includes hat and goggles, and at times he drives a luxury 1948 Rolls-Royce with which he once hit 10 year old Bart Simpson while driving.
- He writes letters using a quill pen and bottle of ink.
- He doesn't know what ice cream is until he actually tries it... almost 100 years after the first ice cream cone was introduced ("I'm beginning to like this so-called iced-cream").
- Trying to chat up a young woman, Burns offers to play the clavichord and to show some "stereopticon images" of the Crimean War.
- Burns has trouble understanding modern slang, such as "in-to".
- Faced by the belated news of the Stock Market Crash of 1929 on his tickertape machine, Burns moves his shareholdings into "that up-and-coming Baltimore Opera Hat Company", "Amalgamated Spats" and "Confederated Slave Holdings".
- In one of his speeches, Burns made references to Louise Brooks, "the silent star of Lulu".
- He is not aware that "there's a New Mexico". Since New Mexico joined the Union in 1912 — when Burns was in his twenties — this indicates that he did not gradually lose touch with modern events, but simply never paid any attention to them.
- He thinks that musicals about "the common cat" and "the King of Siam" are unheard of.
- He is bewildered by the most basic examples of modern technology. In one episode, he mistakes a vending machine for a confectionery shop and starts talking to it. When faced with a sneeze guard in his cafeteria, he is quickly confused and believes it to be "some kind of a force field".
- He is mystified when Lisa mentions "re-sah-gling".
- He has at least a basic but solid understanding of Phrenology, a discredited field of science which studies the correlation between the shape of the human skull and human intelligence.
- He appears unaware of inflation, claiming that a nickel could buy "a steak and kidney pie, a cup of coffee, a slice of cheesecake and a newsreel, with enough change left over to ride the trolley from Battery Park to the Polo Grounds" (the latter being a former stadium in New York).
- He thinks Collier's Weekly still publishes, despite ending in 1957.
- He once asked Homer to prepare a lunch for him that consisted of "a single pillow of shredded wheat, steamed toast, and a dodo egg".
- Though he does not seem to know the dodo is extinct, Burns has a knowledge of other creatures, such as the "Fenway flounder" and the "pocket fox", which have died out long ago.
- Burns still owns an antique view camera which requires seventy-eight minutes to take a picture.
- He gives Homer a ticket to the 1939 World's Fair.
- He once mentions his hatred of Democrats for "letting the Spaniards back in the pantry".
- Refers to a tape recorder as a "dictabelt".
- When entering a strip club, he refers to it as "one of those nude female fire stations".
And yet, in a 16th season episode, he recounts from memory the events at Abu Ghraib in a we-can-do-it-better context. Burns is also aware of the events of World War II, as he served in the Allied armies while his company secretly made shells for the Nazis. He was also inspired by the movie Sliver to have hidden cameras installed in every home in Springfield. In one episode, Mr. Burns also recalls watching the Ed Sullivan Show, seeing the Beatles's famous performance, dismissing it as "off-key caterwauling." Burns seems to either know or be aware of Presidents Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon, given that both of them came to one of his birthdays. Burns also played golf with Nixon, who moaned to Burns about the Watergate scandal being exposed and fretted about going to prison. This suggests that Mr. Burns can pay close attention to modern events, but only if they interest him. Indeed, in spite of all his apparent ignorance, Burns still seems to have enough business savvy and awareness to run his multi-billion dollar empire (kind of; he's lost it once or twice).
For unknown reasons, Burns rarely recognizes Homer Simpson's name or face, despite many of the major events of Burns' recent years having revolved around Homer or his family in some way. This may be a case of isolated Alzheimer's since he does indeed have every disease known to man. In several episodes, Burns bumps into Homer but does not recognize him, or cannot put a face to his name when he is mentioned. Smithers often has to tell Mr. Burns his name, to which Burns replies, "Simpson, eh?" When Homer paints his name on Burns's office wall, Burns inquires "who the devil are you?", throwing Homer into a fury. Ironically, this works in Homer's favor when his schemes and antics would normally get him permanently fired.
Real life models
The character of C. M. Burns was originally modeled after Fox Broadcasting Company executive Barry Diller, with notable similarities to Howard Hughes (for example, during a particular bout of eccentricity, he became paranoid about germs, wore tissue boxes on his feet, collected his urine in jars, and built a model plane which he dubbed the Spruce Moose), William Randolph Hearst (indirectly through Citizen Kane), Andrew Carnegie, and others. He bears a striking physical resemblance to Fred Olsen, (see comparison: [2]) a Norwegian shipping magnate and owner of the Timex watch brand. Harry Shearer originally based Mr. Burns' voice on President of the United States Ronald Reagan. A popular sea story in the U.S. Navy nuclear community is that the character was based on Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, for many years the head of the Navy's nuclear program and famous for his eccentricities. Another popular theory is that Burns' physiology resembles that of the late actor Julian Beck. Students of Harvard University (many Simpsons' writers are alumni) claim that Mr. Burns' economics and uberconservative nature are based upon Marty Feldstein, an economics professor there, or Michael Sandel, a philosopher. Some have also proposed that he is based on John D. Rockefeller, citing Mr. Burns's brutally monopolistic nature and the fact that both worked in the energy industry. Another theory proposes that Mr. Burns is in fact based on Matt Groening's high school civics teacher, David Bailey, whose physical appearance is very similar to that of Burns. Legend has it that Matt Groening did not do well in David Bailey's class, and the two did not get along well.
Fictional Models
Burns is also a conglomeration of villain archetypes. Among the many inspirations are:
- The Wicked Witch of the West:At one point, he owned a number of winged monkeys. He also has a number of guards outside his mansion who chant (All we owe, we own! All we owe, weown! a la Lord of the Flies!) and perform ritual dances like those outside the Witch's castle.
- Emperor Palpatine: Burns carries himself in a similar way, and the Imperial March from Star Wars often accompanies him.
- The Grinch: When Burns turned off Springfield's electricity, he was surprised to find the townspeople unbowed and singing. As he put it:
- "Look at them all, through the darkness I'm bringing
- They're not sad at all. They're actually singing!
- They sing without juicers
- They sing without blenders
- They sing without flungers, capdabblers and smendlers!"
In addition, Mr. Burns is credited with stealing Christmas from 1981-1985.
Video game appearances
The Simpsons: The Arcade Game
Mr. Burns is the main villain and the final boss of the Simpsons arcade game. In the eighth and last stage, he attempts to destroy the Simpsons using a large mechanical walker, which changes forms as it takes damage.
Bart vs The World
Mr. Burns is the main villain in the "Bart vs The World" video game. In it Bart wins a drawing contest on the Krusty the Clown show with a really poor drawning. The prize is a tour of the world. However, it transpires that Mr.Burns has bribed the judges of the drawing contest and wants to kill off the Simpsons once and for all. He enlists his relatives who live in each country Bart visits. At the end of each country Bart has to battle the relative of Mr.Burns, (who look very similar to Springfield's Mr.Burns). Upon defeating each Burns scion , Bart manages to advance to the next level.
The Simpsons Road Rage
Mr. Burns appears as a villain in The Simpsons Road Rage video game. He appears in the opening and ending cutscenes. In the opening cutscene, Burns is at City Hall, saying that he controls the transportation system. Burns also appears in Road Rage and Mission modes (only in three missions). At Road Rage mode, Burns just said: Gettim, Smithers. After that, he runs off. In Mission 2 in Mission mode, Mr. Burns found out that Homer sneaks out work to watch the game, and plans to sneak back to work. In this mission, put Homer back to work without bumping to Mr. Burns, otherwise, you fail the mission ( Mr. Burns appears at anywhere on this mission). In Mission 7, Mr. Burns attempted to destroy the invention did Professor Frink created for solving Springfield pollution and vehicle problems, after he hears the invention. In this mission, as Professor Frink, drop Mayor Quimby off City Hall, but watch out for Mr. Burns. In Mission 10, defeat Mr. Burns by smashing the statues in his garden, otherwise, you fail this mission when Mr. Burns bumps you. In the closing cutscene, after the million dollars is at Mr. Burns' door, Mr. Burns returns the buses, and washes his hands.
The Simpson: Bart's Nightmare
In the 'Bartman' stage, missiles fire at Bart from the Nuclear Plant, and clouds of radiation bar the way. Burns is the stage boss, piloting a WWII bi-plane. Smithers makes two appearances beforehand, piloting a blimp that fires large rockets.
Burns also appears as statues on the Springfield Empire State Building.
The Simpsons: Hit and Run
In mission 7 in level 1, Mr. Burns fired Homer Simpson, after he harassed him. In mission 5 in level 7, Mr. Burns gives Homer the map of where the nuclear waste is. Although he doesn't drive any of the cars, two of his cars are availabale - his limo (driven by Smithers) and the Stutz Bearcrat. You can also enter his mansion on level 4.
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