Rainier Wolfcastle
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| The Simpsons character | |
 |
|
| Rainier Luftwaffe Wolfcastle | |
| Gender | Male |
|---|---|
| Job | Actor |
| Relatives | Wife: Maria Shriver Quimby Daughter: Greta Wolfcastle |
| Voice actor | Harry Shearer |
| First appearance | |
| The Simpsons | The Way We Was (as McBain) and Radio Bart (as himself) |
Rainier Luftwaffe Wolfcastle (voiced by Harry Shearer) is a fictional character featured in the television cartoon The Simpsons.
Contents |
[edit] Profile
An Austrian-accented, musclebound actor, Wolfcastle is a parody of bodybuilder, actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger. His ex-wife, who appeared in one episode, is named Maria Shriver Kennedy Quimby (as in Schwarzenegger's wife Maria Shriver), and he was seen at a gathering of members of the Quimby family, who are modeled after the Kennedys. In the episode Homerazzi he remarries Maria Shriver Kennedy Quimby. His daughter Greta Wolfcastle used to have a crush on Bart Simpson. Although in other episodes, such as Homerazzi, Greta is seen with Bart's best friend Milhouse Van Houten.
Wolfcastle is a veteran of many violent action movies, most notably "the McBain series which does not correspond to a 1991 action movie by the same name." It is frequently suggested that his career is on the decline since a movie featuring a "magic ticket" similar to Last Action Hero. He battles frequently with weight problems, though tries to pass it off as something he is doing for a role. His films are sometimes critical failures, as Jay Sherman introduced Wolfcastle in an interview on his TV show as "star of the reprehensible McBain movies", including McBain: Let's Get Silly, featuring the character performing standup comedy in front of a brick wall for an hour and a half. It cost $80 million.
According to various Simpsons episodes, Wolfcastle began his acting career as a child in Austria, appearing on long television commercials advertising bratwurst. At roughly the same time, he began experimenting with bodybuilding, and his physique earned him a starring role in several gay pornography films, shelves of which were seen by Homer during one of Wolfcastle's debt-induced garage sales. He was also the primary actor on advertisements for "PowerSauce Bars"; bars claiming to boost muscle growth, but which were in fact a mash of apple cores and Chinese newspapers.
[edit] Character history
The character was originally referred to both within the show and by the production team as McBain, taken from the role he portrayed in the fictional action film franchise. However, for a short time, The Simpsons could not use the McBain name because a movie of the same name (unrelated to The Simpsons character) was released in 1991. During this time, the movie's producers refused to give Twentieth Century Fox and Matt Groening's production company clearance to use the "McBain" name, so the name of Rainier Wolfcastle was used to sidestep this. Later, the use of "McBain" as both Wolfcastle's alter-ego and continuing series of films returned to the show.
The name "Rainier" is a spelling variant of Rainer, a common German given name. Also, "Rainier" is a common reference to Mt. Rainier, a large mountain within view of Seattle, Washington. Most Simpsons character names come from streets and landmarks near Portland, the hometown of Simpsons creator Matt Groening.[1]
[edit] Jobs
Rainier Wolfcastle has, in different Simpsons episodes, been a presenter at the Academy Awards, a spokesperson for the PowerSauce energy bar, a celebrity judge in radio station KBBL's contest "How Low Will You Go" (along with Krusty the Klown and Madeleine Albright), hosted a short-lived talk show, and appeared on Inside the Actors Studio with James Lipton (in which he kills Lipton after getting into character as McBain). He was married to Maria Quimby in the past, and his daughter Greta dated Bart in the episode, "The Bart Wants What It Wants". He also was co-owner of a Planet Hollywood spoof, along with "Chuck Norris, Johnny Carson's third wife, and the Russian mafia".
Apart from the McBain series, Wolfcastle also played Radioactive Man in an ill-fated live-action movie version of the comic book series. Wolfcastle has also ventured into comedic roles; in one episode he carries Homer in an oversized Snugli for babies, remarking, "I used it to carry Rob Schneider in the movie My Baby is an Ugly Man." His other films include Help, My Son is a Nerd, Mrs. Mom, Frankenberry: The Movie, I Shoot Your Face, I Shoot Your Face Again and Diaper Genie.
[edit] Politics
Rainier Wolfcastle appears to have political ambitions, as noted by his candidacy for mayor in the recall election of Mayor Diamond Joe Quimby. He is a member of the inner circle of the Springfield Republican Party, which meets at Burns' mansion and includes Burns, Krusty, Dr. Hibbert, The Rich Texan, Count Dracula and Bob Dole.
Wolfcastle has campaigned as Republican Mayoral candidate and as a supporter of Sideshow Bob for Mayor.
[edit] Prejudices
Hints that Wolfcastle may have some anti-Semitic or Neo-Nazi views derives from Schwarzenegger having had to disavow Nazi sympathies due to his father Gustav Schwarzenegger's onetime Nazi Party membership.[2]
When Krusty the Clown says, "I thought I was a self-hating Jew, but it turns out that I'm just an anti-semite" and nearby Wolfcastle enthusiastically responds, "We have so much to discuss". His lead-in announcer on "Up Late with McBain" dresses in a full SS uniform, complete with Nazi armband, and introduces himself as an Obergruppenführer, which was a high ranking officer in the SA and later the SS. In the episode "See Homer Run", in a stump speech he refers to himself as being, among other things a "...son of a Nazi...". However, in one of his films, after saving UNICEF supplies from a doomed transport plane, he afterwards leaps onto one of the "Commie-Nazi" enemy jet fighters, pops open the cockpit, and snaps the neck of the enemy leader who appears to look like Hitler.
Despite his aforementioned involvement in the gay porn industry, Rainier himself may also be homophobic, as evidenced by his accusing the entire audience of the "Up Late with McBain" show of being homosexuals after they booed him for describing his band leader's outfit as making him "look like a homosexual".
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Hamilton, Don (2002-07-19), “Matt Groening’s Portland”, Portland Tribune, <http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=12392>
- ^ Tracy Wilkinson and Matt Lait. "Austrian Archives Reveal Nazi Military Role of Actor's Father", Los Angeles Times, August 14, 2003. Retrieved on 2006-11-14.
