| The Simpsons character | |
| Groundskeeper Willie | |
| Gender | Male |
|---|---|
| Job | Janitor at Springfield Elementary School |
| Relatives | Cousin: Gravedigger Billy Parents: Unnamed |
| Voice actor | Dan Castellaneta |
| First appearance | |
| The Simpsons | "Principal Charming" |
Groundskeeper Willie is a recurring character on The Simpsons, voiced by Dan Castellaneta. He is head groundskeeper at Springfield Elementary School. Willie is a Scottish immigrant, almost feral in nature, and immensely proud of his homeland. He is easily identifiable by his flaming red hair and beard, as well as his caricature of a Scottish accent.
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Willie is the groundskeeper at Springfield Elementary School and is a stereotypical angry Scotsman. Willie is an unpleasant, though essentially harmless, character. He has claimed to originate from several different places in Scotland, and frequently gives contradictory accounts of his past life before arriving in Springfield. These contradictions are referenced in "The President Wore Pearls" when Willie tells a story of working at a mine that caved in, saying, "No one made it out alive, not even Willie!" He has also said that he is deaf but can read lips incredibly well. Willie is portrayed as being incompetent, quick to anger for little or no reason, and slow-witted. He has shown great animosity towards both his employer Principal Skinner and nemesis Bart Simpson. Willie is often the target of Bart's cruel childhood pranks, while Skinner frequently forces Willie to perform demeaning labor, which even included an unwitting part in the Scotchtoberfest sting-operation. Willie once told Skinner that he had seen his own father hanged for stealing a pig.
Despite his usually gruff, unrefined mannerisms, on occasion Willie has demonstrated gentlemanly behavior. He once came to the aid of wrongfully accused Homer Simpson ("Homer Badman"), where Willie revealed that his pastimes included secretly videotaping couples. Willie's amateur video exonerated Homer of his sexual harassment accusations, although ironically the publicity led the to Smartline's profile of the groundskeeper as 'Roody Roddy Peeper.' Not always a bachelor, Willie was once engaged to Shary Bobbins as mentioned in "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious", until she recovered her eyesight—at which point, in Willie's words, "Suddenly the ugliest man in Glasgow wasn't good enough for her!" During a Springfield Elementary Science Fair, student Lisa Simpson featured the Scotsman in her project. The experiment showed high society was not beyond reach of the lowliest member of society (aka Groundskeeper Willie).
Willie was once given the job of teaching Bart Simpson in "On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister." Lisa had taken a restraining order against Bart, so he couldn't legally go to the same school. Willie became Bart's teacher because, according to Principal Skinner, Willie's shack is the only place on school grounds "outside all laws of Man and God." In Season 19's The Debarted, it is revealed that Willie uses his left arm for a diary. His years of heavy work have given him amazing strength and a very muscular physique, which has been observed many times; for example, he rescues Bart from a marauding Alaskan timber wolf by wrestling it into submission. Much like Ned Flanders, though, his physique is unremarkable when he is clothed, and seemingly morphs as soon as he is partially nude.
Groundskeeper Willie has been a regular character since the second season, but has only been central to one episode: season 17's "My Fair Laddy", although he has played minor roles in several episodes, including "Treehouse of Horror V", "Treehouse of Horror VI", "Girly Edition" "The President Wore Pearls", and Love, Springfieldian Style. Willie also works as a greenskeeper during summer vacation at the Springfield Glen Country Club and also works as a janitor in Shelbeville .
According to Willie, he is "too poor to have a last name"[1], although in the Simpsons Comics he is referred to as "William MacMoran". In My Fair Laddy he is also temporarily known as G. K. Willington, Esq.[1]
Groundskeeper Willie's first appearance was in the season two episode "Principal Charming". Originally, the character was just written as an angry janitor, and the fact that he was Scottish was added during a recording session. Dan Castellaneta was assigned to do the voice. Castellaneta did not know what voice to use and Sam Simon, who was directing at the time, told Castellaneta to use an accent. He first tried using a Spanish voice, which Simon felt was too clichéd. He then tried a "big dumb Swede", which was also rejected. For his third try, he used the voice of an angry Scotsman, which was deemed appropriate enough and was used in the episode.[2] Originally thought by the directors to be a one-shot appearance, Willie has since become a common recurring character.[3] Matt Groening later revealed that the character was based partially on Angus Crock, a kilt-wearing chef from the sketch comedy show Second City Television, who was portrayed by Dave Thomas[4] and Jimmy Finlayson, the mustachioed Scottish actor who appeared in 33 Laurel and Hardy films.[5]
A recurring joke, which was first shown in "Radio Bart", is that Willie appears to have a pot belly, but whenever he takes off his shirt, he is quite muscular.[6] One of Willie's trademarks is a gruffly-spoken insulting retort, which take the writers a long time to come up with, although they do not consider them that funny.[7]
In 2006, Groundskeeper Willie was named the fourth best peripheral character in the history of the show by IGN,[8] who said "high-points for the character were being trained to be civilized, wrestling a wolf that was let loose in the school and becoming a substitute for the French language teacher - 'Bon jourrr! You cheese-eating surrender monkeys!'" IGN also named "My Fair Laddy", the only episode which centers around Willie, the best episode of the seventeenth season.[9] Jim Slotek of Sun Media called Willie the ninth best Simpsons supporting character, and also made a Top Ten quotes list, which included Willie's quote "Och, back to the loch wi' ye, Nessie." from "Selma's Choice".[10]
Groundskeeper Willie's description of the French as "cheese-eating surrender monkeys"[11] from the episode "'Round Springfield" has become widely used, particularly in the run-up to the war in Iraq.[12] The newspaper New York Post used the phrase "Surrender Monkeys" as the headline for its December 7, 2006 front page, referring to the Iraq Study Group and its recommendation that U.S. soldiers be withdrawn from Iraq by early 2008.[13] The line was "most likely" written by Ken Keeler.[14]
The Times reported in late 2005 that "he is the most instantly recognisable Scot in the world: better known than Billy Connolly or Ewan McGregor, even Sean Connery." The same article quotes Simpsons creator Matt Groening as saying "We wanted to create a school janitor that was filled with rage, sort of our tribute to angry janitors all over the world".[15]
Three Willie action figures were created by Playmates Toys for the World of Springfield series: Willie depicted in his usual appearance, released in 2001 in wave 4;[16] "Ripped Willie", released in 2002 as part of wave 8;[17] and "Kilted Willie", released in 2003 in wave 14.[18]
| The Simpsons characters | |
|---|---|
| The Simpson family and relatives | |
| Homer Simpson · Marge Simpson · Bart Simpson · Lisa Simpson · Maggie Simpson · Abraham Simpson · Patty and Selma Bouvier · Mona Simpson · Santa's Little Helper · Snowball | |
| Around Springfield | |
| Comic Book Guy · Ned Flanders · Professor Frink · Barney Gumble · Dr. Hibbert · Lionel Hutz · Rev. Lovejoy · Hans Moleman · Apu Nahasapeemapetilon · Mayor Quimby · Dr. Nick Riviera · Cletus Spuckler · Moe Szyslak · Chief Wiggum | |
| Springfield Elementary School faculty and students | |
| Seymour Skinner · Edna Krabappel · Otto Mann · Groundskeeper Willie · Nelson Muntz · Martin Prince · Milhouse Van Houten · Ralph Wiggum | |
| Media personalities | |
| Celebrities · Itchy and Scratchy · Kent Brockman · Krusty the Clown · Troy McClure · Radioactive Man · Rainier Wolfcastle | |
| Springfield Nuclear Power Plant | Families |
| Montgomery Burns · Carl Carlson · Lenny Leonard · Waylon Smithers | Simpson family · Flanders family · Van Houten family |
| Villains | Miscellaneous |
| Kang and Kodos · Sideshow Bob · Springfield Mafia (Fat Tony) | Recurring characters · Fictional characters · One-time characters · Animals · Guest stars |