Maggie Simpson
Encyclopedia
Margaret "Maggie" Simpson is a fictional character
in the animated television series The Simpsons
. She first appeared on television in the Tracey Ullman Show
short "Good Night
" on April 19, 1987. Maggie was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening
while he was waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks
' office. She received her first name from Groening's youngest sister. After appearing on The Tracey Ullman Show for three years, the Simpson family
was given their own series on the Fox Broadcasting Company
which debuted December 17, 1989.
Maggie is the youngest child of Marge
and Homer
, and sister to Bart
and Lisa
. She is often seen sucking on her pacifier
and, when she walks, she trips over her clothing and falls on her face. Being an infant, she cannot talk. Therefore, she is the least seen and heard in the Simpson family.
Maggie's squeaking and occasional speaking parts are currently provided by Nancy Cartwright
, but she has also been voiced by guest stars James Earl Jones
, Elizabeth Taylor
and Jodie Foster
. Maggie has appeared in various media relating to The Simpsons – including video games, The Simpsons Movie
, The Simpsons Ride
, commercials and comic books – and has inspired an entire line of merchandise.
in which the characters do not physically age
, and as such the show is assumed to be set in the current year. In several episodes, events have been linked to specific times, though sometimes this timeline has been contradicted in subsequent episodes. Maggie is the youngest child of Marge
and Homer
, and sister to Bart
and Lisa
. When Marge became pregnant with Bart, she and Homer got married at a chapel in Las Vegas. To support his impending family, Homer all but demanded a job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, impressing its owner, Mr Burns, with his aggressive submissiveness. When Marge became pregnant with Lisa, two years later, she and Homer bought their first house
. Another six years later, Homer felt financially secure enough to finally quit his job at the Power Plant and take his dream job at Barney's Bowlarama. However, Marge became pregnant with Maggie, so Homer, once again unable to support his family, was forced to reapply for his old job. By the time Maggie was born, Homer had shown great signs of distress, but he managed to find motivation in the form of his new-born baby girl.
During the earlier seasons of the show, Maggie's equivalent of a hallmark was to trip over her clothing and fall on her face while trying to walk, causing a loud thud on the floor, but this was toned down in the later seasons. She has penchant for her pacifier, on which she is always seen sucking.
Maggie has performed a number of feats that suggest she is a baby genius. She has spelled out E=MC² with her baby blocks, driven Homer's car, escaped from the Springfield daycare center, and written her name on an Etch A Sketch
. Maggie is keenly aware of her surroundings, and can usually be seen imitating the flow of action around her. She shows a high degree of dexterity, and she once hit Homer on the head with a mallet
and shot a dart
at a photograph of him in imitation of Itchy and Scratchy
. Despite her age, Maggie is a formidable marksman
, as seen in "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" where she shoots Mr. Burns with a handgun that falls into her hands, and in a more intentional manner during "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" where she is able to non-fatally shoot a group of mobsters in rapid succession with a rifle that she apparently hides in her crib.
Maggie is usually frightened and exasperated by Homer's attempts to bond with her, but has on several occasions stepped in to save Homer's life: once from drowning, once from being shot by mobsters, once from being kidnapped by a tow truck driver, and once from being shot by Russ Cargill, head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Matt Groening
first conceived Maggie and the rest of the Simpson family in 1986 in the lobby of James L. Brooks
's office. Groening had been called in to pitch a series of animated shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show, and had intended to present an adaptation of his Life in Hell
comic strip. When he realized that animating Life in Hell would require him to rescind publication rights for his life's work, Groening decided to go in another direction, and hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family
and named the characters after members of his own family. The baby of the family was named Maggie after Groening's youngest sister. Maggie then made her debut with the rest of the Simpsons family on April 19, 1987 in the short "Good Night
". In 1989, the shorts were adapted into The Simpsons, a half-hour series that would air on the Fox Broadcasting Company
. Maggie and the rest of the family remained the main characters on this new show.
The entire Simpson family was designed so that they would be recognizable in silhouette. The family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up; instead, they just traced over his drawings. Maggie's physical features are generally not used in other characters; for example, in the later seasons, no character other than Lisa shares her hairline. While designing Maggie and Lisa, Groening "couldn't be bothered to even think about girls' hair styles". At the time, Groening was primarily drawing in black and white and when designing Lisa and Maggie, he "just gave them this kind of spiky starfish hair style, not thinking that they would eventually be drawn in color".
Groening thought that it would be funny to have a baby character that did not talk and never grew up, but was scripted to show any emotions that the scene required. Maggie's comedic hallmarks include her tendency to stumble and land on her face while attempting to walk, and a penchant for sucking on her pacifier, the sound of which has become the equivalent of her catchphrase and was originally created by Groening during the Tracey Ullman period
. In the early seasons of the show, Maggie would suck her pacifier over other character's dialogue, but this was discontinued because the producers found it too distracting.
, after the family falls asleep. On this occasion, Liz Georges provided the voice of Maggie.
Although she had previously spoken in fantasies and dream sequences, Maggie's first word spoken in the normal continuity of the series occurred in "Lisa's First Word
", when she was voiced by Elizabeth Taylor
. Although it was only one word ("Daddy"), Taylor had to record the part numerous times before the producers were satisfied. James Earl Jones
voiced Maggie in "Treehouse of Horror V
". Maggie would later have brief dialogue in "Treehouse of Horror IX
", voiced by Harry Shearer
, who used his Kang
voice. In earlier episodes, Yeardley Smith
did many of Maggie's squeaks, cries, laughs and occasional speaking parts, although in the later seasons her parts are done by Nancy Cartwright
. Jodie Foster
voiced a Howard Roark-inspired Maggie in the season 20 episode "Four Great Women and a Manicure
".
Nancy Basile at About.com
said her favorite Maggie scenes on The Simpsons are the ones that show her acting more like an adult than a one-year old. Some of her favorite Maggie scenes include scenes from "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song
" and "Lady Bouvier's Lover
" where Maggie meets her unibrowed archenemy, Baby Gerald, and the one scene from "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie
" in which Bart is supposed to babysit Maggie, but she escapes and takes Homer's car for a ride. Basile also added that "whether watching 'The Happy Elves' or falling down, Maggie is the cutest baby in the Simpson family". Comedian Ricky Gervais
named "And Maggie Makes Three
" his second favorite episode of the show and said that the scene in the end where Homer puts up pictures of Maggie over his desk gave him "a lump in the throat thinking about it". Todd Everett at Variety
called the scene in "Lisa's First Word" where Maggie speaks her first word "quite a heart-melter".
In 2006, Elizabeth Taylor was named thirteenth on IGN
's "Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances" list for her performance as Maggie in "Lisa's First Word". James Earl Jones, voice of Maggie in "Treehouse of Horror V", was named the seventh greatest guest star on the show in the same list. In 2000, Maggie and the rest of the Simpson family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard
.
s, figurines, jigsaw puzzle
s, and T-shirt
s. Maggie was made into an action figure as part of the World of Springfield
toy line, and was released in the wave one playset "Living Room", featuring her and Marge in the living room of the Simpsons house
. Maggie has appeared in commercials for Burger King
, Butterfinger
, C.C. Lemon
, Domino's Pizza
, Ramada Inn and Subway
.
Maggie has appeared in other media relating to The Simpsons. She is a character in every one of The Simpsons video games
, including the most recent, The Simpsons Game
. Alongside the television series, Maggie regularly appears in issues of the Simpsons comics, which were first published on November 29, 1993 and are still issued monthly. Maggie also plays a role in The Simpsons Ride
, launched in 2008 at Universal Studios Florida
and Hollywood
.
On April 9, 2009, the United States Postal Service
unveiled a series of five 44 cent stamps featuring Maggie and the four other members of the Simpson family. They are the first characters from a television series to receive this recognition while the show is still in production. The stamps, designed by Matt Groening, were made available for purchase on May 7, 2009. In a USPS poll, Maggie's stamp was voted the most popular of the five.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the animated television series The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
. She first appeared on television in the Tracey Ullman Show
The Tracey Ullman Show
The Tracey Ullman Show was an American television variety show, hosted by British comedian and onetime pop singer Tracey Ullman. It debuted on April 5, 1987 as the Fox network's second primetime series after Married... with Children, and ran until May 26, 1990. The show blended sketch comedy shorts...
short "Good Night
Good Night (The Simpsons short)
"Good Night" is the first Simpsons short that appeared on The Tracey Ullman Show. It originally aired April 19, 1987, during the third episode of The Tracey Ullman Show and was the first appearance of the Simpson family on television. After three seasons on Tracey Ullman, the shorts would be...
" on April 19, 1987. Maggie was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
while he was waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks
James L. Brooks
James Lawrence Brooks is an American director, producer and screenwriter. Growing up in North Bergen, New Jersey, Brooks endured a fractured family life and passed the time by reading and writing. After dropping out of New York University, he got a job as an usher at CBS, going on to write for the...
' office. She received her first name from Groening's youngest sister. After appearing on The Tracey Ullman Show for three years, the Simpson family
Simpson family
The Simpson family is a family of fictional characters featured in the animated television series The Simpsons. The Simpsons are a nuclear family consisting of the married couple Homer and Marge and their three children Bart, Lisa and Maggie. They live at 742 Evergreen Terrace in the fictional town...
was given their own series on the Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
which debuted December 17, 1989.
Maggie is the youngest child of Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
and Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
, and sister to Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
and Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
. She is often seen sucking on her pacifier
Pacifier
A pacifier is a rubber, plastic, or silicone nipple given to an infant or other young child to suck upon. In its standard appearance it has a teat, mouth shield, and handle...
and, when she walks, she trips over her clothing and falls on her face. Being an infant, she cannot talk. Therefore, she is the least seen and heard in the Simpson family.
Maggie's squeaking and occasional speaking parts are currently provided by Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Campbell Cartwright is an American film and television actress, comedian and voice artist. She is best known for her long-running role as Bart Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons...
, but she has also been voiced by guest stars James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
, Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
and Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....
. Maggie has appeared in various media relating to The Simpsons – including video games, The Simpsons Movie
The Simpsons Movie
The Simpsons Movie is a 2007 American animated comedy film based on the animated television series The Simpsons. The film was directed by David Silverman, and stars the regular television cast of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Tress...
, The Simpsons Ride
The Simpsons Ride
The Simpsons Ride is a simulator ride featured at the Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood theme parks. The ride is based on the animated television series The Simpsons. It was first announced in 2007 and replaced the Back to the Future: The Ride at both locations...
, commercials and comic books – and has inspired an entire line of merchandise.
Role in The Simpsons
The Simpsons uses a floating timelineFloating timeline
A Floating timeline is a device used in fiction, particularly in comics and animation, to explain why characters age little or not at all over a period of time - despite real-world markers like notable events, people and technology appearing in the works and correlating with the real world.A...
in which the characters do not physically age
Ageless
Ageless is an adjective describing a person or thing whose age cannot be defined, is nonexistent or does not change.It can also describe immortality, most specifically eternal youth.-Ageless people:...
, and as such the show is assumed to be set in the current year. In several episodes, events have been linked to specific times, though sometimes this timeline has been contradicted in subsequent episodes. Maggie is the youngest child of Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
and Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
, and sister to Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
and Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
. When Marge became pregnant with Bart, she and Homer got married at a chapel in Las Vegas. To support his impending family, Homer all but demanded a job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, impressing its owner, Mr Burns, with his aggressive submissiveness. When Marge became pregnant with Lisa, two years later, she and Homer bought their first house
742 Evergreen Terrace
742 Evergreen Terrace is the fictional street address in Springfield of the Simpson family home in the animated television series, The Simpsons and in the feature film The Simpsons Movie. In the series the house is currently owned by Homer Simpson...
. Another six years later, Homer felt financially secure enough to finally quit his job at the Power Plant and take his dream job at Barney's Bowlarama. However, Marge became pregnant with Maggie, so Homer, once again unable to support his family, was forced to reapply for his old job. By the time Maggie was born, Homer had shown great signs of distress, but he managed to find motivation in the form of his new-born baby girl.
During the earlier seasons of the show, Maggie's equivalent of a hallmark was to trip over her clothing and fall on her face while trying to walk, causing a loud thud on the floor, but this was toned down in the later seasons. She has penchant for her pacifier, on which she is always seen sucking.
Maggie has performed a number of feats that suggest she is a baby genius. She has spelled out E=MC² with her baby blocks, driven Homer's car, escaped from the Springfield daycare center, and written her name on an Etch A Sketch
Etch A Sketch
Etch A Sketch is a registered trademark for a mechanical drawing toy manufactured by the Ohio Art Company.An Etch A Sketch is a thick, flat gray screen in a plastic frame. There are two knobs on the front of the frame in the lower corners. Twisting the knobs moves a stylus that displaces aluminium...
. Maggie is keenly aware of her surroundings, and can usually be seen imitating the flow of action around her. She shows a high degree of dexterity, and she once hit Homer on the head with a mallet
Mallet
A mallet is a kind of hammer, usually of rubber,or sometimes wood smaller than a maul or beetle and usually with a relatively large head.-Tools:Tool mallets come in different types, the most common of which are:...
and shot a dart
Dart (missile)
Darts are missile weapons, designed to fly such that a sharp, often weighted point will strike first. They can be distinguished from javelins by fletching and a shaft that is shorter and/or more flexible, and from arrows by the fact that they are not of the right length to use with a normal...
at a photograph of him in imitation of Itchy and Scratchy
The Itchy & Scratchy Show
The Itchy & Scratchy Show is a show within a show in the animated television series The Simpsons. It usually appears as a part of The Krusty the Clown Show, watched regularly by Bart and Lisa Simpson...
. Despite her age, Maggie is a formidable marksman
Marksman
A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision, or a sharpshooter shooting, using projectile weapons, such as with a rifle but most commonly with a sniper rifle, to shoot at long range targets...
, as seen in "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" where she shoots Mr. Burns with a handgun that falls into her hands, and in a more intentional manner during "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" where she is able to non-fatally shoot a group of mobsters in rapid succession with a rifle that she apparently hides in her crib.
Maggie is usually frightened and exasperated by Homer's attempts to bond with her, but has on several occasions stepped in to save Homer's life: once from drowning, once from being shot by mobsters, once from being kidnapped by a tow truck driver, and once from being shot by Russ Cargill, head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Creation
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
first conceived Maggie and the rest of the Simpson family in 1986 in the lobby of James L. Brooks
James L. Brooks
James Lawrence Brooks is an American director, producer and screenwriter. Growing up in North Bergen, New Jersey, Brooks endured a fractured family life and passed the time by reading and writing. After dropping out of New York University, he got a job as an usher at CBS, going on to write for the...
's office. Groening had been called in to pitch a series of animated shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show, and had intended to present an adaptation of his Life in Hell
Life in Hell
Life in Hell is a weekly comic strip by Matt Groening. The strip features anthropomorphic rabbits and a pair of gay lovers. Groening uses these characters to explore a wide range of topics about love, sex, work, and death...
comic strip. When he realized that animating Life in Hell would require him to rescind publication rights for his life's work, Groening decided to go in another direction, and hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family
Dysfunctional family
A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often abuse on the part of individual members occur continually and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such actions. Children sometimes grow up in such families with the understanding that such an arrangement is...
and named the characters after members of his own family. The baby of the family was named Maggie after Groening's youngest sister. Maggie then made her debut with the rest of the Simpsons family on April 19, 1987 in the short "Good Night
Good Night (The Simpsons short)
"Good Night" is the first Simpsons short that appeared on The Tracey Ullman Show. It originally aired April 19, 1987, during the third episode of The Tracey Ullman Show and was the first appearance of the Simpson family on television. After three seasons on Tracey Ullman, the shorts would be...
". In 1989, the shorts were adapted into The Simpsons, a half-hour series that would air on the Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
. Maggie and the rest of the family remained the main characters on this new show.
The entire Simpson family was designed so that they would be recognizable in silhouette. The family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up; instead, they just traced over his drawings. Maggie's physical features are generally not used in other characters; for example, in the later seasons, no character other than Lisa shares her hairline. While designing Maggie and Lisa, Groening "couldn't be bothered to even think about girls' hair styles". At the time, Groening was primarily drawing in black and white and when designing Lisa and Maggie, he "just gave them this kind of spiky starfish hair style, not thinking that they would eventually be drawn in color".
Groening thought that it would be funny to have a baby character that did not talk and never grew up, but was scripted to show any emotions that the scene required. Maggie's comedic hallmarks include her tendency to stumble and land on her face while attempting to walk, and a penchant for sucking on her pacifier, the sound of which has become the equivalent of her catchphrase and was originally created by Groening during the Tracey Ullman period
The Tracey Ullman Show
The Tracey Ullman Show was an American television variety show, hosted by British comedian and onetime pop singer Tracey Ullman. It debuted on April 5, 1987 as the Fox network's second primetime series after Married... with Children, and ran until May 26, 1990. The show blended sketch comedy shorts...
. In the early seasons of the show, Maggie would suck her pacifier over other character's dialogue, but this was discontinued because the producers found it too distracting.
Voice
With few exceptions, Maggie never speaks but is very participatory in the events around her, emoting with subtle gestures and facial expressions. Maggie's first lines were spoken in "Good Night", the first short to air on The Tracey Ullman ShowThe Tracey Ullman Show
The Tracey Ullman Show was an American television variety show, hosted by British comedian and onetime pop singer Tracey Ullman. It debuted on April 5, 1987 as the Fox network's second primetime series after Married... with Children, and ran until May 26, 1990. The show blended sketch comedy shorts...
, after the family falls asleep. On this occasion, Liz Georges provided the voice of Maggie.
Although she had previously spoken in fantasies and dream sequences, Maggie's first word spoken in the normal continuity of the series occurred in "Lisa's First Word
Lisa's First Word
"Lisa's First Word" is the tenth episode of The Simpsons fourth season. It was first broadcast on Fox in the United States on December 3, 1992. In the episode, as the Simpson family gathers around Maggie and tries to encourage her to say her first word, Marge reminisces and tells the story of...
", when she was voiced by Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
. Although it was only one word ("Daddy"), Taylor had to record the part numerous times before the producers were satisfied. James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
voiced Maggie in "Treehouse of Horror V
Treehouse of Horror V
"Treehouse of Horror V" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons sixth season and the fifth episode in the Treehouse of Horror series. It premiered on October 30, 1994, and features three short stories called The Shinning, Time and Punishment, and Nightmare Cafeteria...
". Maggie would later have brief dialogue in "Treehouse of Horror IX
Treehouse of Horror IX
"Treehouse of Horror IX" is the fourth episode of the tenth season of The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 25, 1998...
", voiced by Harry Shearer
Harry Shearer
Harry Julius Shearer is an American actor, comedian, writer, voice artist, musician, author, radio host and director. He is known for his long-running role on The Simpsons, his work on Saturday Night Live, the comedy band Spinal Tap and his radio program Le Show...
, who used his Kang
Kang & Kodos
Kang and Kodos are a duo of recurring characters in the animated television series The Simpsons. Kang is voiced by Harry Shearer and Kodos by Dan Castellaneta. They are aliens from the fictional planet Rigel VII and appear almost exclusively in the "Treehouse of Horror". The duo has appeared in at...
voice. In earlier episodes, Yeardley Smith
Yeardley Smith
Yeardley Smith is a French-born American actress, voice actress, writer and painter. She is best known for her long-running role as Lisa Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons....
did many of Maggie's squeaks, cries, laughs and occasional speaking parts, although in the later seasons her parts are done by Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Campbell Cartwright is an American film and television actress, comedian and voice artist. She is best known for her long-running role as Bart Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons...
. Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....
voiced a Howard Roark-inspired Maggie in the season 20 episode "Four Great Women and a Manicure
Four Great Women and a Manicure
"Four Great Women and a Manicure" is the twentieth episode of the twentieth season of The Simpsons. It was broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on May 10, 2009. It is the first Simpsons episode in history to have four acts instead of the usual three...
".
Reception
About.com
About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
said her favorite Maggie scenes on The Simpsons are the ones that show her acting more like an adult than a one-year old. Some of her favorite Maggie scenes include scenes from "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song
Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song
"Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song" is the 19th episode of The Simpsons fifth season, and the 100th episode overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 28, 1994. In the episode, Superintendent Chalmers fires Principal Seymour Skinner after a disaster at the...
" and "Lady Bouvier's Lover
Lady Bouvier's Lover
"Lady Bouvier's Lover" is the twenty-first episode of The Simpsons fifth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 12, 1994. In the episode, Grampa Simpson falls in love with Marge's mother, Jacqueline Bouvier, and they start dating. However, on a night out in town,...
" where Maggie meets her unibrowed archenemy, Baby Gerald, and the one scene from "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie
Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie
"Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons fourth season and first aired on November 3, 1992. The plot follows Bart continually getting in trouble, and how Homer is unable to give him any suitable punishment. Marge gets Homer to agree to make a punishment stick, and he...
" in which Bart is supposed to babysit Maggie, but she escapes and takes Homer's car for a ride. Basile also added that "whether watching 'The Happy Elves' or falling down, Maggie is the cutest baby in the Simpson family". Comedian Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...
named "And Maggie Makes Three
And Maggie Makes Three
"And Maggie Makes Three" is the thirteenth television episode of The Simpsons sixth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 22, 1995. In the episode, Lisa notices that there are no photos of Maggie in the family photo albums. This leads to a recount of...
" his second favorite episode of the show and said that the scene in the end where Homer puts up pictures of Maggie over his desk gave him "a lump in the throat thinking about it". Todd Everett at Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
called the scene in "Lisa's First Word" where Maggie speaks her first word "quite a heart-melter".
In 2006, Elizabeth Taylor was named thirteenth on IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's "Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances" list for her performance as Maggie in "Lisa's First Word". James Earl Jones, voice of Maggie in "Treehouse of Horror V", was named the seventh greatest guest star on the show in the same list. In 2000, Maggie and the rest of the Simpson family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood Boulevard
-Revitalization:In recent years successful efforts have been made at cleaning up Hollywood Blvd., as the street had gained a reputation for crime and seediness. Central to these efforts was the construction of the Hollywood and Highland shopping center and adjacent Kodak Theatre in 2001...
.
Merchandising
Four children's books, written by Maggie Groening (after whom Maggie was named) and illustrated by Matt Groening, entitled Maggie Simpson's Book of Animals, Maggie Simpson's Counting Book, Maggie Simpson's Book of Colors and Shapes and Maggie Simpson's Alphabet Book were released on September 12, 1991. Other merchandise includes dolls, posterPoster
A poster is any piece of printed paper designed to be attached to a wall or vertical surface. Typically posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. Posters are designed to be both eye-catching and informative. Posters may be...
s, figurines, jigsaw puzzle
Jigsaw puzzle
A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of numerous small, often oddly shaped, interlocking and tessellating pieces.Each piece usually has a small part of a picture on it; when complete, a jigsaw puzzle produces a complete picture...
s, and T-shirt
T-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
s. Maggie was made into an action figure as part of the World of Springfield
World of Springfield
The World of Springfield is a series of action figures featuring characters from the animated sitcom The Simpsons. The line ran between December 1999 and December 2004 and was released by Playmates Toys....
toy line, and was released in the wave one playset "Living Room", featuring her and Marge in the living room of the Simpsons house
742 Evergreen Terrace
742 Evergreen Terrace is the fictional street address in Springfield of the Simpson family home in the animated television series, The Simpsons and in the feature film The Simpsons Movie. In the series the house is currently owned by Homer Simpson...
. Maggie has appeared in commercials for Burger King
Burger King
Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...
, Butterfinger
Butterfinger
Butterfinger is a candy bar made by Nestlé.The bar consists of a flaky, orange-colored center—somewhat similar texture to crisp caramel, with a taste similar to peanut butter—that is coated in compound chocolate.- History :...
, C.C. Lemon
C.C. Lemon
C.C. Lemon is a Japanese soft drink created by Suntory. It is known for its lemon flavor and for its advertisements featuring characters from the popular American cartoon The Simpsons.-Sizes:...
, Domino's Pizza
Domino's Pizza
Domino's Pizza, Inc. is an international pizza delivery corporation headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America. Founded in 1960, Domino's is the second-largest pizza chain in the United States and has over 9,000 corporate and franchised stores in 60 countries and all 50 U.S....
, Ramada Inn and Subway
Subway (restaurant)
Subway is an American restaurant franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches and salads. It is owned and operated by Doctor's Associates, Inc. . Subway is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world with 35,519 restaurants in 98 countries and territories as of October 25th, 2011...
.
Maggie has appeared in other media relating to The Simpsons. She is a character in every one of The Simpsons video games
The Simpsons video games
The Simpsons video games are a line of official video games that use the characters from the animated television show The Simpsons. The popularity of The Simpsons motivated the video game industry to turn to the characters and world of Springfield...
, including the most recent, The Simpsons Game
The Simpsons Game
The Simpsons Game is an action/platformer video game based on the animated television series The Simpsons, made for the Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation Portable. The game was developed, published, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It was released in North...
. Alongside the television series, Maggie regularly appears in issues of the Simpsons comics, which were first published on November 29, 1993 and are still issued monthly. Maggie also plays a role in The Simpsons Ride
The Simpsons Ride
The Simpsons Ride is a simulator ride featured at the Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood theme parks. The ride is based on the animated television series The Simpsons. It was first announced in 2007 and replaced the Back to the Future: The Ride at both locations...
, launched in 2008 at Universal Studios Florida
Universal Studios Florida
Universal Studios Florida is an American theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Opened on June 7, 1990, the park's theme is the entertainment industry, in particular movies and television. Universal Studios Florida inspires its guests to "ride the movies," and it features numerous attractions and...
and Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood is a movie studio and theme park in the unincorporated Universal City community of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood movie studios still in use...
.
On April 9, 2009, the United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
unveiled a series of five 44 cent stamps featuring Maggie and the four other members of the Simpson family. They are the first characters from a television series to receive this recognition while the show is still in production. The stamps, designed by Matt Groening, were made available for purchase on May 7, 2009. In a USPS poll, Maggie's stamp was voted the most popular of the five.
External links
- Maggie Simpson at TheSimpsons.com
- Maggie Simpson's profile at IGNIGNIGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
.com