38 Facts About Mr Burns

Charles Montgomery Plantagenet Schicklgruber "Monty" Burns, usually referred to as Mr Burns, Monty, or C Montgomery Burns, is a recurring character and the main antagonist of the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced initially by Christopher Collins and currently by Harry Shearer.

Mr Burns is the mostly evil, devious, greedy, and wealthy owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and, by extension, Homer Simpson's boss.

Mr Burns is assisted at almost all times by Smithers, his loyal and sycophantic aide, adviser, confidant, and secret admirer.

Mr Burns uses his power and wealth to do whatever he wants, usually without regard for consequences and without interference from the authorities.

Mr Burns spends his time in his office at the nuclear plant, monitoring his workers via closed-circuit cameras installed throughout the plant.

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In "Double, Double, Boy in Trouble", Mr Burns revealed that he was the youngest of a wealthy family, with eleven children, and all his siblings died of suspicious causes, leading to him receiving the entire family fortune, although another episode reveals that his surviving younger brother is George Burns.

At an early age, Mr Burns left his family to live with a twisted and heartless billionaire who owned an "atom mill" in Shelbyville.

Mr Burns lived a life of privilege and would amuse himself by injuring immigrant laborers.

Mr Burns later attended Yale University, where he studied science and business, joined Skull and Bones, competed in the "etherweight" wrestling class, and graduated in the class of 1914.

Mr Burns has been engaged at least three times: to a woman named Gertrude who died of loneliness and rabies, to Marge Simpson's mother Jacqueline Bouvier, and to a meter maid named Gloria.

Mr Burns later enlisted in the US Army and served as a member of Springfield's Flying Hellfish squad under Master Sergeant Abraham Simpson and saw action in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge.

In "Homer the Smithers", it is revealed that Mr Burns' mother is still alive at the age of 122 years, although Mr Burns dislikes speaking to her because she had an affair with President William Howard Taft and she refers to him as an "improvident lackwit".

Mr Burns routinely subjects Springfield and its residents to his abuse and there is a general dislike of him throughout the town.

Mr Burns employed his wealth to make an ultimately unsuccessful run for governor to prevent his plant from being closed for safety violations, only to be denied his chance to be Governor by Marge Simpson.

Mr Burns once blocked out the sun to force Springfield residents to increase their use of electricity produced by his nuclear plant and was shot by Maggie when he tried to steal candy from her.

Mr Burns' extreme old age is a frequent source of humor on the show.

Mr Burns is occasionally referred to as "Springfield's oldest resident"; in Season 2's "Simpson and Delilah", he told Homer that he is 81, although, in several later episodes, he is shown to be 104.

The episode reveals that Mr Burns' father was a slaveowning Southern plantation owner who inspired the character Simon Legree from Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, and that Homer and Grampa are descended from Colonel Burns's runaway slave Virgil who fled to British Canada with Mabel Simpson on the Underground Railroad.

In other episodes, Mr Burns's birthplace is apparently Pangea, his national anthem implies he was both from Austria-Hungary and unaware of its collapse in World War I, and he mentions the possibility of an update on the Siege of Khartoum, implying that he was aware of current events as early as 1884.

Mr Burns continually fails to recognize Homer Simpson or remember his name, even though many of the recent major events in Mr Burns' life have involved Homer in some way.

Mr Burns is, for the most part, unaware of the townspeople's general dislike of him.

In "Homer at the Bat", Mr Burns instructs Smithers to recruit dead-ball-era players, such as Honus Wagner and Cap Anson for the plant's softball team, and has to be told that all of them died long ago.

Mr Burns once rewarded Homer for being the first to arrive at work with a ticket to the 1939 World's Fair.

However, despite his obvious senility and social ineptitude, Mr Burns is an extraordinarily clever businessman, as he has lost his fortune several times, only to regain it a very brief time later.

Additionally, in the episode "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story", Mr Burns loses both his fortune and nuclear power plant to the Rich Texan after losing a scavenger hunt, but eventually gains both backs after a series of events that includes him briefly working at Moe's Tavern.

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Mr Burns is physically weak and is often shown to have little more strength than an infant.

Mr Burns has difficulty performing such simple actions as giving a thumbs-up, and crushing an insect by stepping on it, or using a door-knocker.

Mr Burns pitched the opening baseball at a game in "Dancin' Homer", but was only able to throw it a small distance, which drew mocking laughter from the crowd.

When Mr Burns joined Homer's bowling team in "Team Homer", he was barely able to roll the ball down the lane.

Mr Burns had a teddy bear named "Bobo" that he loved as a child, revealed in the episode "Rosebud".

In "American History X-cellent", Mr Burns gets sent to jail because he is in possession of stolen paintings.

The idea of Mr Burns reading employee names off cards in "There's No Disgrace Like Home" came from an article about Ronald Reagan that writer Al Jean had read.

Mr Burns' first name being Charles is a reference to Charles Foster Kane.

Mr Burns was replaced by Harry Shearer because Sam Simon found Collins "difficult to work with".

Mr Burns modeled the voice on Lionel Barrymore and Ronald Reagan.

Shearer said that Mr Burns is the most difficult character for him to voice because it is rough on his vocal cords and he often needs to drink tea and honey to soothe his voice.

Mr Burns has been on the list since 1989 and has previously placed fifth in 2005, second in 2006 and sixth in 2007 when he was estimated to be worth $16.

Mr Burns' evil has made him a popular example of terrible television bosses.