Frank Grimes (disambiguation)

Frank "Grimey" Grimes, Sr., was a 35-year-old, one-time fictional character from The Simpsons, voiced by Harry Shearer. His one and only appearance was in the episode "Homer's Enemy". Frank Grimes is the consummate professional, which clashes with Homer Simpson's idiocy.

Biography

Back story

Abandoned by his parents when he was four, Grimes was a self-made man. He never had the chance to go to school. As a child, he found a job delivering toys to more fortunate children. On his 18th birthday, he was blown up in a storage silo explosion, although it was never explained why he was even at a storage silo (in the episode, a video clip is shown of Grimes running toward the silo and arriving at the precise moment of the explosion), after which he had to teach himself to hear and feel pain again. He studied science by mail and eventually earned a correspondence school diploma in nuclear physics, "with a minor in determination" as Kent Brockman described it.

Springfield Nuclear Power Plant

After Mr. Burns saw his story on television, Grimes was recruited to become the executive vice-president of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Grimes was hired, but due to Mr. Burns hiring a heroic canine instead, was forced to work in Sector 7-G with Lenny, Carl, and Homer.

Grimes soon became frustrated with the fact that, not only does Homer get away with an appalling amount of workplace offenses, but that he also seems to have achieved a more successful life through his laziness than Grimes has from his hard work. He observed that Homer's lifestyle has seen him obtain a wife, three children, two cars and a house, whereas Frank himself only has a briefcase and a haircut to his name. He also lamented that he must live above a bowling alley and below another bowling alley. He consistently seems to experience the worst outcome of any situation in life.

Frank Grimes in his final moments.

Attempting to humiliate Homer by placing him in a "Build a nuclear plant contest for kids", Grimes hoped everyone in the plant would laugh. Instead, his co-workers applauded Homer's victory. Finally, Grimes "snapped". He began acting like Homer, imitating his moronic behavior, culminating with touching a live electrical wire without safety gloves, fatally electrocuting himself. His last words were, "I don't need safety gloves because I'm Homer Simp-!" He was born on February 2, 1962 – May 4, 1997.

References in later episodes

Grimes' death has been referenced in various episodes through items such as his headstone, and a program to his funeral.

In the episode "The Great Louse Detective", it was revealed that Grimes had fathered a son, Frank Grimes Jr., by a prostitute. When Grimes' son discovered that Homer had been responsible for his father's death, he attempted to kill Homer, but the Simpsons caught him with the help of Sideshow Bob and the police operating on the principle of 'set a homicidal maniac to catch a homicidal maniac'. The footage of Frank's death was reused as a flashback in "The Great Louse Detective." In "My Mother the Carjacker," when Homer was in the cemetery, mourning the apparent death of his mother, he accidentally knocked over Frank's tombstone but when the gravestone appears in the episode (and later episodes) Frank Grimes' tombstone reads "Frank "Grimey" Grimes", however in the episode "Homer's Enemy" the gravestone simply reads Frank Grimes . "Grimey" is a nickname Homer gave him that he didn't like, thus ensuring Homer's influence touches even his eternal resting place. In the episode "Natural Born Kissers", Homer puts on his suit and finds the program to Grimes' funeral in the pocket, commenting to Marge "Whatever happened to to him?" In the episode "C.E. D'oh", Frank Grimes appears on the nuclear plant organizational chart above Homer but crossed out.

Character origins

File:GrimesInsanity.png

Frank Grimes goes insane after failing at an attempt to prove Homer's stupidity.

Frank Grimes was the writers' way of admitting that they realize how absurd their characters' lives really are. For "Homer's Enemy", the writers decided to do an episode about a realistic character who was forced to work alongside Homer, who is a lazy, annoying, childish man who does very little work. Originally, the idea (pitched by Bill Oakley) was that either Grimes was to hate Homer or completely love him and they decided that an episode in which Homer had an enemy would be more compelling. Most of the other characters in Springfield are also very unrealistic, so a new character was needed for the episode.

The result was Grimes, a man who had to work hard for everything and can't believe that Homer has so much yet does so little - although normally, Homer isn't as successful in his laziness as is shown in this episode. Grimes was a hard working man who had to fight for everything and still didn't have a lot and comes to resent Homer, who seemingly has everything so well and gets to meet Presidents, go into Space, go on tour with rock groups, and win a Grammy. This causes Grimes to try to prove just how bad a person Homer is. However, the rest of Springfield, themselves unrealistic, ignore Grimes and in the end, Grimes, representing the real world, is electrocuted.

The appearance of Frank Grimes as well as his denouement and eventual death are similar to Michael Douglas' portrayal of laid-off defense worker William Foster in Falling Down. Frank Grimes was originally designed as a "burly ex-marine guy with a crew cut", but became based on Foster as well as Jim Reardon's college roommate.

Harry Shearer provided the voice of Frank Grimes, but he originally thought that William H. Macy should do the role. However, the producers felt this was a role that a regular cast member was more suited to do, so Azaria provided the voice of Grimes, but modeled many of his mannerisms after Macy.

Legacy

The character of Frank Grimes generated a lot of controversy among fans of the show (mentioned in DVD commentary for the episode). The end is one of the darkest (and cruelest) moments in Simpsons history when Grimes, driven insane by the power plant's lack of control over Homer, is electrocuted. However, the episode also has a number of fans and Simpsons staff, including Matt Groening, Josh Weinstein, and Ricky Gervais who count the episode as being among their favorites. Weinstein has expressed remorse about killing off "such a fantastic character" in one episode, but felt it needed to be done.

In 2006, IGN.com released a list of "The Top 25 Simpsons Peripheral characters". Grimes was ranked 17th and was the only one-time character to make the list. IGN said "Grimes's continuing popularity, despite his single appearance, shows how The Simpsons knows how to take a character and get the most out of them in a big way."

Football365 writer Robert Melia compared former Newcastle United F.C. player Titus Bramble to Grimes in a March 16, 2007 article. The amicable character Lt. Frank Grimes in the 2000 film John Q may be a Simpsons reference.

References

• Richmond, Ray (1997). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to our Favorite Family. Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 0-00063-8898-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

External links

• Frank Grimes
• Episode 4F19 - Homer's Enemy at SNPP