Ned Flanders
The Simpsons' relentlessly cheerful, devout next-door neighbor.
Ned Flanders is the Simpsons' good-natured next-door neighbor, a devout Evangelical Christian and one of Springfield's friendliest residents. Homer usually finds him annoying, though the two are sometimes shown as good friends. Harry Shearer voices him, and he first appeared in the series premiere, Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.
Quick Facts
- Series
- The Simpsons
- First
- "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" (1989)
- Creator
- Matt Groening
- Voice
- Harry Shearer
- Gender
- Male
- Full name
- Nedward Flanders Jr.
- Nationality
- American
- Children
- Rod Flanders; Todd Flanders
Facts from the source article.
Background
Matt Groening named him after Flanders Street in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, and Rich Moore designed him; the writers found Shearer's voice so sweet that they made the character a Christian. His first episode as a central character was Dead Putting Society in season 2. As the series went on his religious zeal was played up so much that fans coined the term 'Flanderization' for exaggerating one trait until it defines a character. He runs the Leftorium, a store for left-handed people, which first appeared in When Flanders Failed.
Ned is a widower. He and the equally religious Maude had two sons, Rod and Todd, and in the season 11 episode Alone Again, Natura-Diddily Maude died in a freak accident involving a T-shirt cannon. While still married to Maude he had married Ginger on a drunken bender in Las Vegas; she lived with Ned and his sons for a short time after Maude's death, then tired of them and fled. He later married teacher Edna Krabappel, who also died, and he went on to take over as Bart's teacher at Springfield Elementary.
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