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15 Fat Cartoon Characters

Fifteen round cartoon characters, from Winnie-the-Pooh to Carl Fredricksen, with debut dates, voice actors, and the popular myths that are wrong.

By Written Facts StaffFebruary 24, 2021Updated October 13, 20268 min read

You've seen it happen: someone posts a screenshot of Patrick Star or Homer Simpson, and everyone in the chat knows exactly who it is. Big, round cartoon characters are some of the most recognizable faces in animation. Here are fifteen of them, from Winnie-the-Pooh to Carl Fredricksen, in the order they debuted between 1924 and 2009. For each one you'll get where they came from and who gave them a voice. Along the way, you'll also learn which popular "facts" about them are wrong, including a famous TV first and a cat's supposed father.

Winnie-the-Pooh

Pooh is older than animation's sound era. He first appeared in A. A. Milne's 1924 poetry collection When We Were Very Young, in a poem called "Teddy Bear," where he went by the name "Mr. Edward Bear." E. H. Shepard illustrated him. Milne's 1926 book Winnie-the-Pooh entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2022.

His best-known TV runs came much later. The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh premiered on The Disney Channel on January 17, 1988, and moved to ABC's Saturday morning lineup on November 12, 1988. It did not premiere in 1997, as some lists claim. The computer-animated My Friends Tigger & Pooh followed, premiering on Playhouse Disney on May 12, 2007.

Doc

Thirteen years after Pooh's first poem, Disney gave the world a round little leader. Doc heads the Seven Dwarfs in Walt Disney's 1937 feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Roy Atwell voiced him, and the character's habit of mangling his words with spoonerisms and malapropisms became his trademark.

Doc also had a more serious job. In 1943 he and the other dwarfs appeared in The Winged Scourge, an educational short Disney made for the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs to teach audiences how to prevent malaria.

Mammy Two Shoes

While Disney was making features, MGM was building its own cartoon stars. Mammy Two Shoes debuted in "Puss Gets the Boot" on February 10, 1940, the short that introduced the cat-and-mouse pair who became Tom and Jerry. Lillian Randolph voiced her in 19 shorts between 1940 and 1952.

Fred Flintstone

Theatrical shorts eventually gave way to television. The Flintstones, created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, premiered in prime time on ABC on September 30, 1960, with Fred as its blustering lead.

You may have heard that Fred and Wilma were the first married couple shown sharing a bed on American TV. They were the first animated couple to do it. Real-life spouses Mary Kay and Johnny Stearns shared a bed on their sitcom Mary Kay and Johnny in 1947, thirteen years earlier. Claims that Fred is a fixed age, such as 41, have no backing in official material.

Fat Albert

Saturday morning TV produced the only character on this list with his size in his name. Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids premiered on CBS on September 9, 1972. Filmation animated it, and Bill Cosby created, produced, hosted and voiced the show.

Garfield

Garfield's animated career started small. Scott Beach voiced him first, in 1980's The Fantastic Funnies. Lorenzo Music became the defining voice, playing him in specials and series from 1982 to 2001. Tom Smothers also voiced him, in 1991 commercials.

The family tree is often garbled online. In the 1983 special Garfield on the Town, Garfield reunites with his mother, Sonja, and his half-brother, Raoul. Jon Arbuckle is his owner, not his father.

Homer Simpson

Homer started out as a sketch inside someone else's show. He first appeared on April 19, 1987, in the short "Good Night" on The Tracey Ullman Show.

His birthday is often listed as March 1956. In the season 4 episode "Duffless," his driver's license gives it as May 12, 1956. Because The Simpsons runs on a floating timeline, any claim about Homer's current age is shaky.

Ralph Wiggum

Ralph showed up early, before his father did. Matt Groening created him, Nancy Cartwright voices him, and his first screen appearance came in the December 17, 1989, holiday special "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire."

Chief Clancy Wiggum

Springfield's police chief arrived about a month after his son. Chief Wiggum first appeared on January 21, 1990, in "Homer's Odyssey," voiced by Hank Azaria. As with Homer, lists that give him a precise age, such as 43, are guessing. The show's floating timeline doesn't fix one.

Pumbaa

Disney brought big, lovable sidekicks back to the big screen in the 1990s. Pumbaa the warthog debuted in The Lion King in 1994, voiced by Ernie Sabella, with Nathan Lane as his partner Timon. The pair later became adoptive "uncles" in the spin-off series The Lion Guard, where they raise Bunga, a honey badger.

Eric Cartman

Cable TV made room for a much ruder kind of cartoon. Cartman debuted on Comedy Central on August 13, 1997, in the series premiere "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe." The date is often given as August 18, but August 13 is correct. Trey Parker directed the episode and wrote it with Matt Stone. Parker voices Cartman. Some lists credit Kenny McCormick and Stan Marsh as voice actors, but they are Cartman's fictional classmates.

His family story took a turn in the 2010 episode "201," when Cartman learns his biological father was Jack Tenorman. That makes Scott Tenorman, his longtime nemesis, his half-brother.

Peter Griffin

Two years after Cartman, prime-time animation got another loud, heavyset dad. Peter Griffin debuted on January 31, 1999, in the Family Guy pilot "Death Has a Shadow." Seth MacFarlane created and voices him. The series gives his full name as Justin Peter Löwenbräu Griffin Sr.

Patrick Star

Three months after Peter, Bikini Bottom opened for business. Patrick and SpongeBob debuted on May 1, 1999, in the pilot "Help Wanted." Their creator, Stephen Hillenburg, was both an animator and a marine biologist. You may have seen Patrick's age listed as 36, but no official source sets one.

Mrs. Puff

The same year brought SpongeBob's long-suffering teacher. Mrs. Puff first appeared on August 7, 1999, in the season one episode "Boating School," voiced by Mary Jo Catlett.

Carl Fredricksen

The list ends with a character who took animation in a very different direction. Carl, the grumpy widower of Pixar's Up, was voiced by Ed Asner. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and opened in U.S. theaters on May 29, 2009.

Across these fifteen characters, the pattern is clear: the round ones last. Pooh has been around for a century, and Patrick and Peter are still showing up in memes decades after their debuts. Several also turn out to have richer histories than the myths about them.

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