[Article: The Real Simpsons] Article by Hazel Flynn Typed for Internet by Steve Hill Date: 28 Jul 1994
"THE REAL SIMPSONS" - From "Who" magazine, 9/8/93
You know Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie - now meet the rabble of babble behind TV's craziest cartoon clan.
Since "The Simpsons" premiered in Australia in 1991, the chaotic cartoon characters have become as familiar as the family next door - if you happen to have neighbours from hell. But there's another, relatively unknown, Simpson family, a team of talented actors and guest superstars who give voice to Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and the cast of comic oddballs who people the fictional town of Springfield USA. In reality, brattish Bart is a perky blonde mother of two, dad Homer is a mellow dude, while his sadistic boss, Mr Burns, is a rock and roll star.
They are the lucky ones, the chosen few. Today, "The Simpsons" are so hot that celebrities as diverse as Liz Taylor and the Red Hot Chili Peppers clamour for guest voice spots. Indeed, "The Simpsons'" season finale, which will be screened on Network Ten on Sun.,Aug.8, boasts Luke Perry, Bette Midler, Johnny Carson and Liz Taylor in her second guest role. (From Aug.16, repeats of "The Simpsons" will screen each weekday in the 6pm slot.)
As home-grown screen hero and "Jurassic Park" star Sam Neill said after landing a guest spot as a cat burglar on the next "Simpsons" series: "I've made it. This is the high point of my career." That's certainly how the regulars feel.
Behind many of Springfield's other faces - including Homer's boss, Mr Burns, and annoying Ned Flanders - is a man of many voices Harry Shearer. The 49-year-old actor is probably best known to Australians as manic, moustached bassist Derek Smalls in the farcal 1984 film "This is Spinal Tap", about a heavy-metal mock-rock group of the same name. He visited Australia last year to promote Spinal Tap's album, "Break Like the Wind." He has been married for five months to Welsh singer-musician Judith Owen.
"The Simpsons" gave superstar Elizabeth Taylor her first acting job in 13 years when she uttered baby Maggie's first - and so far only - word, "Daddy!" (The episode aired here in February.) Meanwhile, creator Matt Groening provides Maggie's sucks and slurps.
Although sorely tested by her loved ones, Marge Simpson remains serenem her blue beehive unruffled. Marge and sisters Patty and Selma are brought to life by actress Julie Kavner, 41, who played Valerie Harper's sister, Brenda Morgenstern, in TV's "Rhoda" from 1974-78. Kavner, who lives in New York and Malibu with her boyfriend, writer-producer David Davis, has been in five Woody Allen films, most recently "Shadows and Fog." She also starred with Carrie Fisher as a comic in "This Is My Life." Thanks to Marge, Kavner's raspy Bronx accent is now so recognisable that "If I want to remain anonymous I have to keep my mouth shut."
Born loser Homer is given voice by Dan Castellaneta, 35, an actor who can mimic everyone from Orson Welles to all three Bee Gees, and also provides voices for Grandpa Simpson and Krusty the Clown. After doing ad voice-overs in his native Chicago (he and wife Deb Lacusta called themselves a "voice team"), Castellaneta was on "The Tracy Ullman Show, which spawned "The Simpsons", before being recruited to Springfield. A Tai-Chi-practising vegetarian who never drinks beer, Castellaneta may not have much in common with oafish Homer, but he's sympathetic: "He's a dumb ox, but he really loves his family so much."
"I'm Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?" the troublemaking 10-year-old may ask of alter ego Nancy Cartwright. The "real" Bart is a 35-year-old actress, Scientologist, wife of investor Warren Murphy and mother of a 20-month-old boy, Jackson, and a daughter, Lucy, 3. She auditioned for the role of Lisa, but found "more of an affinity with Bart". She landed the role because her voice was more convincing than a man's. Bart receives more fan-mail than the other characters combined and, says co-star voice Harry Shearer, Cartwright "is more supersede than anyone that [Bart] has become a modern folk hero".
Sensitive, sax-playing Lisa, the sister Bart lives to torment, is the voice of actress Yeardley Smith. Smith, 29, made a big impact with her small role as the pregnant checkout girl who breaks up Daniel Stern's marriage in the film "City Slickers", and played a magazine fact-checker in the Seven Network's short lived sitcom "Herman's Head" this year. Divorced from actor Chris Grove, Yeardley now lives in LA with her cats. Lisa Simpson may get a hard time in a family which regards a smart kid as an oddity, but Smith won't hear of it. "I have such a soft spot in my heart for her."