Summary
- The Simpsons has a large cast of characters, but most are voiced by a small group of actors.
- Two notable roles were recast, however, after the original voice actor was deemed difficult to work with.
While The Simpsons has a huge cast of characters, two of the show’s most notable supporting stars were originally played by another actor. The Simpsons has a character list in the thousands, but one might never guess this by glancing at the show’s cast list. While The Simpsons has hundreds and hundreds of name characters who have appeared throughout the show’s 34 seasons, almost all of them are played by the same handful of committed voice actors. This frequently leads to situations where two characters voiced by the same actor have conversations with each other which means that The Simpsons can introduce innumerable characters despite its limited cast.
One of the main reasons that a live-action version of The Simpsons wouldn’t work is because the show has too many characters for the series to cast different actors as each one. In the case of Hank Azaria alone, the actor plays Moe Syzslak, Comic Book Guy, Chief Wiggum, Disco Stu, Professor Frink, Cletus the Slack-jawed Yokel, and numerous other characters. However, this wasn’t always the case. When the series first began, one of Azaria’s most notable roles was played by another actor. What is more, the actor also portrayed another iconic member of the show’s sprawling supporting cast.
Burns And Moe Were Originally Played By A Different Actor
Both Mr. Burns and Moe were originally played by the voice actor Christopher Collins. According to a GQ interview with Azaria, who took over the role of Moe from Collins, Matt Groening complained that Collins did great work on the series but was “he was just kind of jerky to everyone.” By The Simpsons season 34, it would have been impossible to imagine the show replacing Aazaria’s iconic Moe or Harry Shearer’s Mr. Burns. However, Collins didn’t make as much of an impression in the handful of episodes where he played the parts, meaning Azaria and Shearer got to play these pivotal roles in the series.
Outside of this missed chance, Collins had an impressive career in voice acting and live-action roles. As a voice actor, he appeared in GI Joe, Inhumanoids, and The Real Ghostbusters, as well as gaining a major role in the Transformers TV series. Onscreen, he had bit parts in cult classics like Road House and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot. He passed away in 1994 and was posthumously inducted into the Transformers Hall of Fame in 2012. While Azaria later retired his controversial Simpsons character Apu, he still voices Moe in new episodes of the series to this day.
Why The Simpsons Replaced Christopher Collins
As well as Groening complaining that Collins was a contentious workplace presence, The Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon reportedly found the voice actor difficult to work with. This likely contributed to his replacement as Simon was a major player in the show’s development. Later, the creators of The Simpsons would kill off Maude Flanders when producers let go Maggie Roswell amid a pay dispute. The creators of The Simpsons then went on to rehire Roswell a year later, although Maude stayed dead despite her return. Thus, Collins was not the only talented voice actor with whom the mercurial minds behind The Simpsons struggled.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
