Pamela Hayden, the voice actor behind Simpsons character Milhouse Van Houten and others, is to leave the show after 35 years.
Hayden was the voice behind Bart Simpson’s uncool friend, along with other characters Jimbo Jones, Rod Flanders, Janey and Malibu Stacy.
She has announced plans to finish up with the show after today’s episode, Treehouse of Horror.
Working On The Simpsons Was “an honour”
In a statement, Pamela Hayden confirmed her departure.
Calling her time on the show “an honour”, Hayden said: “It’s been an honour and a joy to have worked on such a funny, witty, and groundbreaking show”.
Milhouse Van Houten debuted in the Simpsons in a Butterfinger commercial in 1989. He was named after former US president Richard Milhous Nixon.
The character was often the butt of most jokes. He also faced merciless bullying at the hands of Nelson Muntz. In one episode, Bart managed to get Milhouse placed on America’s Most Wanted list.
Elsewhere, Simpsons creator Matt Groening also paid a sweet tribute to Hayden.
“Pamela gave us tons of laughs with Milhouse, the hapless kid with the biggest nose in Springfield”, he said. “She made Milhouse hilarious and real, and we will miss her”.
Groening also revealed why they decided to give the character this name: “because that was the most unfortunate name a kid could have”.
Back in June, Simpsons’ writer Jay Kogen dismissed claims from Guns N’Roses’ Duff McKagan that he was the inspiration behind the cartoon’s Duff Beer brand.
“So I was Duff, the King of Beers. But this is 1988, 1989 and our management, I remember they called me and said some arthouse-like cartoon wants to use your name as the beer, like a college arthouse cartoon. There weren’t any adult cartoons at this point”, Duff said.
“It’s very weird this Duff McKagan guy wants to claim credit for Duff Beer,” Kogen stated. “He had zero to do with it”.
More on this from Nova here.
