Not Larry! Every major Simpsons character the show has killed off for real
20th Century Television The Simpsons has killed off Larry, one of its longest-running characters, but the barfly’s hardly the first Springfieldian to die.
Over the course of 35 seasons, The Simpsons has introduced literally hundreds, if not thousands of characters. Unfortunately, not everyone who takes a trip to Springfield makes it out alive.
Yes, the prevailing wisdom may be that nothing ever changes for America’s most dysfunctional family, but a surprising number of Simpsons characters, both major and minor (plus a few famous faces), have ended up six feet under.
So, being something of a Simpsons scholar, I’ve been through the Springfield funeral records to bring you a comprehensive list of every major Simpsons character who’s been killed off for real.
(Note: The Simpsons has an annoying habit of bringing dead characters back as ghosts, so when we say ‘Last Appearance,’ what we actually mean is the last time they were seen as a living, breathing person, not in a flashback or as a disembodied spirit).
Beatrice Simmons
20th Century Television First appearance: Old Money (Season 2, Episode 17)
Last appearance: Old Money (Season 2, Episode 17)
Cause of Death: A broken heart (burst ventricle)
Beatrice Simmons was a one-episode wonder from Season 2 who briefly dated Grandpa Simpson after they met at the Springfield Retirement Castle’s nursing station. She died after Homer forced Grandpa to miss what would turn out to be their final date, which caused the father and son to fall out briefly.
Poor Beatrice is unlikely to be anyone’s favorite character. We doubt you remembered her, to be honest, but she has the insalubrious honor of being the first person we see die on the show, so good for her!
Gladys Gurney
20th Century Television First appearance: Selma’s Choice (Season 4, Episode 13)
Last appearance: Selma’s Choice (Season 4, Episode 13)
Cause of Death: Bowel obstruction
Marge’s aunt, Gladys Gurney, might seem like a minor character (because she is), but she had a huge impact on The Simpsons. During the reading of her will, she warns Patty and Selma not to die as spinsters.
This leaves a major impression on Selma in particular, making her realize she wants children and leading to two incredible things. The first is the trip to Duff Gardens, where Lisa drinks toxic water and declares herself the Lizard Queen (truly iconic); secondly, it could be argued by people who like to overanalyze cartoons that this is the episode that put Selma on the path to adopting the adorable baby, Ling.
Bleeding Gums Murphy
20th Century Television First appearance: Moaning Lisa (Season1, Episode 6)
Last appearance: Round Springfield (Season 6, Episode 22)
Cause of Death: Heart attack
Lisa’s idol, Bleeding Gums Murphy, was a legendary jazz musician who fell on hard times thanks to a crippling Fabergé eggs addiction. Bleeding Gums eventually dies of a heart attack, which leaves Lisa devastated. Still, like so many Simpsons characters, he doesn’t let being dead stop him from appearing on the show, either through flashbacks or as a ghost.
Dr Marvin Monroe
20th Century Television First appearance: There’s No Disgrace Like Home (Season 1, Episode 4)
Last appearance: Diatribe of a Mad Housewife (Season 15, Episode 10)
Cause of Death: He was “very sick”
Ok, this is a controversial one, and there are a couple of conflicting accounts on whether Marvin Monroe, the Simpsons’ former psychologist, is dead. In the 138th Episode Spectacular, it was revealed Marvin (who was never popular) had died, but then 185 episodes later, he reappeared in the episode Diatribe of a Mad Housewife at a book signing, shocking Marge, who presumed he’d passed away.
So he’s alive, right? Well, no, there’s another twist in this tale. In Season 29 Episode 21, Flanders’ Ladder, Monroe makes another appearance as a ghost alongside other dead characters, suggesting he had, in fact, died. The whole situation is rather confusing and will give you a headache if you think about it too much, so why not presume he’s dead like I do?
Maude Flanders
20th Century Television First appearance: Dead Putting Society (Season 2, Episode 6)
Last appearance: Alone Again, Natura-Diddily (Season 11, Episode 14)
Cause of Death: T-shirt cannon accident
Maude Flanders, the beloved wife of Ned Flanders, met her end falling off the Springfield Speedway after being hit by a barrage of t-shirts. Maude’s death is probably one of the most contentious things to happen in the history of The Simpsons due in part to the mean-spiritedness of her passing and the real-world circumstances that precipitated it.
You see, Maude was voiced by Maggie Roswell, who had quit the show over a pay dispute with the Fox. Maggie wanted a $2,000 pay raise to cover the cost of her flight from Denver to LA to record lines, but Fox refused.
Despite Maggie’s other characters getting a new voice actor, the writers made the bizarre decision to kill Maude, something that went down like a lead balloon with fans. Former showrunner Mike Reiss would later write in his book Springfield Confidential that he agreed with a critic who thought killing Maude was a sin.
Roswell would eventually return to The Simpsons and take back her characters, but Maude remained dead… although her ghost has made a few appearances now and again.
Edna Krabappel
20th Century Television First appearance: Bart the Genius (Season 1, Episode 2)
Last appearance: Diary Queen (Season 32, Episode 12)
Cause of Death: Never shown
Edna Krabapel was Bart’s long-suffering teacher who evolved over the years from a dispirited educator to one of the show’s more nuanced characters, eventually falling in love with Ned Flanders and marrying him. Unfortunately, Edna was retired after her voice actor, Marcia Wallace, died of pneumonia in 2013.
While Edna’s death was never shown on screen, it was confirmed during the episode The Man Who Grew Too Much, which showed Ned Flanders in a black armband, mourning his second wife. The show also paid tribute to Marcia’s tenure on the show in the form of a chalkboard gag with Bart writing a single “We’ll really miss you, Mrs. K” on the board. It’s sad stuff but a touching tribute to a Simpsons legend.
Frank Grimes
20th Century Television First appearance: Homer’s Enemy (Season 8, Episode 23)
Last appearance: Homer’s Enemy (Season 8, Episode 23)
Cause of Death: Electrocution
Another controversial entry, Frank Grimes, first appeared in the episode Homer’s Enemy. Written by arguably the greatest Simpsons writer of all time, John Swartzwelder, the episode sought to examine what would happen to a normal person forced to work alongside Homer. Swartzwelder took this idea and ran with it, suggesting that any normal person would be driven mad by Homer’s buffoonery and the apathy of Springfieldians.
Poor Frank Grimes (Grimey to his friends) was the end result. A hardworking but overly serious man (who happened to like prostitutes), Frank spends the majority of the episode aghast at Homer’s idiocy, eventually snapping when his attempts to expose his co-worker’s stupidity are applauded. Driven mad by Homer’s ability to get away with everything Frank accidentally electrocutes himself.
Homer’s Enemy is widely considered a classic, but there are those who believe the episode was too dark and cruel. Indeed, the final joke — where everyone laughs at Homer during Frank’s funeral — is low-key the darkest joke The Simpsons has ever made.
Several Duffman actors
20th Century Television First appearance: The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson (Season 9, Episode 1)
Last appearance: Homer’s Crossing (Season 35, Episode 1)
Cause of Death: Liver failure, suffocation, gunshot wound, blimp crash, drowning
Duffman, the iconic mascot of Homer’s favorite beer, has had several deaths on the show. It’s not that the writers forget they killed him. It’s that Duff employs several different actors to play Duffman. Still, a death is a death, and while a blimp crash might be the most dramatic way he’s met his maker, our favorite is when Moe used a sticker to smother him. After all, who doesn’t love to yell, “Duffman can’t breathe!” every now and again?
Amber Simpson
20th Century Television First appearance: Viva Ned Flanders (Season 10, Episode 10)
Last appearance: Jazzy and the Pussycats (Season 18, Episode 2)
Cause of Death: Drug overdose
One of the worst-treated characters in the entire series, Amber Simpson, better known as Homer’s Vegas wife, only made two appearances on the show before she was unceremoniously killed off. Amber had the misfortune to be married to not one but two Simpson men, Homer and Abe, and eventually passed away from a drug overdose — a dark end for a character who really didn’t do anything wrong.
Fat Tony
20th Century Television First appearance: Bart the Murderer (Season 3, Episode 3)
Last appearance: Donnie Fatso (Season 22, Episode 9)
Cause of Death: Heart attack
Sprinfield’s kingpin of crime passed away in the episode Donnie Fatso after suffering a stress-induced heart attack. Luckily for the Mob, they had a replacement ready and waiting: Fit Tony, Fat Tony’s more svelte cousin. Fit Tony took over Fat Tony’s totally legitimate business interests, but the stress of living in Springfield caused him to gain weight, and he got a new nickname, Fat Tony. Yep, this entire entry was pointless, as they replaced Fat Tony with an identical character in the very same episode.
Mona Simpson
20th Century Television First appearance: Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? (Season 2, Episode 15)
Last appearance: Mona Leaves-a (Season 19, Episode 19)
Cause of Death: Old age
Homer’s runaway mom was a beloved member of the Simpson family, but a combination of her rebellious nature and Mr Burns’ ruthlessness meant she could never stay with them very long. Tragically, when she finally manages to settle down, she dies, leaving Homer devastated. Mona’s made a few appearances since her death in fantasies and flashbacks, but in current-day episodes, she’s dead as a dodo.
Mrs. Glick
20th Century Television First appearance: Three Men and a Comic Book (Season 2, Episode 21)
Last appearance: Replaceable You (season 23, Episode 4)
Cause of Death: Mauled to death by robot seal
Mrs. Glick, one of the Simpsons’ elderly neighbors, first appeared when Bart was trying to save up money to buy Radioactive Man #1, but she went on to become a popular bit-player in the show — who could forget her $90 candy dish, which is just for candy despite what Ned thinks! Unfortunately, Mrs Glick met her end at the flippers of a robot seal… yes really, The Simpsons is a weird show, ok.
Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky
20th Century Television First appearance: Like Father, Like Clown (Season 3, Episode 6)
Last appearance: Clown in the Dumps (Season 26, Episode 1)
Cause of Death: Old age
First introduced as Krusty’s disapproving father, Rabbi Krustofsky eventually made up with his son and went on to make a surprising number of appearances, considering he was voiced by the megastar Jackie Mason. Still, he eventually met his end in Clown in the Dumps, dying just before he could tell Krusty whether he found him funny. Classic dad move.
Snowball I, II, III, IV
20th Century Television First appearance: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire (Season 1, Episode 1)
Last appearance: I, Doh-Bot (sort of) (Season 15, Episode 9)
Cause of Death: Hit by car, drowning, suicide
The Simpsons’ pet cats haven’t had much luck. The first, Snowball I, was hit by a car, as was the second; the third drowned, and we don’t want to mention the fourth. Anyway, all’s well that ends well because Lisa adopts Snowball V but decides to name him Snowball II, making this yet another pointless death.
Green Day
First appearance: The Simpsons Movie
Last appearance: The Simpsons Movie
Cause of Death: Drowning
In the world of The Simpsons, Green Day are dead. They drowned when the barge they were on sank into the polluted waters of Lake Springfield. That’s a pretty dark way to kill off one of America’s most popular bands, but the cherry on top of this particular dark sundae is that Green Day actually asked to be in The Simpsons Movie. So there’s a lesson for you: don’t ask to be on The Simpsons; otherwise, they’ll kill you.
Larry Dalrymple
20th Century Television First appearance: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire (Season 1, Episode 1)
Last appearance: Cremains of the Day (Season 35, Episode 15)
Cause of Death: Unknown
Larry had been a member of the Simpsons cast of characters from the first episode, but it took 35 seasons to get his very own episode, during which he died. Hey, showbiz is a killer! Anyway, Larry was best known as one of Moe’s regulars.
The show never gave him much time, which makes Cremains of the Day, the episode where he dies, so sad, revealing the life he had outside of Moes and the fact he considered Homer and the guys his best friends. It’s a powerful reminder that although there are bit players on TV in real life, everyone’s a complete person with their own hopes, dreams, and ambitions.
Maybe I’m being sentimental about a silly cartoon about yellow idiots, but it’s impressive that even now, The Simpsons can use a character like Larry to make you think a little deeper about real life.
If you love The Simpsons, check out our list of the best animated movies ever made. We’ve also explained how The Simpsons predict the future. If you’re looking for more great cartoon fun, we’ve also got a guide breaking down what we know about Invincible season 3 and Beyond the Spider-Verse.
