Arthur Read
 | This article describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. (November 2013) |
| Arthur Read | |
|---|---|
| Arthur character | |
 | |
| First appearance | Arthur's Nose (1976) |
| Created by | Marc Brown |
| Voiced by |
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| In-universe information | |
| Species | Aardvark[1] |
| Gender | Male |
| Family |
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| Relatives |
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| Religion | Christianity |
| Nationality | American |
| Birthday | May 25, 1988 |
| Best friend | Buster Baxter |
Arthur Timothy[2] Read is the titular protagonist of both the book series and the PBS children's television series Arthur, created by Marc Brown.[3] In the series, he is an 9-year-old anthropomorphic aardvark in Mr. Ratburn's third grade class and lives in the fictional city of Elwood City.[4]
Physical appearance[]
Arthur is an anthropomorphic aardvark.[5] In Brown's first Arthur book, Arthur's Nose (1976), Arthur is shown with a long nose and resembles an actual aardvark, though as the books progressed (as seen in the first season of Reading Rainbow in its 13th episode, Arthur's Eyes) and eventually became a animated TV series, a noticeable, simplified version of Arthur took shape. The character's most recognizable form is a light brown, slanted face with small ears, drawn as a bipedal, pre-pubescent youth with signature round brown-rimmed glasses.[6] On more than one occasion, Arthur's classmates tease him for his glasses and somewhat "dorky" attire.[7]
Arthur wears a yellow V-neck sweater over a white dress shirt, blue jeans, and red and white sneakers.
Arthur's relationships[]
 | This section does not cite any sources. (August 2017) |
Family[]
The tensions between Arthur and his 4-year-old sister, Dora Winifred "D.W." Read, are a common theme in the Arthur series. Arthur is constantly pestered by D.W., and she usually tries to get Arthur into trouble, which occasionally causes Arthur to retaliate. Despite that, Arthur tries his best to ignore D.W.'s annoying antics most of the time and often does her favors - sometimes at his parents' request and against his will. D.W. also makes frequent attempts to hang out with Arthur's friends.
Arthur's parents are his mother, Jane Read, who is a work-at-home accountant, and his father, David L. Read, who runs a catering business. His mother is from the Pittsburgh area and knew Mister Rogers as a child, while most of his father's relatives are from Ohio. He also has a younger sister named Kate and a pet dog named Pal.
Appearances from Arthur's extended family include Grandma Thora (David's mother), Grandpa Dave (Jane's father), Uncle Fred (Jane's brother), Uncle Richard, Uncle Bud, Uncle Sean, Aunt Jessica, Aunt Loretta, Aunt Lucy, and his cousins Cora, Monique, Ricky, George, and other unnamed relatives. However, the only two members of Arthur's extended family who have appeared more than once are Grandma Thora and Grandpa Dave.
Grandma Thora lives in a house not too far from Arthur's in Elwood City and is known to be a bad cook, but a loving grandmother and a world-class marbles player. She loves to play bingo every Friday night, and in some episodes has to watch over Arthur and D.W. She is good friends with Mrs. McGrady, the school cafeteria monitor. Grandpa Dave lives on a farm he claims has been in the family for 150 years.
Friends[]
Buster Baxter[]
Buster Baxter is regarded as Arthur's best friend. He has a habit of eating junk food. He lives with his mother due to his parents being divorced and travels around the world with his father, a pilot.
Mary Alice "Muffy" Crosswire[]
Muffy is popular and rich due to her father's successful used automobile business, Crosswire Motors.
Alan "The Brain" Powers[]
The Brain's true name is Alan, but his friends call him Brain due to his high intelligence and habit of correcting others' mistakes in many subjects.
George Lundgren[]
George is a ventriloquist and has a wooden giraffe ventriloquist dummy named Wally. George also has dyslexia and sometimes constant nosebleeds, but he doesn't let that get in his way.
Shelley "Binky" Barnes[]
Binky is a bulldog who usually wears an orange shirt, blue jeans, and brown shoes. He is a member of the Tough Customers, which are a group of bullies, but has a soft side. He plays the clarinet, catches butterflies, and enjoys ballet.
Francine Frensky[]
Francine Frensky is a tomboyish girl who has short brown hair, wears yellow hairclips, blue jeans, and a red sweater. She enjoys soccer, playing the drums, and horseback riding. She is also a talented singer. She has an older sister named Catherine. She is of Jewish religion.
Sue Ellen Armstrong[]
Sue Ellen Armstrong officially moved to Elwood City in the winter of the third grade school year. She also has a deep interest in World culture, and is skilled in the martial arts. She practices karate and plays the saxophone. She is an only child but keeps in touch with her pen-pal Tenzin in Tibet.
Fern Walters[]
Fern Walters is a quiet girl with a love of poetry and mysteries. Fern is well-known as a talented and realistic raconteur, especially when it comes to horror and mystery stories. Due to her shy personality, her mother often signs her up for different activities to get her involved in social gatherings with peers.
Ladonna Compson[]
Ladonna moved to Elwood City from New Orleans in the episode "Based on a True Story". She was a third grader in Mr. Ratburn's class until her family moved to Oregon in "When Duty Calls". She is known for telling many interesting stories about her family and is very outgoing and adventurous.
Voice actors[]
These are the people who have been the voice actor for Arthur in the TV series:
- Michael Yarmush (Seasons 1–5) (1996-2000)
- Justin Bradley (Season 6) (2001)
- Mark Rendall (Season 6 (U.S. reruns only), Seasons 7–8) (2002-2003)
- Cameron Ansell (Seasons 9–11) (2004-2007)
- Dallas Jokic (Season 12–15) (2008-2012)
- Drew Adkins (Season 16–17) (2012-2014)
- William Healy (Season 18–19) (2014-2016)
- Jacob Ursomarzo (Season 20–Season 21) (2016-2019)
- Roman Lutterotti (Season 22–Season 25) (2019-2022)
Arthur was originally voiced by Michael Yarmush for the first five seasons. Due to reaching puberty, Yarmush was replaced with Justin Bradley for the 6th Season. After that, Bradley was replaced with Mark Rendall who started voicing Arthur in Season 7. After Season 8 ended, Rendall redubbed all of Bradley's dialogue in Season 6. Starting with the 9th Season until the 11th Season, he was replaced with Cameron Ansell. Soon after, Ansell was replaced by Dallas Jokic starting with Season 12 and ending with Season 15. From Seasons 16-17, Drew Adkins replaced Jokic for the role of Arthur. After Adkins got too old to play the character, William Healy replaced him for the role for Season 18 and Season 19. Healy was later replaced by Jacob Ursomarzo in the 20th Season. After Ursomarzo ended his role of Arthur after the 21st Season, Roman Lutterotti replaced him for the last four seasons.
International voice actors[]
Since Arthur is shown in more than 80 countries, Arthur is dubbed by these voice actors shown here:
- Alfredo Leal (Season 1–2), Hector Emmanuel Gómez (Season 3–5), Kalimba Marichal (singing voice) (Latin American Spanish)
- Diego Larrea (1st voice) and José Leonardo (2nd voice) (Brazil)
- Matko Knešaurek (Season 1–4) (Croatian)
- Olli Parviainen (Finnish)
- Lawrence Arcouette (Season 1–3), Kim Jalabert (Season 4–6) (First dub in Quebec French), Vincent de Bouard (Season 7–15), and Émilie Guillaume (Season 16–present) (2nd dub in European French) (French)
- Argiris Pavlidis, Andria Rapti, Vasia Lakoumenta, Nektarios Theodorou (Greek)
- Baráth István (Hungarian)
- Debbi Besserglick and Shiri Gadni (Besserglick voiced Arthur from its first run until her death from cancer in 2005. After her death, she was replaced by Shiri Gadni as the voice of Arthur in the following seasons.) (Hebrew)
- Simone D'Andrea (Italian)
- Lee Mi-ja (Daekyo) and Jeong Ok-joo (EBS) (Korean)
- Iman Bitar (1st voice) and Eman Hayel (2nd voice) (Arabic)
- Fariba Shahin Moghadam (Persian)
- Håvard Bakke (Norwegian)
- Teresa Chaves (1st voice) and Carlso Martins (2nd voice) (Portugal)
- Petre Ghimbăşan (Romanian)
- Elisabet Bargalló (Spain)
- Leo Hallerstam (Swedish)
Reception[]
Arthur Read was listed as number 26 in the TV Guide article, 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time.[8]
References[]
- ^ "FAQS ABOUT ARTHUR AND FRIENDS". PBS Parents.
- ^ "Arthur's Big Hit". Arthur. Season 4. Episode 1. October 5, 1999.
- ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 95–96. ISBN 978-1476665993.
- ^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 44–45. ISBN 978-1538103739.
- ^ "PBS Kids web site".
- ^ http://www.thepacepress.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/arthur.jpg
- ^ "Arthur's Eyes/Francine's Bad Hair Day". 2 September 1996 – via www.imdb.com.
- ^ "Archived copy". archives.cnn.com. Archived from the original on 18 March 2010. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
External links[]
Arthur by Marc Brown | |
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| Characters | |
| Seasons | |
| Episodes | |
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| Related | |
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- Arthur (TV series)
- Fictional aardvarks
- Fictional anthropomorphic characters
- Child characters in television
- Literary characters introduced in 1976