Frank Grimes
Frank Grimes
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Character Information
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Frank "Grimey" Grimes was an employee of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and the self-declared enemy of Homer. His first and last appearance was in "Homer's Enemy". He is voiced by Hank Azaria.
Appearance
Frank has yellow skin, crew-cut black hair and bushy eyebrows. He wears large glasses, a blue-grey suit, and a short-sleeved white shirt with black tie. He has a slim build.
Biography
Frank Grimes was a hard worker, who had to earn everything the hard way. He was also short-tempered, grumpy, and easily frustrated.
As a young boy, Frank was abandoned by his parents on the roadside. This forced him to fend for himself, which he did by getting a job as a delivery boy (delivering toys to happier children). On his 18th birthday, he was severely injured in a silo explosion.
At 35 years old, Frank received a degree in nuclear physics from a correspondence college (which a bird attempted to steal from him when it arrived). A week later, he was featured in an episode of "Kent's People" which highlighted his lifelong determination; Mr. Burns saw the report and insisted that Frank be hired to work at the Power Plant as Executive Vice President. By the time Grimes arrived, Mr. Burns had forgotten all about him, and said that he should be "put somewhere out of the way".
Frank took an instant dislike to Homer Simpson, finding him idiotic and dangerous. Strangely enough, Homer took a shine to him, even giving him the nickname "Grimey" (which he thinks Frank liked, when in fact Grimes despised the moniker). After Homer blamed Frank for an accident involving spilled acid, he told Homer that they would be mortal enemies from that point on.
Homer tried to patch things up by inviting Frank to dinner at his house. He arranged everything to be perfect (much more than usual), telling the neatly-dressed children to behave and having Marge cook an exuberant amount of lobsters. Unfortunately, it only served to further enrage Frank: This moron had a polite family, a dream home, two cars, even been to space! He accused Homer of being a "total fraud" who leeched off hard-working people like him, being overly rewarded for a lifetime of sloth and ignorance while he had nothing.
Death
Back at work, in an effort to prove that Homer was a undeserving buffoon, Frank tricked him into entering a nuclear power plant model-building contest for children. When Homer won the contest, Frank snapped. He ran through the plant, angrily impersonating Homer, and ultimately grabbed hold of some high-voltage power cables, saying, "I don't need safety gloves, 'cause I'm Homer Simp--".
Frank Grimes died from electrocution, and was buried in Springfield Cemetery. Homer managed to make a mockery of the funeral ceremony.
Offspring
In Season 14's "The Great Louse Detective", Homer is subject to repeated attempts on his life. It is revealed that these were carried out by Frank Grimes' illegitimate son; Frank Grimes, Jr.. Junior revealed the previously unknown fact that while his father never married, he did enjoy "hiring his hookers", leading the viewer to assume that one of them was his mother. Junior was trying to avenge his father's death by killing Homer, but ultimately failed and was arrested.
Creation
Frank was created as a surrogate for the audience, to highlight how absurd it would seem to a "real-world" hard worker, just how lucky Homer is to be alive, let alone so well off.
Other appearances
- Natural Born Kissers - Frank's funeral card appears.
- Treehouse of Horror X - An exact lookalike appears on the Exodus rocket line.
- Alone Again, Natura-Diddily - His tombstone appears.
- Treehouse of Horror XII - Appears on Mr. Burns's Wailing Wall along with other major and one-time characters who died in the series.
- The Great Louse Detective - Appears in a flashback of "Homer's Enemy".
- C.E.D'oh - Appears on the employee family tree.
- My Mother the Carjacker - Tombstone appears again.
- The Seemingly Never-Ending Story - Once again his tomb appears.
- Opening credits (HD) - Ralph Wiggum is seen using Grime's grave as a sandbox.
Trivia
- His gravestone has been shown with several different inscriptions: Grimes ("Homer's Enemy"), Frank "Grimey" Grimes, and Frank Grimes (Homer's enemy) ("The Great Louse Detective").
- He was diabetic (Homer eats his "special diabetic lunch").
- While working at the plant he also had a second job, working nights at a foundry.
- When he received his diploma, the film showed him to be living in a small house on a terrace. However when in Homer's house, Frank says that he lives "in a single room above a bowling alley, and below another bowling alley".
| Springfield Nuclear Power Plant
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