Fred Flintstone

Frederick Flintstone (usually called Fred) is a fictional character who originated in the popular television animated series The Flintstones. Fred has since appeared in various other cartoon spinoffs and commercials. He is the caveman husband of Wilma Flintstone and father of Pebbles Flintstone. His best friends were his next door neighbors, Betty and Barney Rubble.

Trivia

• Alan Reed was the original voice artist of Fred until his death in 1977. Henry Corden, who had provided the singing voice for Reed (and Fred) in The Man Called Flintstone, took over until his death in 2005. In the first live-action Flintstones film, he was portrayed by John Goodman, while the second live-action film had the character portrayed by Mark Addy.
• The notion of a rivalry between in-laws, as seen between Fred and Wilma's mother, is seen in various other sitcoms, including in The Flintstoness successor prime time animated series, The Simpsons---where Homer shares a rivalry with Marge's sisters Patty and Selma Bouvier.
• With Barney Rubble, Fred has been a pitchman for Post Cereals' Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles breakfast cereals. The commercials typically feature Barney trying to trick Fred out of his cereal, invariably ending with Fred bellowing, "Barney, my Pebbles!" as Barney runs off with Fred's cereal. During the first several seasons of The Flintstones series, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble were also pitchmen for Winston cigarettes, the show's sponsor at the time. In one Winston ad, Fred and Barney saw the men working hard at the quarry and decided to retire out of sight for a smoke break. After extolling the virtues of the Winston brand cigarette, Fred lit up his cigarette and delivered the catch phrase: "Winstons taste good like a cigarette should.". Another similar ad for the cigarettes featured Wilma and Betty as well; the women were working hard mowing the lawn and beating dust out of a rug while Fred and Barney smoked behind the house. In the crossover film The Jetsons meet the Flintstones, Fred and Barney become spokesmen for Spacely Sprockets and Cogswell Cogs respectively.
• English cricketer Andrew Flintoff is given the nickname "Freddie Flintoff" due to perceived similarities between the men.