Fred Flintstone

Frederick "Fred/Freddy" Flintstone is a caveman and one of the main characters and the protagonist of the Flintstones animated franchise. He is a working-class quarry worker living the life of a dinosaur crane operator in his hometown of Bedrock. His voice was originated by Alan Reed (not counting Daws Butler in the pilot pitch).

While Fred is away at work, he has a stay-at-home wife in Wilma, the adoring pet dinosaur he's stuck caring for, Dino (Hanna-Barbera later retconned Dino to be the childhood pet of Fred); and the later addition of the family's baby daughter, Pebbles. His best friend and next-door neighbor is Barney Rubble.

Character description
Fred is a caveman with fair skin, beard stubble, black hair, and a large nose. He wears a ragged, green-blue necktie, and a orange and black-spotted loincloth.

Fred tends to be both loud-mouthed and ambitious, constantly scheming for ways to improve his family's lot in life. However, whether it be related to money or fame, his actions often end up backfiring him with unintended results. In fact, he is able to make some of the biggest plans ever conceived, even with the most innocent and mundane intent.

In addition to his main goals in life, Fred is prone to being short-tempered and grouchy. He constantly yells and gets into fits of rage or sadness whenever things don't go in his way. Despite his impulsive, naive and childish behavior, Fred is usually free of any malice. While short-tempered at times, he proves to be a friendly person, often helping and showing some affection to others — including both his family and the Rubbles. While he does complain to Wilma about his outrageous demands, he is also a loving, caring husband and father at the same time. Fred would usually go to great lengths to please his family or owe somebody, especially in moments when he notices that his actions go too far. Fred's catchphrase is "Yabba-dabba-doo!", which he often yells to express his excitement and astonishment.

An average blue-collar worker, Fred works as a crane operator at the Slate Rock and Gravel Company. His boss is Mr. Slate, whom he sometimes has trouble with due to having made some mistakes working here. Fred's job title was once given as "geological engineer".

He is also a member of the Water Buffalo Lodge, a private club in which he and Barney hang out. The two are rather popular among the lounge's members, and even have some degree of influence over its events.

Fred's interests include bowling, golf, poker, and playing pool. In the case of bowling he is exceptionally good at it; even winning numerous championships for his skills. He was given the bowling nickname "Twinkletoes" due to the way he tiptoes before rolling the ball.

TV series

 * The Flintstones
 * The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show
 * The Flintstone Comedy Hour
 * Laff-A-Lympics
 * 1.1 "The Swiss Alps and Tokyo, Japan"
 * 1.10 "India and Israel"
 * 1.14 "North Pole and Tahiti"
 * 1.16 "Quebec and Baghdad"
 * 2.4 "French Riviera and New Zealand"
 * Yogi's Space Race
 * 1.4 "Nebuloc–The Prehistoric Planet"
 * The New Fred and Barney Show
 * The Flintstone Comedy Show
 * Trollkins
 * 1.6A "The Great Troll Train Wreck" (cameo on TV; no lines)
 * Yogi's Treasure Hunt
 * 1.10 "Beverly Hills Flop" (mentioned)
 * The Flintstone Kids
 * Super Secret Secret Squirrel
 * 1.5 "Hot Rodney" (mentioned)
 * Dexter's Laboratory
 * 2.1A "Beard to Be Feared" (no lines)
 * The Powerpuff Girls
 * 3.9B "Ploys R' Us" (pinball machine art)
 * Johnny Bravo
 * 4.11B "A Page Right Out of History"
 * The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
 * 5.4A "Modern Primitives"
 * Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs
 * Jellystone
 * 1.7 "Must Be Jelly" (picture and mentioned)
 * 1.30 "Uh Oh! It's a Burglar!" (voice only)

Movies

 * The Man Called Flintstone
 * The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones
 * I Yabba-Dabba Do!
 * Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby
 * The Flintstones
 * A Flintstones Christmas Carol
 * The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
 * The Flintstones: On the Rocks
 * The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown!

Specials

 * The Flintstones: Little Big League
 * The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone
 * The Flintstones Primetime Specials
 * 1.1 The Flinstones' New Neighbors
 * 1.2 The Flintstones: Fred's Final Fling
 * 1.3 The Flintstones: Wind-Up Wilma
 * 1.4 The Flintstones: Jogging Fever
 * Hanna-Barbera's 50th: A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration
 * The Flintstone Kids' "Just Say No" Special
 * A Flintstone Family Christmas
 * The 1st 13th Annual Fancy Anvil Awards Show Program Special: Live in Stereo

Shorts

 * D.A.R.E. Bear Yogi
 * Come and Learn with Pibby!

Theme park rides

 * The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera

Comics

 * The Flintstones (Dell Comics)
 * The Flintstones (Gold Key Comics)
 * The Flintstones (Charlton Comics)
 * The Flintstones (Marvel Comics)
 * Yogi Bear D.A.R.E.
 * The Flintstones (Harvey Comics)
 * The Flintstones (Archie Comics)
 * Cartoon Network Christmas Spectacular
 * #1B "It's a Gift"
 * The Flintstones and the Jetsons
 * Scooby-Doo! Team-Up
 * #7 "Scooby-Doo, When Are You?"
 * #8 "Future Shocked" (no lines)
 * The Flintstones (DC Comics)

Books

 * The Flintstones
 * The Case of the Many Missing Things

Fred Sells Out
Fred appears alongside Barney in pirate form in the Duck Dodgers episode "Shiver Me Dodgers."

In The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy episode "Modern Primitives," Fred was unfrozen in the present day and Billy keeps him as a pet named "Jake Steele". Depicted as primitive and hostile, Fred goes on a rampage after being overwhelmed by all the modern technology and customs due to future shock.

In the Adult Swim short Come and Learn with Pibby!, Fred greets Pibby to Bedrock and slides down a dinosaur's back right into the corruption below that swallows him whole.

Development
The personality of Fred Flintstone is largely based on Jackie Gleason's character of Ralph Kramden in the 1950s sitcom The Honeymooners. Like his animated counterpart, Ralph is an ambitious yet ill tempered and brash man who lives at home with his patient wife. The similarities between the two have also extended to their physical appearance, as both Fred and Ralph are overweight men with black hair.

When Alan Reed began to play as Fred Flintstone, he was insistent on using a relatively natural speaking voice, rather than a broad, "cartoony" style, since animated short cartoons rarely used this method of voice acting back then—with the exception of experimental studios like UPA and feature films with more realistic characters.

Behind the scenes

 * According to Hal Smith, Bill Thompson was the first actor to audition for the role of Fred Flintstone, but dropped out because he was told by Joseph Barbera that his voice didn't sound gravelly enough, and had his lines re-recorded by Alan Reed for the first five episodes.
 * George O'Hanlon also auditioned for the role of Fred, but lost out to Alan Reed. Aside from being later cast as George Jetson, O'Hanlon ended up writing two episodes of The Flintstones.
 * Jackie Gleason, who both played Ralph Kramden and created The Honeymooners, mentioned in an interview that he once considered suing Hanna-Barbera for copying the show with The Flintstones, but decided to not let it pass.
 * In the same interview, Gleason also mentioned that Alan Reed was the actor who dubbed in his movie roles whenever he could not make a session.

In popular culture

 * In the movie Police Academy 2, Mahoney says the Scullions' hideout in the abandoned Griffith Park Zoo has a "cave-like atmosphere," and asks where Fred and Wilma are.
 * In the April 2, 1989 comic strip of Garfield, the opening panel spoofs The Flintstones, with Garfield and Arlene dressed like Fred and Wilma, respectively, as Garfield complains to Arlene that her dogasaurus (Odie) ate his car.
 * In the Adventures of Superman #441, Mr. Mxyzptlk brings to life a billboard advertising Saturday morning cartoons before turning Superman into a cartoony version of himself to battle a pastiche of Fred called Frankie Fieldstone, star of the Saturday morning cartoon Cavestones, who he defeats by dumping him into the Le Vine Tar Pits. Before Superman does this, Frankie shouts, "Yabba-dabba don't!!"
 * In The Golden Girls episode "Melodrama," Dorothy reminded Blanche about how she once described Mel as looking like Fred but with a better car.
 * In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode "Def Poet's Society," Will sings and dances to Madonna's "Vogue," adding his own lyrics, "Michael Jordan, Al Capone, Woody Woodpecker, Fred Flintstone."
 * In the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode "Beneath These Streets," Michelangelo gets tired of saying "Cowabunga!" as his catchphrase and tries to use "Yabba-Dabba-Doo!" instead, except when he does it, he gets stopped mid-sentence by Donatello.
 * In the movie Casper (starring Casper, the Friendly Ghost), a kid dresses up as Fred for the Halloween party at Whipstaff Manor. This movie came out in 1995, a year after the live-action Flintstones movie, both of which were produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and released by Universal Pictures.
 * In Chris Rice's song "Cartoons," Rice questions if Fred and Wilma are religious and would say "Yabba-dabba-do-lu-yah" in place of "Hallelujah."
 * In the August 9, 1999 comic strip of Peanuts, Charlie Brown has just got a call from Emily to go dancing because he dances like Fred Astaire, but his sister, Emily, asks if she meant Fred Flintstone.
 * In The Parkers episode "The Boomerang Effect," the sight of seeing Nate naked, makes Stevie cry in shock, "Yabba-dabba-doo!"
 * In the Sabrina the Teenage Witch episode "The Competition," Hilda taught Amanda an incantation by saying "Double, double, boil and trouble. Dress the cat like Barney Rubble." A generic cloth then proceeded to magically appear around Salem, who then remarked that he looked better than John Goodman, who actually played Fred, not Barney, as Barney was played by Rick Moranis.
 * In The Fairly OddParents TV movie Channel Chasers, Timmy zaps himself and his fairies into the world of The Meatflints, where Cosmo has been dressed like Fred, only with Cosmo's signature green.
 * In the Drawn Together episode "Lost in Parking Space Part Two," Fred is being brutally tortured at Hot Topic. He cries out for Barney to help. Fred is voiced by James Arnold Taylor, who was his current voice actor at the time.
 * In the Big Bang Theory episode "The Wildebeest Implementation," after a rough start to double date, Howard says to Leonard how it's nice to see the gals getting along now, but Leonard questions his use of the word "gals," by asking, "Who are you, Fred Flintstone?"
 * In the film The Amazing Spider-Man, Dr. Connors's lab rats are called Fred and Wilma.
 * In The Cleveland Show episode, "A General Thanksgiving Episode," Holt introduces himself to an attractive woman as Fred Flintstone because "[he] can make [her] bed rock."
 * In the DC comic Harley Quinn's Valentine Day Special, Harley Quinn says, "Yabba dabba do me!" when seeing Bruce Wayne.
 * In the Comic Book Men episode "Wookie Fever," Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in the Star Wars movies, mentioned how his legs would stick out the bottom of the Millenium Falcon cockpit, which called for Brian to compare him to Fred driving the Flintmobile with his feet.
 * In the "Crazy Fails 3" and "Amazing Heroes!" episodes Takeshi's Castle Indonesia, one of the baddies (the one Caucasian man) in the Honeycomb is dressed like Fred Flintstone; the first time he wore a long black wig, not like Fred, and the second time, it must've fallen off, revealing his bald head, also not like Fred.
 * In the video game South Park: The Fractured But Whole, the clothing Sloppy 2nds has Fred's outfit on a rack.
 * In the Fresh Off the Boat episode "It's a Plastic Pumpkin, Louis Huang," there was a couple at Deidre's Halloween party dressed as Fred and Wilma.
 * In the season 8 "Columbus, Ohio" episode of Man v. Food, host Casey Webb referred to the pork as "Fred Flintstone food," alluding to the giant-sized ribs Fred would eat.
 * In the Esme & Roy episode "Flying High," Roy does Fred's twinkle toe move while practicing bowling.
 * In the Disney+ film Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers, one of the bootlegs is A Goofy Movie ' s Bigfoot wearing Fred's loincloth.
 * In That '90s Show episode "Boyfriend Day One," Sherri mentions that she has a tattoo on her hip of Fred surfing.
 * In the Roblox game Shovelware's Brain Game, one of the prizes you can win is Caveman Vitamins, which is a parody of Flintstones Vitamins. The game show announcer takes one to prove they're not filled with lead (which they are) and says "Don't mind if I Yabba Dabba Doo....I can say that right?"
 * In celebration of Warner Bros.' 100th anniversary, they produced a special short which had the Looney Tunes cast take a group photo in Bedrock as the Flintstones cast, with Bugs Bunny as Fred who wants everybody to say "Yabba-Dabba-Doo" but is interrupted by Daffy who has also come as Fred.

According to Jim

 * "The Truck:" a drunk bar patron losing to arm wrestling all night pokes fun at Jim by calling him Fred Flintstone when Jim refuses his challenge. Jim cut him some slack because he was drunk and agreed he had a "vague resemblance to Fred Flintstone." Larry doesn't drop it and bets Jim £20 he will win and calls him Fred again, but Larry is a hustler who ends up winning Jim's truck. When they meet again for a second time at the bar, Larry says, "Yabba-dabba-doo." Lloyd also calls his wife and sister-in-law Wilma and Betty, when a pool game is proposed.
 * "The Hunters:" Jim believes he is a natural born hunter, a caveman even, which is probably why Dana calls him and her brother Fred and Barney when they succeed after their hunting trip to prove themselves.

Family Guy

 * "Dammit Janet!:" When Peter and Lois don't return to America after the plane they were on was hijacked in Cuba, it is reported on the news, with the artist's rending capturing a fat man inexplicably married to an attractive redhead, which is in the form of Fred and Wilma.
 * "Wasted Talent:" When the final scroll to entering the Pawtucket Brewery was found, Peter disappointedly asked aloud what he was going to do now, when the Great Gazoo popped up asking the "dum dum" what he could do for Peter, but all Peter wanted was to be left alone. Annoyed at Peter's treatment of him, Gazoo whined that it wasn't always about him, the "fatso."
 * "Ready, Willing, and Disabled:" A cavegirl carhop tips Joe's wheelchair over with a plate of ribs in the same manner as what happens to Fred in his car in the "(Meet) The Flintstones" theme song.
 * "Peter's Got Woods:" When Brian is busy on another date with his new girlfriend, Peter tries to replace him with Barney. We then see Peter at the Rubbles', where he is waiting for Barney to finish in the toilet, so they can go play darts. Barney is using a pelican as a toilet who makes a joke about his predicament. A sheep later made the same kind of joke after hearing Meg was on her period. MacFarlane voices Barney.
 * "Patriot Games:" Brian takes the same $50 bet on a celebrity boxing match between Mike Tyson and Carol Channing as Betting Freddie does, who stutters the word "bet" like the addicted gambler he was in "The Gambler." He then gets serious and claims there's nothing funny about addiction and tells the audience to vote "No" on Indian gaming bars. Fred is voiced by Jeff Bergman.
 * "Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air:" Fred and Barney attend the inaugural ball of the Quahog Men's Club, where Fred reveals to Barney that he accidentally caught sight of Betty undressing, who saw Fred, but continued anyway, giving way to Fred's e-rock-tion. Bergman voices both Fred and Barney.
 * "Peter's Daughter:" Fred takes Wilma to Mr. Stoneberg to get a legal separation for not letting him back in after Baby Puss removes him from their house and locks him outside. He had been knocking for 20 minutes and shouting "Wilma!" but she claims to not have heard because she was taking a shower, but he believes that she was simply ignoring him and goes on further about her spending all his money on expensive clothes and hairdos, and not being available for sex, the "passive aggressive bitch" she is. Bergman and Alex Bornstein voice Fred and Wilma, respectively.
 * "Stew-Roids:" Gina says that Chris smells like Fred's ass. The scene then cuts to Fred, who says that no one's telling her to smell it. Fred is voiced by Bergman.
 * "Road to the Multiverse:" Stewie and Brian travel to an alternate universe of Quahog, which resembles Bedrock and has a laugh track. Peter and Lois are now called Rock Peter and Rock Lois and are dressed and have the same hairstyles as Fred and Wilma.
 * "Quagmire's Baby:" Quagmire is selling a tape of The Best of the World's Wildest Police Chases, which features the police in a high speed pursuit of Fred in the Flintmobile, also carrying Dino, Pebbles, and Bamm-Bamm. Dino pops his head through the roof, and Fred places the babies on top of Dino's head. Fred manages to avoid them until he enters a drive-in movie theater and smashes into a snack bar. Fred tries to escape over a fence, but is caught and clobbered by the police. The narrator finishes his commentary by saying "Yabba-Dabba-Don't."
 * "The Simpsons Guy:" Fred acts as a judge when Peter and Homer Simpson go to court over the Pawtucket Patriot Ale being a copyright infringement over Duff Beer. He claims that both brands are imitations of Budrock, but is in favor of Duff Beer. Fred is voiced by none other than Bergman.
 * "Happy Holo-ween:" As the hologram Peter is defeated, he quickly reverts to Peter from 1999, Larry from Larry & Steve, Homer Simpson, and Fred Flintstone. He even yells "WILMA!" before he explodes into ash.

Heartbreak High

 * In "Episode 8" (season 2), Mr. Deloraine asked his nephew, Matt, how the stereo was at the warehouse he had recently moved into, with Matt responding that it looked like something Freddy Flintstone built.
 * In "Episode 4" (season 3), a student wears a t-shirt of Fred in football gear.

Mad

 * "2012 Dalmatians/Grey's in Anime:" In the skit "2012 Dalmatians," Fred and Barney make cameos as caveman bones in the Museum of Natural Mystery.
 * "Fast Hive/Minute to Flynn It:" In the skit "Minute to Flynn It," Sam Flynn discovers from Clu that the Flynn line goes right back to the Flynnstones, with Fred popping up in a Tron suit and says, "Yabba-dabba-doo! I'm talking to Clu!"
 * "Battleship vs Titanic/Jurassic Park and Recreation:" In the skit "Hey, whatever happened to that guy from that TV show I kinda remember from when I was a kid?", we get a glimpse of what happened to Fred after his TV show was cancelled when the creators realized that cavemen didn't exist the same time as dinosaurs and that Dino died. Fred then became "oversaturated" in everything from a preschool show called ¡Yodabba Dabba! (a parody of Yo Gabba Gabba!) and being the spokesman for a hair gel called "Yabba-Dabba-Do!" He then left the business, but returned in 1997 to become a failed stand up comedian, because all the audience want to hear him say is, "Yabba-dabba-Do."

Saturday Night Live

 * "John Goodman/The Pretenders:" Although more as a promotion for the live-action film, host John Goodman (wearing a Fred costume, not like the one he wore in the film), does a sketch where he gives the Stone Age names of some celebrities, before removing celebrities' names who already have "Stone" or "Rock" in them.
 * "Kieran Culkin/Ed Sheehan:" In "The Heist" sketch, the thief sarcastically asks if he is Fred Flintstein when told he has to use both of his feet to drive a stick shift. When the hacker questions the use of "Flintstein," the thief responds, "Did I stutter? Frederick Flintstein."

Teen Titans Go!

 * "Double Trouble:" Cyborg is dressed like Fred during the "Cavemen and Dinosaurs" game.
 * "Costume Contest:" A man dresses up like Fred in a Halloween costume contest.

Seth McFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy

 * "Fred and Barney Try To Get Into a Club:" Fred and Barney try to enter a club but are denied access
 * "Fred Flintstone Takes a Shit:" exactly what it says on the tin.

Young Sheldon

 * "A Brisket, Voodoo, and Cannonball Run:" Georgie thinks that his parents will divorce due to the fighting between his father and his mother-in-law, but Sheldon counters that this it's typical and doesn't lead to divorce, to which Missy chimes in is to how Fred and Wilma have stayed together.
 * "A Research Study and Czechoslovakian Wedding Pastries:" When George and Mary get into a disagreement while talking to the research doctors about the twins, Meemaw tells the doctors to never mind Fred and Wilma and move on to the kids.