The Simpsons creator Matt Groening turns 70

Creative genius Matt Groening not only created The Simpsons, but also other series. The creator of Homer and Co. 70 years old on February 15.

American Matt Groening, who celebrates his 70th birthday on February 15, entered television history with the famous series “The Simpsons.” Along with series co-creators, James L. Brooks, who was 13 years his senior, and Sam Simon, who died in 2015, Groening brought the characters of Homer, Bart, Lisa, Marge and Maggie to the then-unchallenged smart TV. Audiences in the late 1980s enjoyed silly adventures in the fictional, all-American small town of Springfield.

“The Simpsons” and other series made Groening very rich. Last year, the comedian ranked fifth on Forbes' list of the world's highest-paid entertainers, alongside “Simpsons” co-producer James L. Brooks. His wealth is estimated at 523 million francs.

Start with the underground comic strip “Life in Hell”

Groening grew up in the northwestern United States. His father, Homer Groening, who died in 1996 and is named after the father of “The Simpsons,” was a film director and comedian. His son attended Evergreen State College in the United States Washingtonin Groening's words, “a hippie college with no required grades or courses that attracts every weirdo in the Northwest.”

Then young creatives followed suit Los Angeles. There Groening's first successful comic strip, Life in Hell, was created, which was first published in 1978 and was to run for over 30 years, and by the end of its life it could be found in 250 weekly newspapers. Although Life in Hell characters, such as Bart Simpson's predecessor, Pongo the Rabbit, are still white instead of yellow, they actually have many of the other visual characteristics of later Simpsons, such as oversized eyes.

Matt Groening creates The Simpsons

Groening's comic strip came to the attention of film producer, author, director, and three-time Academy Award winner James L. Brooks in the mid-1980s. He originally wanted to bring “Life in Hell” to television, but its creator Matt Groening realized — literally at the last second, according to legend — that Fox, the television channel on which “The Simpsons” was scheduled to air, would acquire the rights to the characters .

Groening brought in the famous “The Simpsons” characters in their place. The short clips from “The Tracey Ullman Show” became the popular series “The Simpsons,” with over 760 episodes aired to date. “The Simpsons” is the longest-running animated television series, comedy series, and scripted evening series in the history of American television. The show has won 36 Emmy Awards to date.

“The Simpsons” by Matt Groening: Maggie, Marge, Lisa, Homer and Bart (left to right)Photo: AP/FOX

“To be honest, the whole 'Simpsons' project was a project to see how far I could go with the mainstream,” creator Groening said of his creation in the early 1990s.

“Futurama” and “Disappointment”

In fact, Groening was heavily involved in the series, especially in the early years of The Simpsons, and also provided the basic idea for the 2007 Simpsons movie. Since then, several writers and directors have overseen the popular animated show, whose biggest problem is that it's 20 years old. Past, it seems like he's still developing ideas that haven't been seen on the show before.

Matt Groening turned to new projects throughout the 1990s. In collaboration with Simpsons creator David X. Cohen, he created the hugely popular science fiction animated series “Futurama,” which is still in production with interruptions. It launched on the streaming service in 2018 Netflix The fantasy animated series “Disenchantment” had 50 episodes in 5 seasons by September last year.

Groening himself has won a total of 13 Emmy Awards in his long and successful career. In 2012, he received the famous star Hollywood Walk of Fame.