Betty Rubble is a fictional character in the

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

animated series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera, Hanna-Barbera Productions, which takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighbors, the R ...

'' and its spin-offs and live-action motion pictures. She is the black-haired wife of caveman Barney Rubble and the adoptive mother of Bamm-Bamm Rubble. Her best friend is her next-door neighbor Wilma Flintstone. Betty lives in the fictional

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

town of Bedrock, a world where dinosaurs coexist with cavepeople and the cavepeople enjoy primitive versions of modern conveniences such as

telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

s and

washing machine A washing machine (laundry machine, clothes washer, washer, or simply wash) is a machine designed to laundry, launder clothing. The term is mostly applied to machines that use water. Other ways of doing laundry include dry cleaning (which uses ...

s. She speaks with a Midwestern accent. Betty's personality was based on the

stock character A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a type of character in a narrative (e.g. a novel, play, television show, or film) whom audiences recognize across many narratives or as part of a storytelling tradition or convention. Th ...

of the lead character's best friend's wife, commonly seen in 1950s television (other prominent examples including Trixie Norton of ''

The Honeymooners ''The Honeymooners'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired from 1955 to 1956, created by and starring Jackie Gleason, and based on a recurring comedy sketch of the same name that had been part of Gleason's variety show. It f ...

'', which by conflicting accounts was a major inspiration for ''The Flintstones'', and Ethel Mertz of ''

I Love Lucy ''I Love Lucy'' is an American sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes spanning six seasons. The series starred Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz, along with Vivian ...

''). Much like Trixie or Ethel, Betty spent a lot of her time socializing with Wilma, and the two would often end up working together to bail their husbands out of whatever scheme of Fred's had landed them in trouble, sometimes scheming with each other.

Character

Betty typically follows the lead of Barney or Wilma, so may appear to be the least developed character in the show. This lack of protagonism (her continuous presence almost becoming a backdrop for supporting characters Pebbles, Bamm-Bamm and Dino) makes Betty less of the lead than the show's general concept might imply. Occasions when Betty leads the action are extremely scarce: one episode centers around her working undercover as a gentle old lady to earn money for a present for Barney; in another, the plot focuses on her and Wilma's suspicions of Barney being involved with another woman (who turns out to be Fred in a disguise in order to attend a ball game free of charge). In spite of this, Betty is portrayed as having a distinctly emotional marriage with Barney, which often includes pet names and more obvious affection than the dynamic and energetic interaction between Fred and Wilma.

Biography

As a child, Betty lived with her parents who ran a

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...

and her older brother, Brad. She also has a married sister with a baby son named Marblehead Sandstone. As young adults, Betty and Wilma were employed as cigarette girls/waitresses at a resort. There, they first met and fell in love with their future husbands, Fred and Barney. Eventually, Betty and Barney were married, presumably not long after Fred and Wilma."Bachelor Daze", ''The Flintstones'', season 4 Betty became a

homemaker Homemaking is mainly an American English, American and Canadian English, Canadian term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping, housewifery or household management. It is the act of overseeing the organizational ...

, keeping house with such prehistoric aids as a baby

mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus.'' They lived from the late Miocene epoch (from around 6.2 million years ago) into the Holocene until about 4,000 years ago, with mammoth species at various times inhabi ...

vacuum cleaner A vacuum cleaner, also known simply as a vacuum, is a device that uses suction, and often agitation, in order to remove dirt and other debris from carpets, hard floors, and other surfaces. The dirt is collected into a dust bag or a plastic bin. ...

pelican Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before ...

, and so forth. Betty, much like Wilma, also enjoyed volunteering for various charitable/women's organizations in Bedrock, shopping, and (occasionally) meeting the celebrities of their world, including " Stony Curtis", " Cary Granite", and " Ann-Margrock". Betty at one time also had a job working for an 'old lady' who turned out to be a young lady in disguise and who was using Betty to pass counterfeit money; this was the only episode centered principally around Betty. Despite her cheerful nature, she has occasions to be angry at Barney and once knocked out crooks with her stone purse who tried to kill Barney. In the fourth season of the original series, Betty and Barney found an abandoned infant on their doorstep, by the name of "Bamm-Bamm." After a court battle for possession of Bamm-Bamm (in which the Rubbles faced the opposition's noted prehistoric lawyer " Perry Masonry"), the couple were allowed to adopt Bamm-Bamm. The Rubbles never had biological children. The story depicted Betty as despondent over their inability to conceive, which was a surprisingly serious topic for any cartoon. It is unknown if this was due to a medical reason or simply bad luck, though after adopting Bamm-Bamm they never tried again. When Bamm-Bamm was a teenager, Betty gained employment as a

reporter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

for one of Bedrock's

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

s, the ''Daily Granite'' (presumably a parody of the ''

Daily Planet The ''Daily Planet'' is a fictional newspaper appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Superman. The newspaper was first mentioned in ''Action Comics'' #9 (November 13, 1939) – Underworld Politics ...

'' of

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

fame), under the editorial guidance of Lou Granite (presumably a parody of Lou Grant of the contemporaneous eponymous series, and formerly of ''

The Mary Tyler Moore Show ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (also known simply as ''Mary Tyler Moore'') is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from September 19, 1970 ...

''). While employed there, she shared various adventures with prehistoric

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

Captain Caveman, who (in a

secret identity A secret identity is a person's code name, cryptonym, disguise, incognito, Cover (intelligence gathering), cover and/or alter ego which is not known to the general populace, most often used in fiction. Brought into popular culture by the Scarlet Pi ...

) also works for the newspaper. Later still, after Bamm-Bamm grew up and left home, Betty started a successful catering business with her neighbor and friend Wilma, before becoming a

grandmother Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, or Grandma and Grandpa, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maxi ...

to Bamm-Bamm's twin children, Chip and Roxy.

Portrayal

June Foray voiced Betty in a 1959 ''Flintstones'' pilot titled ''The Flagstones'', but Bea Benaderet was cast for the series and voiced Betty for the first four seasons before stepping down in 1964 (due to her scheduling conflicts with '' Petticoat Junction''). Gerry Johnson took over the role for the last 2 seasons. B.J. Ward has since performed the role in later ''Flintstones'' media since 1986–2000. Grey DeLisle started voicing Betty in '' The Flintstones: On the Rocks'' and voiced her in '' The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown!''. In ''The Flintstones: Welcome to Bedrock'', Betty's voice was provided by Dina Monaco-Boland. In the scrapped series ''Bedrock'', Betty was going to be voiced by Nicole Byer. In the 1994 film, Betty was portrayed by

Rosie O'Donnell Roseann O'Donnell (born March 21, 1962) is an American talk show host, comedian, and actress. She began her comedy career as a teenager and received her breakthrough on the television series ''Star Search'' in 1984. After a series of television ...

, who reportedly won the role because she captured the high-pitched laugh at her audition. Jane Krakowski replaced O'Donnell in the 2000 prequel '' The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas'', in which Betty's maiden name is "O'Shale".

Animated media

Television shows

* '' The Flagstones'' (1959) (voiced by June Foray) * ''

'' (1960–1964) (voiced by Bea Benaderet) * ''

'' (1964–1966) (voiced by Gerry Johnson) * '' The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show'' (1971–1972) (voiced by Gay Autterson) * '' The Flintstone Comedy Hour'' (1972–1974) * '' Fred Flintstone and Friends'' (1977–1978) * '' The New Fred and Barney Show'' (1979) * '' Fred and Barney Meet the Thing'' (1979) * '' Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo'' (1979–1980) * '' The Flintstone Comedy Show'' (1980–1982) * '' The Flintstone Funnies'' (1982–1984) * '' The Flintstone Kids'' (1986–1988) (voiced by B.J. Ward) * '' The Rubbles'' (2002) (voiced by Grey DeLisle) * '' Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs'' (2020) * ''Bedrock'' (cancelled) (voiced by Nicole Byer)

Films and specials

* '' The Man Called Flintstone'' (1966) * '' The Flintstones on Ice'' (1973) * '' A Flintstone Christmas'' (1977) * '' The Flintstones: Little Big League'' (1978) * '' The Flintstones' New Neighbors'' (1980) * '' The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone'' (1980) * '' The Flintstones: Fred's Final Fling'' (1980) * '' The Flintstones: Wind-Up Wilma'' (1981) * '' The Flintstones: Jogging Fever'' (1981) * '' The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones'' (1987) (voiced by Julie McWhirter Dees) * '' The Flintstone Kids' "Just Say No" Special'' (1988) * '' A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration: 50 Years of Hanna-Barbera'' (1989) * '' I Yabba-Dabba Do!'' (1993) * '' Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby'' (1993) * '' A Flintstone Family Christmas'' (1993) * ''

'' (1994) (portrayed by

) * '' A Flintstones Christmas Carol'' (1994) * '' The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas'' (2000) (portrayed by Jane Krakowski) * '' The Flintstones: On the Rocks'' (2001) (voiced by Grey DeLisle) * '' The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown!'' (2015) * '' Space Jam: A New Legacy'' (2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubble, Betty The Flintstones characters Fictional reporters and correspondents Hanna-Barbera characters Television characters introduced in 1959 Animated characters introduced in 1959 Animated human characters Fictional housewives Female characters in animated television series