| Arthur Read | |
|---|---|
| Arthur character | |
 | |
| First appearance | Arthur's Nose (1976) |
| Created by | Marc Brown |
| Voiced by |
|
| In-universe information | |
| Species | Aardvark [1] |
| Gender | Male |
| Family |
|
| Relatives |
|
| Nationality | American or Canadian |
| Birthday | 25 May 1988 |
| Best friend | Buster Baxter |
| Age | 8 |
Arthur Timothy [2] Read is a fictional anthropomorphic aardvark created by the author Marc Brown. [3] The main character of the television series Arthur, he is in the third grade and lives in the fictional city of Elwood City. [4]
Arthur is an anthropomorphic aardvark, who is 8 years old. [5] In Brown's first Arthur book, Arthur's Nose (1976), Arthur is shown with a long nose and resembles an actual aardvark, though as the books progressed (as seen in the first season of PBS's Reading Rainbow in its 13th episode, titled "Arthur's Eyes") and eventually became an animated TV series, Arthur’s appearance changed. The character's most recognizable form is a light brown, slanted face with small ears and nostrils with signature round brown-rimmed eyeglasses. [6] Normally, Arthur wears a yellow V-neck sweater over a white dress shirt, blue jeans along with red and white sneakers. He also occasionally wears a red rugby-style sweater. In the series finale ("All Grown Up"), Arthur's 29-year-old appearance features him with straight dark brown hair, slight facial hair, a green vest with a hood, and a red and yellow shirt with a Dark Bunny insignia.
The tensions between Arthur and his 4-year-old (later 5-year-old) sister, Dora Winifred "D.W." Read, are a common theme in the Arthur series. Arthur is constantly pestered by D.W., who goes out of her way to get Arthur into trouble, which often causes Arthur to retaliate, by getting into quarrels with his friends.
Arthur's parents are his mother, Jane Read, who is a work-at-home accountant, and his father, David L. Read, who runs a catering business.
Arthur's toddler sister is Baby Kate.
Appearances from Arthur's extended family include his grandparents: Thora (David's mother) and Dave (Jane's father). His uncles: Fred (Jane's brother), Richard, Bud, and Sean. His aunts: Jessica, Loretta, and Lucy. His cousins: Cora, Monique, Ricky, George, and other unnamed relatives. However, the only two members of Arthur's extended family who have appeared more than once are his grandparents.
Grandma Thora lives in a house not too far from Arthur's in Elwood City and is known to be a bad cook, but a loving grandmother and a world-class marbles player. She loves to play bingo every Friday night, and in some episodes has to watch over Arthur and D.W. She is good friends with Mrs. McGrady, the school cafeteria monitor. Grandpa Dave lives in a convalescent home and has a roommate who was a ship captain.
Canadian child stars who have voiced the character of Arthur in the TV series:
Arthur was originally voiced by Michael Yarmush for the first five seasons. Due to reaching puberty, Yarmush was replaced with Justin Bradley for the 6th season. After that, he was replaced with Mark Rendall who started voicing Arthur in Season 7. After Season 8 ended, Rendall re-dubbed all of Bradley's dialogue in Season 6. Starting with the 9th season until the 11th season, he was replaced with Cameron Ansell. Soon after, Ansell was replaced by Dallas Jokic starting with Season 12 and ending with Season 15. From Seasons 16–17, Drew Adkins replaced Jokic for the role of Arthur. After Adkins got too old to play the character, William Healy replaced him for the role for Season 18 and Season 19. Healy was later replaced by Jacob Ursomarzo in the 20th season. After Ursomarzo ended his role of Arthur after the 21st season, Roman Lutterotti replaced him for the final four seasons. Michael Yarmush reprised his role in the series finale "All Grown Up", voicing the adult Arthur.
Since Arthur is shown in more than 80 countries, Arthur is dubbed by those young voice actors (in several languages) shown here:
Arthur Read was listed as number 26 in the TV Guide article, 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time. [7]
Arthur is an animated television series for children ages 4 to 8, developed by Kathy Waugh for PBS and produced by WGBH. The show is set in the fictional U.S. city of Elwood City and revolves around the lives of Arthur Read, an anthropomorphic aardvark, his friends and family, and their daily interactions with each other.
The Ant and the Aardvark is a series of 17 theatrical short cartoons produced at DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and released by United Artists from 1969 to 1971.
Mark Rendall is a Canadian film, television and voice actor whose roles include the lead in the 2004 film, Childstar and Mick in season 1 of the Canadian television drama series ReGenesis. He played Bastian Bux in the TV series, Tales from the Neverending Story, and the title character in The Interrogation of Michael Crowe. He has also done voice work for the television series Jane and the Dragon and Time Warp Trio, and starred in the popular PBS Kids TV series Arthur. Recently, Rendall has appeared in several Hollywood films.
Justin Bradley is a Canadian former actor.
Marc Tolon Brown is an American author and illustrator of children's books. Brown writes as well as illustrates the Arthur book series and is best known for creating that series and its numerous spin-offs.
The second season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS in the United States from October 20, 1997, to April 17, 1998, and contains 20 episodes. This season, like seasons 1 and 3, was released on DVD in Europe only; due to the fact that this was actually two production seasons combined into one long season for US airings, the first ten episodes for this season can be found on the "Series 2" DVD and the last ten can be found on "Series 3."
The 5th season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS in the United States from September 25 to November 27, 2000, and contains 10 episodes. The special "Arthur's Perfect Christmas" served as the finale to this season. Steven Crowder replaced Luke Reid as Brain. This is the last season where Michael Yarmush voices Arthur due to his voice changing. Starting in season 9, he returns to voice the character Slink, one of the Tough Customers. Yarmush additionally will return to play Arthur one more time in the final episode of the series, "All Grown Up" by voicing the character's adult self. This is also the last season where Ricky Mabe voices Timmy Tibble due to his voice changing as well. Alex Trebek guest starred as Alex Lebek on the season premiere "Arthur and the Big Riddle".
The 6th season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS in the United States on September 24 to November 26, 2001 and contains 10 episodes. A shortened version of the remix of the opening theme song, "Believe in Yourself", is played at the ending credits of this season as a promotion for the third music album of the franchise. Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan guest starred on "The Good Sport" as herself. Justin Bradley replaced Michael Yarmush as Arthur, due to him getting too old to keep playing him and this is the only season where he voices him. It is also the first season to have Mark Rendall as the titular character. When he was hired to voice for Arthur in season 7, he re-dubbed for the U.S. reruns of season 6. Executive producer Carol Greenwald and Peter Moss said the reason was because Bradley's voice was too deep and lacked the vocal range of Michael Yarmush. Samuel Holden also replaced Ricky Mabe as Timmy Tibble. This is the last season where Steven Crowder voices Brain. This is also the last season where Oliver Grainger voices D.W. The versions of these episodes with Bradley's voice were distributed in International VHS and DVD home media, and they are still aired on TV in countries outside and in North America.
The 7th season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS in the United States from October 8 to November 29, 2002 and contains 10 episodes. The special "Arthur, It's Only Rock 'N' Roll" served as the premiere of this season. Jason Szwimer replaced Oliver Grainger as the voice of D.W. Alex Hood is cast as the new voice of Alan "The Brain" Powers, replacing Steven Crowder. Mark Rendall replaced Justin Bradley as Arthur. This is the last season in which Patricia Rodriguez voices Catherine Frensky, Also this is the last season Vanessa Lengies voiced Emily, and this is the final season where Jonathan Koensgen voices Tommy Tibble, and this is the last season in which Mitchell Rothpan voices George Lundgren. The series won a Daytime Emmy in 2003 for Outstanding Sound Mixing - Live Action and Animation.
The 9th season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS Kids Go! in the United States from December 27, 2004, to April 8, 2005, and contains 10 episodes. Cameron Ansell replaced Mark Rendall as the voice of Arthur, Jessica Kardos replaced Patricia Rodriguez as the voice of Sue Ellen Armstrong, Eleanor Noble Replaced Evan Smirnow as the voice of George, and Paul-Stuart Brown replaced Alex Hood as Brain. However, Brown shared this with Alex Hood who also voiced Brain since season seven. But in Seasons 10 and 11, Brown provides Brain alone. This is also the last season where Alex Hood voices Brain, as well as the first season where Cookie Jar Entertainment produced this series after the CINAR-Cookie Jar rebrand. It produced the series until the end of Season 15, when it merged with DHX Media.
The 11th season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS Kids Go! in the United States from June 25 to September 7, 2007 and contains 10 episodes. This is the last season in which Cameron Ansell voices Arthur. Starting in season sixteen, he returns to voice the new character Rafi. Robert Naylor replaced Jason Szwimmer as the voice of D.W. This is also the last season in which Paul-Stuart Brown voices Brain. This is the last season animated by AKOM.
The 12th season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS Kids Go! in the United States from October 6, 2008, to April 24, 2009, and contains 20 episodes. The 10 episodes listed below were broadcast as season 12, and the other 10 were broadcast as season 13. This resulted all of season 13 episodes airing in several countries such as Canada and United Kingdom for many months prior the U.S. broadcast. This season was created and originally aired in the 16:9 widescreen format in Non-US markets though still in 480i; in the U.S., they were and continued to be aired in 4:3, with the left and right sides cropped out. The animation was produced by Animation Services HK Ltd. instead of by AKOM. This was also the first season where Michael Hirsh was credited as the executive producer.
The 16th season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS Kids in the United States from October 15, 2012 until May 10, 2013 and consists of 10 episodes. This season was the first to be distributed internationally by 9 Story Media Group, as Cookie Jar Entertainment merged with DHX Media. Season 16 was the first to switch from traditional animation to in-house Flash animation. The Flash animation for the episodes of this season are made with Adobe Flash by 9 Story Media Group.
The 17th season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS Kids in the United States from November 11, 2013, to May 13, 2014. This season was the second produced by 9 Story Media Group. This is the last season in which Drew Adkins, Jake Beale and Siam Yu voice Arthur, D.W. and The Brain. In the next season, Beale is replaced by Andrew Dayton as D.W., Adkins is replaced by William Healy as Arthur and Yu is replaced by Max Friedman Cole as The Brain.
Michael Lawrence Yarmush is an American-Canadian actor. He is known for providing the original voice of Arthur Read in the PBS children's animated television series Arthur.
The 18th season of the television series Arthur aired from September 29, 2014 to September 10, 2015 on PBS Kids and comprised 10 episodes. William Healy replaces Drew Adkins as Arthur, Andrew Dayton replaces Jake Beale as D.W., and Max Friedman Cole replaces Siam Yu as Brain for part of the season continuing permanently for the next season.
The 20th season of Arthur began broadcast on PBS Kids in the United States on October 10, 2016, and finished on June 1, 2017. In this season, Oasis Animation took over animation from 9 Story Media Group.
The 21st season of Arthur aired on PBS Kids in the U.S. from October 24, 2017 to February 15, 2018. John Lewis guest starred on the episode "Arthur Takes a Stand". This is also the last season where Jacob Ursomarzo voices Arthur, Christian Distefano voices D.W. and Max Friedman Cole voices Brain.
The 22nd season of Arthur started airing on PBS Kids in the United States from May 13, 2019 to May 16, 2019. Jane Lynch guest starred on the episode "Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone." Roman Lutterotti replaced Jacob Ursomarzo as Arthur, Ethan Pugiotto replaced Christian Distefano as D.W., and Evan Blaylock replaced Max Friedman Cole as Brain.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Arthur by Marc Brown | |
|---|---|
| Characters | |
| Seasons | |
| Episodes | |
| Books | |
| Games | |
| Related |
|
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
