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Fred Flintstone was a cartoon character created by the Hanna-Barbera company. He was the star of the animated TV series The Flintstones and several spin-off series.
The character was largely based on Jackie Gleason's character Ralph Kramden on the earlier live-action series The Honeymooners.
Fred was originally voiced by the character actor Alan Reed, whom he somewhat resembles. Since Reed's death he has been voiced by Henry Corden. In the first Flintstones live-action film, he was portrayed by John Goodman, while the second live-action film had the character portrayed by Mark Addy.
Fred was a caveman, living in the prehistoric fictional city of Bedrock with his wife Wilma and their infant daughter Pebbles. His next-door neighbors were Barney Rubble, his wife Betty, and their toddler son Bamm Bamm. Barney was his best friend.
He worked at a quarry for Mr. Slate, preparing and cutting the stones that were used for just about everything in his "modern stone-age" city. Barney worked at the quarry with Fred.
His catch-phrase was "Yabba Dabba Doo!" which became the subject of a song by Hoagy Carmichael which the singer-songwriter perfomed on an episode of The Flintstones.
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. Earlier in The Flintstones series, before the cartoon aired in color, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble were also pitchmen for Winston cigarettes. In their 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".
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