I’m not sure what exactly my kid brain thought, other than maybe every Simpsons character was a unique inspiration that Matt Groening himself just thought up on his own. I definitely missed the stereotypes and archetypes and most of the satire at first, but damn, give me a break, I was a kid!
Turns out many of the characters in The Simpsons were based not only on archetypes, but even real people. My parents surely caught that right away, as many of those references came more from their generation, or even their parents’ generation.
Which is all to say that Springfield’s default celebrity, Troy McClure (voiced by the incomparable Phil Hartman, RIP), was actually inspired by a real person. Who was it?
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The answer is: Doug McClure. Based of off washed up B movie actors, Troy McClure was actually a mashup of actors Doug McClure and Troy Donahue, but it was Doug McClure who embraced his inspiration of Troy’s character. He was a fan of the show and his kids reportedly even called him “Troy McClure” when his back was turned.Not unlike Troy, Doug started his career in the late ‘50s with some decent success, starring in movies like Gidget and The Unforgiven. But his most famous role was probably in the NBC series The Virginian.Later in his career, McClure turned to low-budget sci-fi, such as At the Earth's Core and The Land That Time Forgot. To which I say — ain’t nothing wrong with that. Unfortunately, he passed away at just 59 years old from lung cancer, but his spirit — and that of Phil Hartman’s — lives on every time you revisit a Simpsons episode with Troy McClure in it.Source
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