Barney Rubble

Biography

Barney Rubble is a fictional character who appears in the television animated series The Flintstones. He is the short, blond-haired caveman husband of Betty Rubble and adoptive father of Bamm-Bamm Rubble. His best friend is his next door neighbor, Fred Flintstone. Barney's personality was based on that of Ed Norton on the 1950s television series The Honeymooners, played by Art Carney. Like Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, Fred was constantly on the lookout for get-rich-quick schemes, while Barney, like Norton, found life satisfactory as it was, but participated in said schemes because Fred was his friend. Usually, after Fred had hatched one of his plans, Barney showed his agreement by laughing and saying, "Uh hee hee hee... OK, Fred!" or "Whatever you say, Fred!" In the early episodes, Barney had a New Jersey accent. It was soon changed to a deeper, more chuckle-like American voice. In "On the Rocks" and the late 2000s, his New Jersey accent returns. Barney's interests included bowling, playing pool, poker, tinkering around in Fred's garage, and playing golf (though in some episodes, Barney did not know how to play golf). He, like Fred, was also a member of the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes lodge and its predecessor in earlier episodes, the Loyal Order of Dinosaurs. He is also a talented pianist and drummer. In the first episode of the original series, he was an inventor of a human-powered helicopter. Another time Barney actually built an advanced sports car racer; which almost but did not win a $50,000 race because the car's stone wheels crumbled at the last minute. Although clearly depicted as being in better shape than Fred, he is not shown to be quite as enthusiastic a sportsman as Fred is. This distinction can be attributed to Fred's fondness for food, though Barney is shown to be almost as capable of excessive appetite on a number of occasions.

Bio from Wikipedia