- “Bah, humbug”
- ―Scrooge's catchphrase
Ebenezer Scrooge is the protagonist and former anti-hero of Charles Dickins' 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol.
Background[]
Personality[]
At the beginning of the story, Scrooge is embittered, selfish and downright arrogant, even not allowing Bob Cratchit to use the coal to warm up the building during the winter. He is even cold towards his nephew, which is never explicitly stated why. The book and especially the 1951 adaptation implies it was because Ebenezer blamed Fred for his sister's death.
In the past, he was heartbroken from being abandoned by an unloving father, his sister dying when Fred was born, and Belle leaving him.
By the end of the novel, Mr. Scrooge becomes cheerful once again, and has been mentioned to have been a better man in his word .
List of notable portrayals[]
Scrooge has been portrayed by numerous actors.
- Marc McDermott in 1910
- Seymour Hicks in 1913 and again in 1935
- Rupert Julian in 1916
- Russell Thorndike in 1923
- Lionel Barrymore on radio 1934-1937, 1939-1953
- John Barrymore in 1936 on radio, for ailing brother Lionel
- Orson Welles in 1938 on radio replacing Lionel Barrymore for one appearance only.
- Reginald Owen in 1938
- Claude Rains on radio 1940
- John Carradine in 1947
- Malcolm Keen in 1947
- Taylor Holmes in 1949
- Bransby Williams in 1950
- Alastair Sim in 1951, and again in 1971 (voice)
- Fredric March in 1954
- Basil Rathbone in 1956 and 1958
- Stan Freberg in Green Chri$tma$, 1958.
- Jim Backus (as Quincy Magoo) in Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol, 1962
- Cyril Ritchard in 1964
- Sterling Hayden as Daniel Grudge in Rod Serling's Carol for Another Christmas (1964)
- Wilfrid Brambell in a 1966 radio musical version (adapted from his Broadway role)
- Sid James in the Carry On Christmas Specials, 1969
- Albert Finney in 1970
- Marcel Marceau in 1973
- Michael Hordern in 1977
- Rich Little as W.C. Fields playing Scrooge in Rich Little's Christmas Carol, 1978
- Walter Matthau (voice) in The Stingiest Man in Town, 1978
- Henry Winkler as Benedict Slade in An American Christmas Carol, 1979
- Hoyt Axton as Cyrus Flint in Skinflint: A Country Christmas Carol, 1979
- Mel Blanc (as Yosemite Sam) in Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol, 1979
- Henk Van Ulzen in De Wonderbaarlijke Genezing Van (the Wonderfull Cure of) Ebenezer Scrooge 1979
- Hal Landon Jr. as Ebenezer Scrooge since 1980, more than 1,100 performances.
- Alan Young (as Scrooge McDuck) in Mickey's Christmas Carol, 1983
- George C. Scott in 1984
- Mel Blanc (this time as Cosmo Spacely) in the Jetsons episode "A Jetson Christmas Carol", 1985
- Robert Guillaume as John Grin in John Grin's Christmas, 1986
- Oliver Muirhead as "Constable Scrooge" in A Christmas Held Captive, 1986
- Bill Murray as Frank Cross in Scrooged, 1988
- Buddy Hackett (as himself) played Scrooge in the film-within-a-film.
- Rowan Atkinson as Ebenezer Blackadder in Blackadder's Christmas Carol, 1988
- Michael Caine in The Muppet Christmas Carol, 1992
- Jeffrey Sanzel has appeared in more than 1,000 stage performances since 1992
- James Earl Jones in Bah, Humbug, 1994
- Walter Charles, Tony Randall, Terrence Mann, Hal Linden, Roddy McDowall, F. Murray Abraham, Frank Langella, Tony Roberts, Roger Daltrey, and Jim Dale in the stage version of Alan Menken's musical (1994-2003)
- Henry Corden (as Fred Flintstone) in A Flintstones Christmas Carol, 1994
- Susan Lucci as Elizabeth "Ebbie" Scrooge in Ebbie, 1995
- Beavis as Beavis Scrooge, 1995
- Cicely Tyson as Ebenita Scrooge in Ms. Scrooge, 1997
- Tim Curry (voice) in 1997
- Jack Palance in Ebenezer, 1997
- Ernest Borgnine (as Carface Carruthers) in An All Dogs Christmas Carol, 1998
- Patrick Stewart in 1999
- Vanessa Williams as Ebony Scrooge in A Diva's Christmas Carol, 2000
- Ross Kemp as Eddie Scrooge in 2000
- Dean Jones in Scrooge and Marley, 2001
- Tori Spelling as "Scroogette" Carol Cartman in A Carol Christmas, 2003
- Kelsey Grammer in 2004
- Bill Bourne in The Carol Project, 2006
- Joe Alaskey (as Daffy Duck) in Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas, 2006
- Helen Fraser as Sylvia Hollamby in Bad Girls 2006 Christmas Special
- Morwenna Banks as Eden Starling (Barbie) in Barbie in a Christmas Carol, 2008
- Jim Carrey in 2009
- Carrey also played the three spirits haunting Scrooge).
- Catherine Tate as Nan in Nan's Christmas Carol, 2009
- Matthew McConaughey as Connor 'Dutch' Mead in the movie Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, 2009
- Christina Milian as Sloane Spencer in Christmas Cupid, December 2010
- Eric Braeden as Victor Newman in "Victor's Christmas Carol" on The Young and the Restless, December 2010
- Michael Gambon as Kazran Sardick in "A Christmas Carol" on Doctor Who, December 2010.
- George Lopez as Grouchy Smurf in The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol (2011)
- Emmanuelle Vaugier as Carol Huffman in the 2012 TV movie It's Christmas, Carol!
- Robert Powell in Neil Brand's 2014 BBC Radio 4 adaptation of A Christmas Carol
- Ned Dennehy in the BBC drama Dickensian, 2015
- Jason Graae in the musical Scrooge in Love!, 2016
- Morwenna Banks as Eden Starling in Barbie in a Christmas Carol.
- Christopher Plummer in The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)
- Guy Pearce in the 2019 miniseries
Gallery[]
Characters who portrayed the role[]
- Cruella de Vil
- London Tipton (A London Carol)
- Starlight Glimmer (as Snowfall Frost)
- Barbie
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