Julie Kavner the Voice of Marge Simpson

I suppose today is anecdote day. Most of you probably know that the voice of Marge Simpson is Julie Kavner. I have family all over the world and several homes, some my wife and I own, some we rent. Some were passed down from family members after their death. A small amount of my family lives in Northern Michigan. At one time Michigan had more, as we call them now, celebrities to come out of it than any other state. Of course, many musicians, especially from the Motown era. 

A large amount of athletes and actors that have had great success. Recently my wife and I had visited family in Michigan. It is not the same place at all. In Northern Michigan, there's specifically one place that most people come to visit which is Traverse City. We have the most beautiful part of Lake Michigan and easy access through many beaches to it, and the third most beautiful and cleanest lake on this planet called Torch Lake. So getting to my anecdote. It is amazing the people who have made their living through entertainment that live in a very tiny area called Torch Lake, MI. 

My mother and father who reside in this area. Through my father's business, he meets a lot of these people. As my wife and I are musicians and have acted occasionally, we have met many of these people, but did not know they resided in the area of Northern Michigan. One of these people is Julie Kavner. One of my father's employees who is quite young; his family has a farm in this area. As my father was going to pick up his employee one day, there is a farm with many different animals right next to his employee's parent's farm. My father had came to visit my wife and I as we were vacationing at our summer home which is only about a mile from my parents' home.

He said, I want you two to meet someone. At first I did not really want to go, because he would not tell me who it was. So we follow my father out to his employee's farm. The neighbor everyday would come out to feed her chickens. And as my father had previously talked to this person, he had gained the knowledge of the times that she would tend to her animals. So my wife and I were walking around the farm and we started hearing this lady yelling and my father says, who does that sound like? the whole time knowing what was going on. Instantly I replied, That person sounds exactly like Marge Simpson. So we walked over to the next lot to the other farm and though I did not recognize her. My father introduced me to the lady, she said My name is Julie. 

I replied, do you know if the person who does Marge Simpson's voice ever dies you would make a perfect replacement?

 And she said no I wouldn't because I am the person who does Marge Simpson's voice. I thought my father and Julie were putting me on. 

What I did not know this whole time was my wife was getting on the internet to look up the name and face of the person who does Marge Simpson's voice. My wife shows me the picture on the phone and low and behold, yes, it is Julie Kavner. It's not a great anecdote. The most surprising part to me was the Julie and her husband lived on a farm not five miles from my summer home and raised animals . This had happened quite recently. What I did find out is that they are doing a new Simpsons movie. Some of the inside scoop was given to me that the whole cast was ready to go except for one member. The one member was in contract dispute because of the audacity of the movie studio. 

But that's another story. What I also found out was that this one cast member does over 20 of the voices for the Simpsons. Julie even offered up the amount of money that she had made from the Simpsons which was in the 8 figures. And that apparently this new movie that might turn into another tv series for a short period will pay more than what she has made over the last 20 some odd years. One interesting little fact, when doing most of the shows for the last several years they had gotten it down to perfection. So the equipment was set up in Julie's home in the small little town of Torch Lake. She would do the voice over in her farm house. Without ever having to leave the comfort of her own home. What I found interesting was how she had gotten involved in the Simpsons in the first place. But if you like the story I will share that with you for another time. That's it.