“ | I must find some way to keep Christmas from coming. | ” |
The Grinch is the titular main protagonist from the book and television special, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and the anti-hero of its film adaptation of the same name as the 1966 special and book. He is the resident grouch of Whoville, living high above the Whos on Mount Crumpit with his dog Max, and usually spies on them. The Grinch is a Who-hater (except for the ending of the special, where he changes character completely). The Grinch appeared in Seussical the Musical, portrayed by Patrick Page. In 2000, Jim Carrey portrayed the Grinch in Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas. In the 2018 CGI animated movie The Grinch, the Grinch was portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch. He once hated Christmas, and his heart was two sizes too small.
The Grinch is second only to The Cat in the Hat in terms of popularity of Dr. Seuss's characters.
Appearances
In Cartoons
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
- Horton Hears a Who! (Cameo)
- Halloween is Grinch Night
- The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat
- Horton Hears a Who! (2008 film) (Cameo)
- The Grinch (2018 film)
- Holiday Classics
In Video Games
- Dr. Seuss's ABC (Cameo) in the letter G page. He also makes a cameo in the 1995 Living Books PC game.
Voices
- Boris Karloff - "How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (Special)"
- Bob Holt - "The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat"
- Anthony Asbury - "The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss"
- Hans Conried - "Halloween is Grinch Night"
- Benedict Cumberbatch - The Grinch (2018 film)
Portrayals
Biography
After putting up with Christmas for fifty-three years, the Grinch puts his foot down and takes the Whos' Christmas away from them by disguising himself as Santa Claus. When he is robbing the first house, the Grinch is spotted by Cindy-Lou Who, who got out of bed and asks him, "Why are you taking our Christmas tree?" So, the Grinch lies that one of the lights on Cindy's tree is not working right and is taking it to the workshop to fix it. When Cindy goes back to bed, the Grinch continues the heist. Later, he saw the error of his ways after seeing that Christmas was more than the associated presents and brought everything back to Whoville. He even carved the Roast Beast personally.
Behind the Scenes
Seuss first used the word "Grinch" in 1953 to describe a bird called the Beagle-Beaked-Bald-Headed Grinch in his book Scrambled Eggs Super!
Appearances
The Hoobub and The Grinch
The Grinch first appeared in the short story The Hoobub and the Grinch, originally published in the May 1955 edition of Redbook magazine. Unlike later incarnations, the Grinch is a yellow-colored creature who cheerfully tricks the Hoobub into buying a piece of green string by convincing him that the string is worth more than the Sun. It is later revealed that Grinches often trick Hoobubs into buying worthless items on a regular basis.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (TV Special)
The Grinch appears as the main protagonist in How the Grinch Stole Christmas! TV special. He takes away the Whos' Christmas from them like he did in the book but eventually brings it back in the end. He was voiced by the late Boris Karloff, who was best known for his roles in old horror films.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Film)
This film loosely follows the book and TV special but is more of a hermit who wants peace and quiet. The film also introduces why he hates Christmas, giving him a tragic backstory. He was portrayed by Jim Carrey in the movie.
The Grinch Meets His Max (Book)
The Grinch appears in The Grinch Meets His Max with an itch that will not go away. A dog named Max comes to play with him, but he refuses. He tries to get away from Max but fails. Later, Max scratches the itch; he and the Grinch become best friends and live with him on Mt. Crumpit.
Halloween is Grinch Night
The Grinch appears in Halloween is Grinch Night this time as the main antagonist, although it is a prequel this time. He plans to come to Whoville because of a sour-sweet wind that blows. He has three encounters with the young Who named Euchariah, who pretends he is not scared of the Grinch. The Grinch and his dog Max bring the Paraphernalia Wagon down to Whoville. The wagon is filled with monsters called The Unhuman Race. Euchariah tries to stall the Grinch by getting the Grinch to scare him more and unwittingly causes the Grinch to unleash his entire Paraphernalia upon him. After this, the sour-sweet winds die down, ending the Grinch Night. The Grinch is sent back to his cave in the end, but The Grinch promises to return on another Grinch Night, knowing the wind will come back. In this prequel, because Boris Karloff died of pneumonia in 1969, the Grinch was voiced by the late Hans Conried, who is best known for voicing Captain James Hook and Mr. Darling in Walt Disney's 14th animated masterpiece of 1953, Peter Pan, Lord Duke and the model reference of King Stefan in Disney's 16th animated masterpiece of 1959, Sleeping Beauty, and as Snidley Whiplash in Dudley Do Right.
The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat
The Grinch later appears in The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat again as the main antagonist. He meets the Cat in the Hat for the first time. Initially, he is happy until his Grinch Reflection turns him back into himself. He ruins the Cat's day by using a device called the Vackusound Sweaper, which allows him to make anyone make any sound he wants. He also invented the darkhouse, which makes things so dark that you cannot see a glove in front of you. Near the end of the special, the Cat in the Hat goes to a cafe, but the Chef there asks him if he wants some food. The Cat was just trying to get away from the Grinch, but the Grinch also made trouble in the café. The Cat and the other people sing to The Grinch about his mother, and the Grinch turns nice again. For this special, because Hans Conried died of a heart attack just four months before this special aired, the Grinch was voiced by the late Bob Holt, who is best known for his voice role as the Hulk in the animated series of the same name and as Homer Zuckerman in Charlotte's Web.
The Wubbulous World Of Dr. Seuss
The Grinch appears in The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss as a secondary villain in season 1 and a recurring villain in season 2. He is the main antagonist of the Seussville segments. He was portrayed by Anthony Asbury, who is best known for his Muppets roles and is the only voice actor of the character to be still alive.
Horton Hears A Who!
The Grinch appears as a cameo in both Horton Hears a Who! installments.
The Grinch
The Grinch is the main protagonist in the 2018 computer-animated film remake, voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch. Like the 2000 movie, this movie gives him another tragic backstory, one in which he was a lonely orphan who never had the chance to celebrate Christmas with others.
Seussical The Musical
The Grinch has a small role in Seussical the Musical. He was portrayed by Patrick Page.
Personality
The Grinch is an unpleasant "Who-hating" grouch with a wicked temper, sour attitude, depressed judgment, and a heart about two sizes too small (the only exception to this is the end of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, where he becomes whole-hearted and loving), and is always out to ruin something. In Grinch Night, he is shown to be sadistic, chasing an endangered animal while lashing his whip at it, which shocks even the Whos, who believed the creature would have some sort of immunity. In Grinch Night, the Grinch is far more menacing, and the Whos are shown to fear him actively.
He comes down to Whoville only on holidays, which we see in two of the three holiday-based TV specials. However, in How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, he opposes the holiday and comes down to sabotage it. In Grinch Night, he comes down to waltz around for Grinch Night to torment the town. Despite the title claiming it to be Halloween, Grinch Night appears to be a randomly occurring event signaled by the coming of the Sour Sweet Wind. This signals all the Whos to lock down their homes annually. According to the live-action Grinch movie, he hates Christmas due to being bullied as a child.
The Grinch's only friend is his pet dog, Max. A big-eyed pooch loyal to his master despite the Grinch treating Max like a servant, Max is also an unwitting companion in the Grinch's plots. The Grinch forces Max to masquerade as a "reindeer" by attaching a crooked pair of antlers to his head and making Max pull the sleigh with all the Whos' Christmas goodies inside.
He is seen giving up his evil reputation and becoming important (or more important) to Whoville.
Live-Action Film
In the live-action film, his behavior is more over-the-top. He is portrayed as having a reputation similar to Bigfoot, although in his case, he is known to exist. This version of the Grinch also holds a grudge against the Mayor of Whoville, who had bullied him as a child in school and won the heart of his childhood crush, Martha May Whovier.[1]
CGI Animated Film
In the CGI animated film, The Grinch is slightly nicer - while still rude and mean to the citizens of Whoville - and has a soft spot for animals, especially Max. He believes that the Whos are all greedy and only think about themselves, which adds to his hatred of Christmas. While still a loner, this Grinch goes to Whoville to buy groceries, although he hates the town and its residents. He is also slightly clumsier than his original counterpart. After his inevitable change of heart, he is shown to be socially awkward around others, mostly because of his guilt and because his only companions are Max and a reindeer named Fred.
Physical Description
The Grinch has a large potbelly, long fingers, long feet, a pear-shaped body (much like the Whos), yellow teeth, and green fur. He has red pupils and yellow eyeballs. He has large, sinister black eyebrows and deep lines on his forehead. His mouth lines are subtle when he is in a neutral mood, yet very stretched when he grins. He has a pair of brooding, deep-set, soulless eyes, like a fish with red irises - although they are noted to become rounder and white and feature blue irises after the Grinch's "conversion." In the book, his eyes are red-pink with black irises, while in the movie, they are yellow with black irises.
Since Halloween Is Grinch Night, his eyes have remained yellow, with green irises and red pupils. Another physical characteristic noted to change after the Grinch learns the true meaning of Christmas is his face, which, in addition to the line softening mentioned above, becomes somewhat heart-shaped as he smiles broadly. A long neck is prominent, with layers of green fur coming down it.
He has pockets in the fur of his large stomach as he rests his hands inside this area. Concerning posture, he is loose and can bend easily.
Exclusive to the Live Action Film
In the live action film, he stands 1.75 to 6'6" to 2.14 meters. His fingers and feet look longer due to the long portions of hair coming off of them.
Exclusive to the CGI Animated Film
In the CGI animated film, the Grinch has lighter, cleaner fur and is taller and more slender compared to his original version. He has buck teeth and normal eyes with green irises.
Powers and Abilities
The Grinch has demonstrated above-average (even superhuman) strength on at least two occasions. Still, this is unusual, and he found "the strength of forty-seven Grinchman."
He is also a skilled craftsman, engineer, and quantum physicist, having built his sleigh, many of the contraptions within his cave, and many contraptions in The Grinch Grinches The Cat in The Hat.
In Halloween is Grinch Night, he is shown to be able to make his eyebrows fly off of his face and attack Euchariah while singing a chant. He could also contain many nightmarish creatures within his wagon at some point before the special and then release them in the special.
Trivia
- Fozzie Bear got green paint all over, like the Grinch from It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie.
- He was 8 when he went to Mt Crumpit, and he spent 53 years there, so at the time of the story, he is 61 years old, making him born in 1896 in the book, 1905 in the 1966 special, 1939 in the 2000 movie, and 1957 in the 2018 movie.
- His full name could be Ethan Grinch, but he is often referred to as Mr. Grinch or Ethan Who due to his adoption by Camilla and Rose Who.
- The Grinch makes a cameo on Margo's shirt in Despicable Me 3.
Quotes
- "I must find someway to keep Christmas from coming." - How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
- "I must stop Christmas from coming! But how?" - How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
- "You put your glasses back on and face the facts! Am I the Grinch? Ha! (Smiles evilly) I'll show him. - Halloween is Grinch Night, when The Grinch is about to chant with his eyebrows flying off of him.
- "(Defeated) Well I'll be Grinched." - Halloween is Grinch Night
- "I'm sure gonna miss that Grinch Night ball, but you know, (Evilly smiles) that wind will be coming back someday. (Turns to the screen) I'll be coming back. (Winks) Someday! (Evilly laughs while pulling his Paraphernalia Wagon back to the top of Mt. Crumpit)" - Halloween is Grinch Night, when The Grinch announces his revenge before stealing Christmas.
- "And a very good morning to you, Mr. Grinch!" - The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat whenever The Grinch talks to his reflection in the mirror.
- "Uh-oh! Somebody's... FABULOUS! (Kisses Mayor Augustus May Who)" - How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000 film) after shaving Augustus' head off.