Biography for
Waylon Smithers (Character)
from "The Simpsons" (1989)

Waylon Smithers was born in 1954. His father was the assistant to C. Montgomery Burns at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant when he died in an accident, making Mr. Burns the closest thing to a father figure he knew. In high school, he was beaten up by bullies (including Homer Simpson), while he was the announcer for the high school gymnastics competition. Eventually he became Mr. Burns' personal assistant.

As a (not very well) closeted gay man, he has had a crush on Mr. Burns for as long as he as worked for him, but Burns has never caught on. He was previously married (to a woman), but it fell apart when his then-wife referred to his true love, Mr. Burns, as "awful". At one point it was implied that he was linked romantically to John, the owner of Cockamamie's thrift shop. He collects Malibu Stacy dolls, writes a newsletter about the doll, and was the author of a Malibu Stacy stage musical that played in Arizona; he played Stacy's boyfriend. He once owned a Yorkshire Terrier named Hercules. When Mr. Burns convinced Sideshow Bob to run for mayor, it was Smithers who revealed to Bart and Lisa Simpson a clue that would lead them to the truth about Bob's not-so-honest victory in the mayoral election.

In 1995, when Mr. Burns attempted to block the sun from Springfield after stealing oil from the elementary school, Smithers objected and was fired. This drove him into a nightmare of alcohol abuse and Comedy Central viewing. He was the main suspect in the subsequent shooting of Mr. Burns, but he was cleared. However, he did, in a drunken stupor, shoot an old man named Jasper in his wooden leg while trying to rush home to watch his favorite TV show. No charges were pressed in this case.