Pamela Hayden has officially retired from voicing Millhouse in The Simpsons for the past 35 years. She announced via a statement, noting that she is ready to explore other creative pursuits. She was also the voice behind other characters like Rod Flanders and Jimbo Jones.
Fox’s Animation Domination block gave her a heartfelt farewell with a tribute video posted to their social media platforms. In the clip, Hayden gushes about Milhouse, saying she loves his outlook on life and how he always gets back up.
‘The Simpsons’ Millhouse voice actor retires after 35 years
View this post on Instagram
Millhouse first appeared on the cartoon short series version of The Simpsons, which aired on The Tracey Ulman Show in the ‘80s. He was in the commercial for Butterfingers before reappearing in the sitcom series as Bart’s best friend for about 700 episodes out of 774.
Millhouse was also in The Simpsons Movie of 2007, which won multiple Primetime Emmy Awards, Annie Awards, and two Peabody Awards. Unknown to most, Millhouse was named after U.S. president Richard Milhous Nixon by his creator, Matt Groening, who thought that was the most unfortunate name any kid could have.
Pamela Hayden voiced other characters aside from ‘The Simpson’s’ Millhouse
Although Millhouse was her most popular role, Hayden had other voice acting gigs outside of The Simpsons, such as the ‘90s Focus on the Family radio drama Adventures in Odyssey, where she played Katrina Meltsner and Doris Rathbone. She was also Bianca from Spyro: Year of the Dragon, Douglas McNoggin from Lloyd in Space, and Sublimity Jill in Party Wagon.
She has also worked with video games like Lego Dimensions and Enter the Dragonfly. Fans have reacted to the news of her retirement on social media, with some fearing that Millhouse may become a discontinued character. “Given how they haven’t retired Martin or Sherri and Terri…and recast them instead, say these characters are fine,” an X user stated in response to the panic.