Ethyl Phillips

Ethyl Phillips, neé Hinkleman, is the cranky mother of Fran Sinclair on Dinosaurs. Seventy-two-year-old Ethyl is wheelchair-bound, but still takes regular swipes at her son-in-law Earl Sinclair with her cane. Though the character's first taped appearance was "Employee of the Month," in which she comes to visit the Sinclair Home, her television debut came much earlier, in the first season episode "Hurling Day." After being persuaded by Robbie and Fran that she doesn't have to go through with Hurling Day and tantalized by the prospect of making Earl's life a continual misery, Grandma Ethyl becomes a permanent member of the Sinclair household.
The cynical Ethyl derides Earl as "Fat boy," but has a soft spot for Baby Sinclair, often reading children's stories or lurid romances to him. Ethyl's late husband was Grandpa Louie, who she still expresses a sentimental longing for.
==Notes==
*The character was originally conceived as a pterodactyl who would hang inside the Sinclair's closet.Kirk Thatcher on High Voltage Radio Hour (40:12)
*Like the Sinclairs, B.P. Richfield, and Roy Hess, Ethyl's last name comes from an oil company -- the Phillips Petroleum Company. Her first name, Ethyl, also derives from oil producting roots.
==Appearances==
*Episode 103: Hurling Day
*Episode 104: High Noon
*Episode 105: The Howling
*Episode 201: The Golden Child
*Episode 202: Family Challenge
*Episode 203: I Never Ate for My Father
*Episode 204: Charlene's Tale
*Episode 206: Employee of the Month
*Episode 207: When Food Goes Bad
*Episode 209: Unmarried ... With Children
*Episode 212: Refrigerator Day
*Episode 218: The Last Temptation of Ethyl
*Episode 219: Nuts to War (part 1)
*Episode 220: Nuts to War (part 2)
*Episode 221: And the Winner Is...
*Episode 222: Slave to Fashion
*Episode 301: Nature Calls
*Episode 303: Baby Talk
*Episode 304: Network Genius
*Episode 306: Little Boy Boo
*Episode 307: Germ Warfare
*Episode 311: Wilderness Weekend
*Episode 312: The Son Also Rises
*Episode 319: If I Were a Tree
*Episode 404: Driving Miss Ethyl
*Episode 406: Terrible Twos
*Episode 407: Changing Nature
*Episode 409*: Scent of a Reptile
==Sources==
__NOWYSIWYG__
Category:Creatures
Category:Dinosaurs Characters