Stan Chilson

> "*Sue's mother is a wonderful woman, but she wasn't the love of my life. There was a girl named Sophie. I was head over heels about her. But my father didn't approve. She wasn't the right kind of girl of me, you, see? My father had a friend on the police force, and he got this cop to plant some stolen property in Sophie's handbag. You know, so I'd see she wasn't a good girl. When her father found about it, he hit her, and she fell down a flight of stairs and died. I was 17 years old. (...) Yes. But to this day, I thank my father for looking out for me. He saved me from throwing my life away for some silly infatuation.*"
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 - Stan to Frank and his friends about his past.

**Stanley Burl "Stan" Chilson** is a minor character and antagonist in ***F is for Family***. He is the father of Sue Murphy and father in law to Frank Murphy. He is voiced by Kurtwood Smith.

## Biography

#### Background

Stan was born in the late 1900s - early 1910s. When he was 17, he had a girlfriend named Sophie who he loved very much. His father however, was very disapproving of the relationship. Since his father had a friend who was a police officer, that officer had access to the evidence locker at the station. In an effort to get Sophie out of Stan’s life, Stan’s father had the cop plant stolen property in Sophie‘s bag. When Sophie‘s father found out, it resulted in him hitting her. Sophie ended up falling down a flight of stairs which resulted in her death.

Sometime after Sophie died, Stan met and eventually married Marilyn. The couple had two children, Louis and Sue Chilson, in the mid to late 1930s. As their kids grew up, Stan was extremely close to Louis.

He served in World War II as he mentioned he was at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed.

When Sue started dating Frank Murphy in the 1950s, Stan strongly disapproved of the relationship. Despite his disapproval, the couple kept dating until 1958, when Frank got Sue pregnant. Sue dropped out of college to marry Frank, much to Stan’s dismay.

At the wedding, Stan checks to see if she was okay. He persistently asks her if she has cold feet, saying that it’s absolutely okay if she did, even bribing her with $1000, $3000, a trip to Europe, or a pony, if she walked out on the wedding. He tells Sue that he has issues with Frank and that he hates him, believing that Sue is throwing her life away rushing into marriage with Frank.

At the reception, Stan openly welcomes Frank into the family in front of the guests, but through gritted teeth tells Frank that if he ever makes Sue cry he would pull Frank’s tongue out by the root.

While Sue talks to a college friend about her pregnancy, Sue comments that her family doesn’t know and then she’ll tell them after the honeymoon. Stan only catches the last part of the conversation and wants to know what Sue is planning to tell them.

Sue ends up telling Stan about her pregnancy which infuriates him. Stan tells Sue he’s not going to give her money anymore. When Louis approaches them, Stan tells Louis that Sue rushed into marriage with Frank because she’s pregnant. Stan tells Sue that she’s no longer a part of the family because she lied to him, and he can’t imagine a bigger disappointment in his life.

Just then, Sue blurts out “Oh yeah? Well Louis is a fruitcake!”. The revelation of Louis’ sexuality leave both men stunned.

After finding out that Louis was gay, Stan subsequently dissowns him and Louis moves away and maintains little to no contact with either parent.

#### Season 3

Stan and Marilyn visit the Murphy family while they’re on vacation in, “Summer Vacation”. He enthusiastically greets his grandchildren and gives them money. When Marilyn tells their pregnant daughter that she’s glowing, Stan comments that it’s probably just sweat since Frank won’t spend money for an air-conditioned hotel room.

When Bill says that Stan is rich, Stan tells his younger grandson that it’s the result of properly planning out a family.

A little later, Stan and Marilyn play a boardgame with Frank, Maureen and Kevin. During the game, Stan makes passive aggressive remarks about the station wagon that Sue drives and the fact that she never finished college. Stan continues making jokes at Frank’s expense which causes his grandkids to laugh.

After Frank leaves the cabin to try to start the grill to cook steaks, Stan and Marilyn ask Sue about her marriage to Frank. Stan tells her that he plays golf with the bishop and for $1000 he can make her problems go away.

Stan and Marilyn end up joining the family for a steak dinner. Stan and Frank end up getting into an argument over President Nixon who Frank supports but Stan doesn’t. Stan expresses his surprise that Frank supports Nixon because Frank is a union man “on the rare occasions he does have a job“. During the argument, Stan tells Frank that while Frank was unemployed, and also during the time Frank found new work, he was sending Sue $100 a month.

The conversation then shifts to Stan’s poor relationship with his son Louis. Stan gets angry when Frank tells him that Louis lives in Miami with his roommate Jeremy, and Stan insists that Louis is a confirmed bachelor. After Frank brought up the fact that Louis does sexual favors in bus station bathrooms, Stan and Marilyn end up leaving.

#### Season 4

Months later, in “The ‘B’ Word, Stan and Marilyn come into town to visit Sue. Marilyn attends the baby shower, while Stan waits at the Murphy house until it’s over.

While Stan and Frank sit far away from each other while watching TV, they start arguing about President Nixon again. When Frank goes to the kitchen to get a drink, he ends up inviting some of his neighbors into his living room to keep him company to prevent him from having to interact with Stan.

Trying to start a conversation with Stan, Goomer comments that Frank told him that Louis is gay. Visibly irritated, Stan insists that Louis just hasn’t found the right girl yet. When Frank passive aggressively remarks that Louis just hasn’t found the right father, Stan says it always has to be the father’s fault. He goes on to tell Frank that Sue told him how much Frank hates his father, but Frank’s father sounds like a saint to put up with all of Frank’s complaining.

Later, Stan listens as Frank, Goomer and Babe talk about how awful their fathers were. Stan then tells the group about his father. He tells them that although Marilyn is a wonderful woman she isn’t the love of his life before talking about his girlfriend Sophie. After he ended his story, he comments that he’s grateful to his father for what he did, saying that he saved him from throwing his life away for a “silly infatuation”, telling Frank that he wish he had done the same for Sue. Frank subsequently kicks him out and Stan gladly leaves. After Frank threatens to tell Marilyn that she’s second to “a dead girl”, Stan threatens to “give him the business”, if he does, before getting in his car and driving away.

#### Season 5

After the birth of his new granddaughter Megan, Stan and Marilyn meet with Sue at a restaurant in “The Rustvale Massacre”, where Stan enthusiastically greets Megan with a wad of cash.

As soon as Sue mentions Frank, Stan becomes excited assuming that Sue and Frank are getting a divorce. Sue tells them that they aren’t getting a divorce, but that Frank’s dad died and when he did die that left things unsaid between William and Frank, and she doesn’t want the same thing to happen to them.

Sue expresses her concern that Stan has always hated Frank, and Stan insists that he hasn’t always hated Frank, but he only hated Frank as soon as he saw him. Sue insists that Stan and Frank should make up at Thanksgiving dinner. Stan says that he doesn’t understand why Sue is attracted to someone with such levels of anger, but agrees to go to their Thanksgiving dinner if it’ll make her happy.

When Sue says she wants to invite Louis, Stan becomes angry saying that he doesn’t want to be around Louis. When Sue comments about how close they used to be, Stan imitates a game show buzzer to get her to stop talking. Sue says that Stan banished Louis from the family and he has to fix it, but Stan lays the blame on Sue, and Marilyn tells Sue that Louis blames her for outing him.

Stan was willing to accept that Sue didn’t want him in her life anymore if he couldn’t accept Louis, which he wasn’t willing to do. However he concedes after Marilyn says she doesn’t want to spend her golden years with just him, and Sue starts crying. Stan ultimately agrees to go to the Thanksgiving dinner, even if Louis was there.

On Thanksgiving in ”Thank You So Much”, Stan and Marilyn arrive at the Murphy house with Sue being the only one there. Stan is very tense with the thought of having to meet with Frank and Louis. He tells Sue that if Louis gives him a hard time they would go to the Szechuan Palace instead.

While sitting and watching TV with Sue, Stan asks her where Louis was, sarcastically suggesting that he might’ve gotten arrested at the bus station again. Louis, who had been standing at the doorway the whole time, ignores Stan’s remark and gives him a hug and tells Stan that he loves and forgives him, much to Stan’s surprise.

Stan says that he wants him and Louis to get along, saying that the fractured relationship has been “eating at the pit of [his] stomach“. When Louis asks if “it” moved to his stomach, Sue distracts them by turning up the volume to a deodorant commercial.

Later, Stan and Louis are joking and laughing together, and they start making fun of Frank as soon as he walks through the door. Sue later instigates an argument between Stan, Louis and Frank, by saying that Frank was glad that Nixon got a full pardon. The three men argue with each other about it all through dinner, but by the time the neighbors come over for dessert, the argument cools down.

Later, Stan and Louis dress up as Charlie Chaplin and entertain the guests.

When Stan and Marilyn are about to leave, Stan thanks Frank and tells him that the turkey was “competently sliced”. Just after Stan and Louis are about to part ways on good terms, Sue says that they should all do this again next year. Louis said she’s insensitive, asking Sue if they should celebrate Thanksgiving on their father‘s grave next year. Stan is confused, and Louis tells Stan that Sue told him that Stan was dying.

When they continue arguing, the arguments switches to Louis’s sexuality and how Stan disowned him over it. As the argument gets more intense, Stan calls Louis a deviant and Louis calls Stan a bigot. Sue and Frank’s attempts to defuse the fighting don’t work, and Stan and Louis turn their attention to insulting Frank.

When Frank starts yelling at the both of them, they both remain quiet as Frank criticizes their ungrateful attitudes towards Sue. Frank ends up telling both men to go fuck themselves, and Stan and Marilyn end up leaving.

## Episode Appearances

### Season 5

* "Blind Alley"
* "Thank You So Much"
* "Screw Ups" (Mentioned)

## Trivia

* Stan is a registered Democrat, having voted for John F. Kennedy in 1960 Election, which maybe mostly likely due to his strong dislike of Richard Nixon, and often chastises Frank, who is a Republican, for his political views.
* While Stan's father caused the death of Sophie via false evidence, it was unknown why he still views it as a positive outcome.
* He dislikes Ford vehicles, stating Ford stands for 'Fix Or Repair Daily'.
* Stan hated Frank from the moment he met him.
* He would be around 110 in 2022.