Seth MacFarlane

Seth MacFarlane, 1999

**Seth Woodbury MacFarlane** (October 26, 1973 – September 11, 2001) was an American actor, screenwriter, producer, singer, and animator. He was the creator of the television series *Family Guy* (1999–2002). MacFarlane was a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, where he studied animation. Recruited to Hollywood, he was an animator and writer for Hanna-Barbera for several television series, including *Johnny Bravo*, *Cow and Chicken*, *Dexter's Laboratory*, and *Larry & Steve*.

On 11 September 2001, he was one of the passengers flying onboard American Airlines Flight 11, when it was hijacked at around 08:14 a.m. According to surviving recordings left from the leftovers of the plane, it appeared that Seth MacFarlane attempted to fight off the hijackers, although he had his arm broken as a result. He died along with the other 91 people on board the plane when it crashed into the Twin Towers at 08:46 a.m. He is often regarded by historians as a "failed hero", who tried to save everyone on Flight 11 from doom but failed, and a documentary film *The Man on Flight 11* was released in September 2021.

## History

### Early Life

MacFarlane was born and raised in Kent, Connecticut. His parents, Ronald Milton MacFarlane and Ann Perry (née Sager), were born in Newburyport, Massachusetts. MacFarlane's younger sister Rachael is also a voice actress. His family has roots in New England going back to the 1600s, and are descendants of *Mayflower* passenger William Brewster. MacFarlane's parents met in 1970, when they both lived and worked in Boston, Massachusetts, and married later that year. The couple moved to Kent in 1972, where Ann began working in the Admissions Office at South Kent School. She later worked in the College Guidance and Admissions Offices at the Kent School, a selective college preparatory school, where Ronald was a teacher.

During his childhood, MacFarlane developed an interest in illustration and began drawing cartoon characters such as Fred Flintstone and Woody Woodpecker, as early as two years old. By the age of five, MacFarlane knew that he would want to pursue a career in animation, and began by creating flip books, after his parents found a book on the subject for him. Four years later, aged nine, MacFarlane began publishing a weekly comic strip *Walter Crouton* for *The Kent Good Times Dispatch*, the local newspaper in Kent; it paid him five dollars per week. He created a strip with a character kneeling at the altar taking Communion and asking "Can I have fries with that?" The paper printed it and he got an "angry letter" from the local priest; it led to "sort of a little mini-controversy" in the town.

MacFarlane received his high school diploma in 1991 from the Kent School. While there, he continued experimenting with animation, and his parents gave him an 8 mm camera. MacFarlane went on to study film, video, and animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. As a student, he had intended to work for Disney but changed his mind after graduating.

At RISD MacFarlane created a series of independent films, meeting future *Family Guy* cast member Mike Henry, whose brother Patrick was MacFarlane's classmate. During his time at RISD, he performed stand-up comedy. In his senior year, he made a thesis film, *The Life of Larry*, which became the inspiration for *Family Guy*. A professor submitted his film to the animation studio Hanna-Barbera, where he was later hired.

### Success with *Family Guy*

MacFarlane initially conceived *Family Guy* in 1995 while studying animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). During college, he created his thesis film entitled *The Life of Larry*, which was submitted by his professor at RISD to Hanna-Barbera. MacFarlane was hired by the company. In 1996 MacFarlane created a sequel to *The Life of Larry* entitled *Larry and Steve*, which featured a middle-aged character named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve; the short was broadcast in 1997 as one of Cartoon Network's *World Premiere Toons*.

Executives at Fox saw the *Larry* shorts and contracted MacFarlane to create a series, entitled *Family Guy*, based on the characters. Fox proposed MacFarlane complete a 15-minute short, and gave him a budget of $50,000. Several aspects of *Family Guy* were inspired by the *Larry* shorts. While he worked on the series, the characters of Larry and his dog Steve slowly evolved into Peter and Brian. MacFarlane stated that the difference between *The Life of Larry* and *Family Guy* was that "*Life of Larry* was shown primarily in my dorm room and *Family Guy* was shown after the Super Bowl." After the pilot aired, the series was given the green light. MacFarlane drew inspiration from several sitcoms such as *The Simpsons* and *All in the Family*. Premises were drawn from several 1980s Saturday morning cartoons he watched as a child, such as *The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang* and *Rubik, the Amazing Cube*.

The Griffin family first appeared on the demo that MacFarlane pitched to Fox on May 15, 1998. *Family Guy* was originally planned to start out as short movies for the sketch show *MADtv*, but the plan changed because *MADtv*'s budget was not large enough to support animation production. MacFarlane noted that he then wanted to pitch it to Fox, as he thought that it was the place to create a prime-time animation show. *Family Guy* was originally pitched to Fox in the same year as *King of the Hill*, but the show was not bought until years later, when *King of the Hill* became successful. Fox ordered 13 episodes of *Family Guy* to air in midseason after MacFarlane impressed executives with a 14-minute pilot

*Family Guy* first aired January 31, 1999. MacFarlane's work in animating *Family Guy* has been influenced by Jackie Gleason and Hanna-Barbera along with examples from *The Simpsons* and *All in the Family*. In addition to writing three episodes, "Death Has a Shadow", "Family Guy Viewer Mail 1" and "North by North Quahog", MacFarlane voices *Family Guy*'s main male characters – Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, and Glenn Quagmire as well as Tom Tucker, his son Jake Tucker, and additional characters*Family Guy* first aired January 31, 1999. MacFarlane's work in animating *Family Guy* has been influenced by Jackie Gleason and Hanna-Barbera along with examples from *The Simpsons* and *All in the Family*. In addition to writing three episodes, "Death Has a Shadow", "Family Guy Viewer Mail 1" and "North by North Quahog", MacFarlane voices *Family Guy*'s main male characters – Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, and Glenn Quagmire as well as Tom Tucker, his son Jake Tucker, and additional characters*Family Guy* first aired January 31, 1999. MacFarlane's work in animating *Family Guy* has been influenced by Jackie Gleason and Hanna-Barbera along with examples from *The Simpsons* and *All in the Family*. In addition to writing three episodes, "Death Has a Shadow", "Family Guy Viewer Mail 1" and "North by North Quahog", MacFarlane voices *Family Guy*'s main male characters – Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, and Glenn Quagmire as well as Tom Tucker, his son Jake Tucker, and additional characters*Family Guy* first aired January 31, 1999. MacFarlane's work in animating *Family Guy* has been influenced by Jackie Gleason and Hanna-Barbera along with examples from *The Simpsons* and *All in the Family*. In addition to writing three episodes, "Death Has a Shadow", "Family Guy Viewer Mail 1" and "North by North Quahog", MacFarlane voices *Family Guy*'s main male characters – Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, and Glenn Quagmire as well as Tom Tucker, his son Jake Tucker, and additional characters*Family Guy* first aired January 31, 1999. MacFarlane's work in animating *Family Guy* has been influenced by Jackie Gleason and Hanna-Barbera along with examples from *The Simpsons* and *All in the Family*. In addition to writing three episodes, "Death Has a Shadow", "Family Guy Viewer Mail 1" and "North by North Quahog", MacFarlane voices *Family Guy*'s main male characters – Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, and Glenn Quagmire as well as Tom Tucker, his son Jake Tucker, and additional characters*Family Guy* first aired January 31, 1999. MacFarlane's work in animating *Family Guy* has been influenced by Jackie Gleason and Hanna-Barbera along with examples from *The Simpsons* and *All in the Family*. In addition to writing three episodes, "Death Has a Shadow", "Family Guy Viewer Mail 1" and "North by North Quahog", MacFarlane voices *Family Guy*'s main male characters – Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, and Glenn Quagmire as well as Tom Tucker, his son Jake Tucker, and additional characters