Frederick Joseph "Fred" Flintstone is a fictional character who originated in the animated sitcom The Flintstones on ABC. He is the husband of Wilma Flintstone and father of Pebbles Flintstone. His best friends are his next door neighbors, Barney and Betty Rubble, who have a son named Bamm-Bamm.

Fred lives in the fictional prehistoric city of Bedrock, at 345 Cave Stone Road, a world where dinosaurs coexist with modernized barefoot cavepeople and the cavepeople enjoy "primitive" versions of modern conveniences such as telephones, automobiles, and washing machines.

Fred has since appeared in various other cartoon spinoffs, live action adaptations and commercials.

Personality and occupation

Fred's personality was based on that of Ralph Kramden of the 1950s television series The Honeymooners and Chester A. Riley from The Life of Riley. Thus, much like Ralph, Fred tends to be loud-mouthed, aggressive, and constantly scheming ways to improve his family's working class lot in life, often with unintended results..

Fred is a typical blue-collar worker, who works as a "bronto crane operator" at Slate Rock and Gravel Company (also known as Rockhead and Quarry Cave Construction Company in the earliest episodes).

The Flintstone family came from "Arkenstone" {Arkansas} where they had been engaged in a feud with the "Hatrock" family-which had been caused by a ancestor of Fred's making a wisecrack of a Hatrock family portrait; in this episode the feud is ended when Fred helps save a Hatrock child-only to start up again when Fred makes the very same wisecrack. The last of the Arkenstone Flintstones was Fred's Great-uncle Zeke Flintstone. Other Flintstone relatives were Giggles Flintstone-a rich eccentric practical joker-whose jokes drive Fred into a made rage; an "Uncle Tex" and his sister "Aunt Jamima". Fred's interests include bowling, playing pool, poker, lounging around the house, and playing golf. At the first two of these, he is very skilled, as seen in one of the episodes where he plays against Wilma's unsuspecting mother. Also, Fred has won championships with his incredible bowling skills; in one episode, he goes so far as to take ballet lessons in order to improve his game which led to his nickname "Twinkletoes". The nickname of "Twinkletoes" stuck with him when Fred attended a local college and became eligible to play on their football team, that becoming his call sign. Fred is also an excellent golfer. In one episode he wins the championship only to have Barney repossess the winning trophy cup because Fred is behind in his dues. Fred, like Barney, was also a member of the Loyal Order of Water Buffalos Lodge and a member of the Loyal Order of Dinosaurs (clearly modeled after Freemasonry; Mel Blanc, the voice behind Barney, was himself a Mason, although Masons do not wear elaborate funny hats or make animal sounds). Fred also has a serious gambling problem; the mere mention of the word "bet" causes Fred to stammer "bet" over and over again and go on gambling binges. The original series had several stories regarding TV with Fred as a dupe-in one Fred Makes a fool of himself trying to give Wilma acting lessons after she wins a TV appearance-only for the only part of her to appear on TV is her hands; in another when Fred wins a TV appearance he tries to act like a "Stage parent"-until he comes down with stage fright; another time Fred appears on a TV commercial-in a non speaking role in a "Before" picture of a person before going on a diet; once Fred appeared in the movies-as a stunt double!