Castor Oyl is a fictional character, created in 1920 by

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

Elzie Crisler Segar Elzie Crisler Segar (; December 8, 1894 – October 13, 1938), known by the pen name E. C. Segar, was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of Popeye, a pop culture character who first appeared in 1929 in Segar's comic strip ''Thimble ...

for his

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

Thimble Theatre Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Olive Oyl Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar in 1919 for his comic strip ''Thimble Theatre''. The strip was later renamed ''Popeye'' after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however, Olive Oyl was a ...

's older brother, debuting in ''Thimble Theatre'' on January 14, 1920. While initially a minor character defined chiefly by his bizarre, paradoxical antics (often alleged by other characters to be a product of

insanity Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to ...

), Segar progressively adapted Castor into more of an ambitious, enterprising

everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...

figure as the strip evolved into a serialized comedy-adventure style. By 1924, Castor had arguably displaced

Harold Hamgravy Harold Hamgravy, better known as Ham Gravy, is an American comics character from the ''Thimble Theatre'' (later '' Popeye'') series, created in 1919 by E. C. Segar. Ham Gravy was the original fiancé of the better-known character Olive Oyl, b ...

as the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

of the strip, a role he occupied until the first appearance of the Popeye character in January 1929. In response to Castor's increasing prominence, Segar introduced a number of secondary characters acting as foils to his antics, most notably his wife Cylinda Oyl, to whom he was married from August 1926 to June 1928, his fighting cockerel Blizzard, a major character from August 1923 to January 1925, and Cylinda's father, the elderly, moneyed

miser A miser is a person who is reluctant to spend, sometimes to the point of forgoing even basic comforts and some necessities, in order to hoard money or other possessions. Although the word is sometimes used loosely to characterise anyone who ...

I. Canniford Lotts. A quick-witted yet diminutive adventurer, Castor Oyl initially continued to be an important character in ''Thimble Theatre'' following Popeye's introduction, yet had largely exited the regular cast by the end of 1931 and played virtually no role in the ''Popeye'' theatrical

cartoons A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

produced first by

Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () is an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of i ...

and then by

Famous Studios Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the first animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount seized contro ...

. His most prominent appearance in the series is as a member of Popeye's

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

in the 1935 short ''The Spinach Overture''. Since

Randy Milholland Randal Keith Milholland (born November 25, 1975), better known as R. K. Milholland, is an American webcomic author. His works include ''Something Positive'', ''New Gold Dreams'', ''Midnight Macabre'', ''Classically Positive'' and ''Super Stupor'' ...

took over the strip in 2022, Castor, his wife Cylinda—with whom he has reconciled—and their daughter Deezil have started appearing in the strip again. In the

1980 film __NOTOC__ Year 198 (CXCVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Gallus (or, less frequently, year 951 ''Ab u ...

directed by

Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and is considered an enduring figure from the New H ...

, Castor is a key character, and is played by actor

Donovan Scott Donovan Scott (born September 29, 1947) is an American character actor best known for his role as cadet Leslie Barbara in the 1984 film ''Police Academy (film), Police Academy'', in which he was part of an ensemble cast led by Steve Guttenberg. ...

. In the film, however, he is made Olive's younger brother and is considerably less sophisticated than his comic strip counterpart.

Punny names

Castor Oyl is named after

castor oil Castor oil is a vegetable oil pressed from castor beans. It is a colourless or pale yellow liquid with a distinct taste and odor. Its boiling point is and its density is 0.961 g/cm3. It includes a mixture of triglycerides in which about ...

, a

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

often given to children for various ailments until the mid 20th century. His mother Nana's name derives from "banana oil", an epithet similar to "

baloney Bologna sausage, informally baloney ( ), is a sausage derived from the Italian mortadella, a similar-looking, finely ground pork sausage, originally from the city of Bologna (). Typical seasonings for bologna include black pepper, nutmeg, all ...

". His father Cole's name derives from "

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

oil", a now arcane term for

kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...

. His daughter Deezil's name derives from "

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

oil."

References

External links

Popeye , The Home of Popeye the Sailor Man
Comics characters introduced in 1920 Male characters in comics Popeye characters {{Comics-char-stub