View source for Violet (Peanuts)

{{Short description|Peanuts comic strip character}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Violet (''Peanuts'')}}
{{Infobox character
| name       = Violet Gray
| series     = [[Peanuts]]
| image      = [[File:VioletGray.png|frameless]]
| caption    = 
| first      = February 7, 1951<br>''[[A Charlie Brown Christmas]]'' (television special)<br>''[[A Boy Named Charlie Brown]]'' (film)
| last       = November 12, 1996 (comic strip; original)<br>November 25, 1997 (comic strip; reprint)
| gender     = Female
| family     = 
| voice      = [[Sally Dryer]] (1963, 1965)<br />Karen Mendelson (1966)<br />Ann Altieri (1966-1969)<br />Linda Ercoli (1972-1975, 1976)<br />Lynn Mortensen (1974)<br />[[Linda Thompson (actress)|Linda Jenner]] (1974)<br />Roseline Rubens (1980)<br />[[Fergie (singer)|Stacy Ferguson]] (1985)<br />Deanna Tello (1992)<br />Ashley Edner (2000)<br>Kaitlyn Maggio (2003)<br />Jolean Wejbe (2006)<br>Taya Calicetto (2008-2009)<br />Blesst Bowden (2011)<br>[[Madisyn Shipman]] (2015)<br />Charlie Boyle (2021-present)
}}
'''Violet Gray'''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1953/04/04 |title=Peanuts by Charles Schulz for April 04, 1953 |publisher=GoComics |date= |accessdate=2024-12-01}}</ref> is a fictional character featured in the long-running syndicated [[Daily strip|daily]] and [[Sunday strip|Sunday]] [[comic strip]] ''[[Peanuts]]'', created by [[Charles M. Schulz]]. Violet first appeared in the February 7, 1951 strip.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Farago |first1=Andrew |title=The Complete Peanuts Family Album: The Ultimate Guide to Charles M. Schulz's Classic Characters |date=2017 |publisher=Weldon Owen |isbn=978-1681882925 |page=51}}</ref> She was originally a major character, until she was eventually relegated to background and cameo appearances as other female characters became more prominent, with [[Lucy van Pelt|Lucy]] ultimately taking over most of Violet's character traits.

Violet is best known as a bit of a snob who likes bragging and, along with her best friends [[Lucy van Pelt|Lucy]] and [[Patty (Peanuts)|Patty]], often teases and torments [[Charlie Brown]]. She bullies other characters in the strip, particularly "[[Pig-Pen]]" and Charlie Brown.

In addition to the comic strip, Violet has appeared alongside other ''Peanuts'' characters in numerous ''Peanuts'' television specials, cinematic movies, theatrical plays, and video games.

== History ==
Violet first appeared in the February 7, 1951 ''Peanuts'' strip.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1951/02/07|title=February 7, 1951 strip|last=Schulz|first=Charles|date=1972-05-31|website=GoComics|language=en|access-date=2019-02-22}}</ref> She became the strip's fifth character: up to that point, Charlie Brown, Shermy, Patty and Snoopy had been the only four characters seen in the then four-month-old strip.  From there on, Violet's character changed and developed until the 1960s, when she began to be seen less often than the other major characters, with her  appearances eventually reduced to  the background and cameos. Her last appearance was in the November 27, 1997 ''Peanuts'' strip.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1997/11/27|title=Peanuts by Charles Schulz for November 27, 1997 {{!}} GoComics.com|last=Schulz|first=Charles|date=1997-11-27|website=GoComics|language=en|access-date=2018-12-27}}</ref>

== Appearance ==
As Violet's character developed over the years, her appearance changed as well. In the early strips, Violet has her shoulder-length black hair kept in either pigtails, a bun, or, sometimes, a ponytail. Later on, Schulz dropped the braids and kept Violet's hair only in ponytails. Violet also wears front bangs and often wears dresses which are originally depicted as purple; later they were depicted as lime green, as well as black [[Mary Jane (shoe)|Mary Janes]] shoes. Violet wears her purple dress in ''[[The Peanuts Movie]]'', which is consistent with her name.

== Personality ==
Violet is smart, popular, tomboyish, and somewhat of a [[snob]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title = Violet Gray {{!}} The Peanuts Movie {{!}} NOW PLAYING|url = http://www.peanutsmovie.com/characters/violet|website = Peanuts Movie {{!}} Official Site {{!}} NOW PLAYING!|access-date = 2015-12-03}}</ref> She makes her opinions known to everyone,<ref name=":0"/> and her haughtiness causes her to often torment other people,<ref>{{Cite web|title = Against Snoopy {{!}} Manhattan, New York, NY {{!}} News|url = http://www.nypress.com/against-snoopy/|website = www.nypress.com|access-date = 2015-12-10}}</ref> whom she views as beneath her.

Compared to the apparent [[middle-class]] upbringing of the other characters, Violet is supposedly of [[upper-class]] mentality, and she likes to brag about how her father possesses something her friends' fathers don't; it is also implied, however, that Violet's father is often absent from her life, which her peers use against her when she gets too obnoxious. For example, in a [[Father's Day]] strip, her boasts are quelled by Charlie Brown when he takes her to his dad's barbershop. After telling her about how his dad would always smile at him no matter how bad a workday he was having, a moved and humbled Violet walked away, but not before quietly wishing Charlie Brown a Happy Father's Day. In another example, a character named "5" fired back at her with "''My'' dad goes to [[Parent-Teacher Association|PTA]] meetings!" Charlie Brown once deflated her with the comeback: "''My'' dad has a ''son''."<ref>Schulz, Charles M. [http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1958/04/30 ''Peanuts'', 30 April 1958]</ref>

In the early strips, Violet often acted like a preschool-age Suzy Homemaker:<ref>{{Cite web|title = Meet the Gang|url = http://www.fivecentsplease.org/dpb/castlist.html|website = www.fivecentsplease.org|access-date = 2015-12-03}}</ref> frequently making mud pies, playing "house," and being linked to romantic scenarios involving Shermy or  Charlie Brown. In a strip from 1954, she is shown to [[stamp collecting|collect stamps]] as a hobby. On some occasions, Violet was shown walking and keeping company with [[Lucy Van Pelt|Lucy]].

Her surname (Gray) was mentioned only once, on April 4, 1953.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1953/04/04|title=Peanuts by Charles Schulz for April 04, 1953 {{!}} GoComics.com|last=Schulz|first=Charles|date=1953-04-04|website=GoComics|language=en|access-date=2018-12-27}}</ref>

Violet's personality was much more forceful and recognizable compared to the more generic early ''Peanuts'' characters like [[Patty (Peanuts)|Patty]] and [[Shermy]], which allowed her to survive slightly longer than those founding characters when a new wave of characters, [[Linus van Pelt|Linus]], [[Lucy van Pelt|Lucy]], and [[Schroeder (Peanuts)|Schroeder]], were introduced (as an example, Violet has key roles in the TV specials ''[[A Charlie Brown Christmas]]'' and ''[[It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown]]''). By the 1960s, however, Violet, too, was largely phased out with the introduction of the next wave of characters ([[Peppermint Patty]], [[Marcie (Peanuts)|Marcie]], [[Franklin (Peanuts)|Franklin]] and such). Schulz admitted in a 1988 interview that Violet's pure vindictiveness had made it difficult to give her [[punch line]]s. Speaking of her, Patty and Shermy: "Some characters just don't seem to have enough personality to carry out ideas. They're just almost born straight men." Schulz also contrasted Violet to Lucy in that where Violet was purely mean, Lucy had redeeming characteristics of being bluntly honest and to-the-point, and thus Lucy "worked" as a more rounded character where Violet did not.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Inge |editor1-first=M. Thomas |title=Charles M. Schulz: Conversations |date=2000 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |isbn=9781578063055 |last1=Hall |first1=Mary Harrington |page=47 |chapter=A Conversation with Charles Schulz: or The Psychology of Simplicity}}</ref> Violet's use in the strip was eventually reduced to appearances in the background.

==Voiced by==
{{div col|colwidth=15em}}
*[[Sally Dryer]] (1963, 1965)
*Karen Mendelson (1966)
*Ann Altieri (1966–1969)
*Linda Ercoli (1972, 1975)
*Roseline Rubens (1980)
*[[Stacy Ferguson]] (1985)
*Deanna Tello (1992)
*Ashley Edner (2000)
*Kaitlyn Maggio (2003)
*Jolean Wejbe (2006)
*Taya Calicetto (2008–2009)
*Blesst Bowden (2011)
*[[Madisyn Shipman]] (2015)
*Charlie Boyle (2021–present)
*Hattie Kragten (2021)
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1951/02/07 First appearance of Violet], ''Peanuts'', 7 February 1951

{{Wikiquote|Peanuts#Violet|Violet}}
{{Peanuts}}

[[Category:Peanuts characters]]
[[Category:Comics characters introduced in 1951]]
[[Category:Child characters in comics]]
[[Category:Female characters in animation]]
[[Category:Female characters in comics]]
[[Category:Child characters in television]]