Mr. Burns spends much of his time in his office at the nuclear plant, monitoring his workers via
closed-circuit cameras installed throughout the plant. In "
Double, Double, Boy in Trouble", Mr. Burns revealed that he was the youngest of a wealthy family with eleven children, and all his siblings died of suspicious causes (mostly related to eating poisoned
baked potatoes), leading to him receiving the entire family fortune, although another episode reveals that his surviving younger brother is
George Burns. At an early age, Mr. Burns left his family to live with a twisted and heartless billionaire who owned an "atom mill" in Shelbyville (implied to be his grandfather). He lived a life of privilege and would amuse himself by injuring
immigrant laborers. Mr. Burns later attended
Yale University, where he studied science and business, joined
Skull and Bones, competed in the "etherweight" wrestling class, and graduated in the class of 1914. At his 25-year
college reunion, he became romantically involved with the daughter of an old flame. She would later bear his child,
Larry Burns, who was placed for
adoption and would later enter Mr. Burns's life briefly. Mr. Burns has been engaged at least three times: to a woman named Gertrude who died of loneliness and
rabies, to
Marge Simpson's mother
Jacqueline Bouvier, and to a
meter maid named Gloria. He later enlisted in the
U.S. Army and served as a member of Springfield's
Flying Hellfish squad under
Master Sergeant Abraham Simpson and saw action in the
Ardennes during the
Battle of the Bulge. During the war, Mr. Burns, Abraham Simpson (father of Homer Simpson and grandfather to Lisa, Bart, and Maggie Simpson) and some of the soldiers found an expensive portrait in a manor in Germany. They locked it in a case and stated the last surviving member would get the painting (he and Abraham tied when the owner's descendant came back for the painting). Later on, he was shipped to the
Pacific Theater and was a co-pilot along with Abe Simpson and his brother, Cyrus. Mr. Burns and Abe were shot down by a
kamikaze and stuck on an island. Curiously, in the episode "
American History X-cellent", Burns is arrested for
art theft, and while he is getting his belongings checked at the prison, a prison guard finds a card that he mistakes as a Social Security card. Burns then yells out "That's just an
SS card you dummkopf!" According to The Simpsons Wiki, after
Germany had invaded Poland, Burns joined the SS but later defected, and then started service for the
US Army. At the end of World War II, he was personally hired by President
Harry S. Truman to transport a specially printed trillion-dollar bill to Europe as the United States' contribution to the
reconstruction of Europe. As the United States' richest citizen, Mr. Burns was thought to be the most trustworthy. However, he absconded with the bill and kept it in his possession for many years until it was lost to
Fidel Castro in "
The Trouble with Trillions". In "
Homer the Smithers", it is revealed that Mr. Burns's mother is still alive aged 122 years, although Mr. Burns dislikes speaking to her because she had an affair with President
William Howard Taft and she refers to him as an "improvident lackwit". Furthermore, because she is so old, the only things she can do (according to Smithers) are pick up the phone, dial, and yell. Mr. Burns resides in a vast, ornate
mansion on an immense estate called
Burns Manor, on the corner of
Mammon and
Croesus Streets. It is protected by a high wall, an
electrified fence, and a pack of vicious
attack dogs known as "The
Hounds". Mr. Burns routinely subjects Springfield and its residents to his abuse and a general dislike of him subsists throughout the town. Mr. Burns has
blackmailed and
bribed various officials in Springfield, including
Mayor Quimby and the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He employed his wealth to make an ultimately unsuccessful run for
governor to prevent his plant from being closed for safety violations, only to be denied his chance to be Governor by
Marge Simpson. He once blocked out the sun to force Springfield residents to increase their use of
electricity produced by his nuclear plant and was subsequently shot by
Maggie when he tried to steal candy from her. In "
Rosebud" from Season 5, his birthday is given as September 15. Mr. Burns's extreme old age is a frequent source of humor on the show. He is occasionally referred to as "Springfield's oldest resident"; in Season 2's "
Simpson and Delilah", he told Homer that he is 81, although, in several later episodes, he is shown to be 104. When Smithers informs him that Mr. Burns's credit card
PIN is his age, he types four digits in his answer 00:59)-->. It is also mentioned that half of his age is 78, making him 156 years old. When
Lisa Simpson is researching her ancestors from the
American Civil War, she comes across a Colonel Burns in the journal, presumably one of Mr. Burns's earlier ancestors. However, when Lisa mentions him, Mr. Burns replies by saying that he has not heard his father's name in years. The episode reveals that Mr. Burns's father was a
slaveowning Southern plantation owner who inspired the character
Simon Legree from
Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel ''
Uncle Tom's Cabin'', and that Homer and Grampa are descended from Colonel Burns's
runaway slave Virgil who fled to
British Canada with Mabel Simpson on the
Underground Railroad. In other episodes, Mr. Burns's birthplace is apparently
Pangea, his national anthem implies he was both from
Austria-Hungary and unaware of its collapse in
World War I, and he mentions the possibility of an update on the
Siege of Khartoum, implying that he was aware of current events as early as 1884. In other episodes, he has instructed a postal clerk to send a telegram to the
Prussian consulate in
Siam via
autogyro, and believes a
nickel will buy "a
steak and kidney pie, a cup of
coffee, a slice of
cheesecake and a
newsreel, with enough change left over to ride the trolley from
Battery Park to the
Polo Grounds." Mr. Burns frequently answers the telephone with the archaic salutation "Ahoy-hoy", which was proposed by
Alexander Graham Bell, but has long since been superseded by "Hello". In "
The Old Man and the Lisa", Mr. Burns's
investment portfolio is revealed to consist of long-defunct and obsolete companies such as "Confederated
Slave Holdings", and he learns about the
Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the
Great Depression for the first time after checking a very old
stock-ticker. Mr. Burns's state of mind is the subject of frequent jokes on the show. At times, he appears to be completely removed from reality and modern conventions. He continually fails to recognize
Homer Simpson or remember his name, even though many of the recent major events in Mr. Burns's life have involved Homer in some way. Mr. Burns is, for the most part, unaware of the townspeople's general dislike of him. He also displays mannerisms that are considered outdated, such as practicing
phrenology, writing with a
quill pen, and using an antique
view camera to take photographs. He is also angered when Springfield Elementary children mock his dated car, saying it was "the first car to outrun a man!" Mr. Burns refers to many celebrities of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the present tense, assuming they are still alive. In "
Homer at the Bat", Mr. Burns instructs Smithers to recruit
dead-ball-era players, such as
Honus Wagner and
Cap Anson for the plant's softball team, and has to be told that all of them died long ago. He also once rewarded Homer for being the first to arrive at work with a ticket to the
1939 World's Fair. However, despite his obvious senility and social ineptitude, Mr. Burns is an extraordinarily clever businessman, as he has lost his fortune several times, only to regain it a very brief time later. In the episode "
The Old Man and the Lisa", Mr. Burns loses his fortune and regains it by opening a
recycling plant, which allows him to regain his nuclear power plant. Additionally, in the episode "
The Seemingly Never-Ending Story", Mr. Burns loses both his fortune and nuclear power plant to the
Rich Texan after losing a scavenger hunt, but eventually gains both back after a series of events that includes him briefly working at
Moe's Tavern. Mr. Burns is physically weak and emaciated and is often shown to have little more strength than an infant. In "
The Mansion Family", doctors at the
Mayo Clinic discover that Mr. Burns has contracted every known human disease, as well as several that were discovered during his checkup, but that they have canceled each other out in a condition they call "
Three Stooges syndrome;" although a doctor warns him that his physical health is extremely fragile and that "even a slight breeze" could upset the balance between his diseases, Mr. Burns misinterprets his condition to believe that he is invincible. In the intro of
The Simpsons Movie, Mr. Burns is seen in his bathroom trying to brush his teeth. After Smithers applies the toothpaste onto his brush, he falls over. In "
Rosebud" and "
Who Shot Mr. Burns?", he needed a great deal of effort to wrench items from Maggie. He has difficulty performing such simple actions as giving a
thumbs-up, and crushing an
insect by stepping on it, or using a door-knocker. In one instance, when he is told to jump out of his burning mansion onto a
life net, he drops at the speed of a feather, floats onto some
power lines, and is electrified. He pitched the opening
baseball at a game in "
Dancin' Homer", but was only able to throw it a small distance, which drew mocking laughter from the crowd. When Mr. Burns joined Homer's
bowling team in "
Team Homer", he was barely able to roll the ball down the lane. In season five's "
Burns' Heir", Smithers puts a sponge on Mr. Burns's head before leaving the bathroom, causing him to nearly drown in the tub from its weight. In "
Lady Bouvier's Lover", however, he shows himself as a lively, excellent dancer. Mr. Burns also had a
teddy bear named "Bobo" that he loved as a child, revealed in the episode "Rosebud". The stuffed animal was lost and eventually, the stuffed bear became a toy for Maggie. In "
American History X-cellent", Mr. Burns gets sent to jail because he is in possession of stolen paintings. In the same episode, it is implied that he was once in the
SS. Another episode has him exclaim that he and
Oskar Schindler had much in common, as they both made shells for the
Nazis, "but mine worked, damn it!" ==Character==