Doonesbury Characters - Other Characters

Other Characters

• Jim Andrews (2/9/74)- A greedy executive who worked for Universal Petroleum, and was later employed by the administration of George W. Bush. Favors lax government oversight on environmental protection. Was friends with the late Phil Slackmeyer. Jim was named after Trudeau's first editor at Universal Press Syndicate. The book, The People's Doonesbury, is dedicated to the memory of Andrews.
• Mr. Jay (5/21/89) - A hallucinatory walking, talking marijuana joint. Feels inadequate next to Mr. Butts because despite his reputation, he is relatively harmless.
• Lacey Davenport (5/15/74) - Republican U.S. Congresswoman, now deceased - reminiscent of New Jersey Congresswomen Millicent Fenwick. Trudeau was asked in 1976 if the similarities were deliberate, and laughed at the reporter, saying "I really don't know her that well." Fenwick was said, in the same article, to not know about Doonesbury and could not remember having met Trudeau.
• Dick Davenport (5/15/74) - Lacey's longtime friend and later husband. An avid bird watcher of endangered bird species. Died in a controversial 1986 strip asking God to let him live just long enough to take a picture of a rare bachman's warbler. He did.
• Benjamin (a.k.a. Sal Putrid or Benjy) Doonesbury (possibly 6/11/71, unnamed, or 12/27/71)- Mike's younger brother. He later became a stereotypical punk rocker. Like his brother Mike, he too went to Walden. Started a condom distribution franchise at Walden called "Dr. Whoopee". The company was later revealed to be run by Uncle Duke. He currently lives in a mansion in Florida.
• Daisy Doonesbury (6/5/71)- Mike and Benjamin's mother. Often called "The Widow Doonesbury", she lived in Seattle before her death. She used to live on the Doonesbury farm near Tulsa and represented the current state of the ailing family farms in America. The Widow's health began to deteriorate and she moved in with her son Mike in Seattle. Her funeral was shown in the January 3rd, 2011 strip.
• Marcia Feinbloom - Mike's former secretary at Mr. Bellow's advertising business. She is still looking for her perfect man to marry even though she's in her 60s. She once dated Zonker, but nothing got serious between them. Last seen following the September 11 attacks. Her religious background is Jewish.
• Havoc (8/26/86) - A CIA operative - real name Terry Blackburn Jr - who has conducted numerous covert operations in Nicaragua and Afghanistan. He was Jeff Redfern's boss during his internship at the CIA and has a class on torture at Walden.
• Ray Hightower (9/24/90) - An African-American who has a friendship with B.D. that started when they first met during the Gulf War, in which Ray was wounded. They were unemployed until the 1992 LA riots when they were called up to quell the riot and later by the California Highway Patrol following that event. Ray fought in the Iraq War with a blog updating his status and telelinking his wife from time to time and survived the bomb which injured Toggle. He was later discharged with PTSD when his marriage fell apart, living near B.D. and attending classes at the vet center.
• Rufus (a.k.a. Thor) Jackson (4/5/71) - A poor African-American who gave a viewpoint on the Civil Rights Issues in the 70s. Much younger than the rest of the main Doonesbury cast.
• Calvin (1/18/71) - Campus radical and Black Panther, prominent in the strip in the early seventies.
• George (2/9/72) - One of B.D.'s fellow soldiers in Vietnam. Later gained a great deal of weight and went into business with Phred in Vietnam, giving tours to former American GIs.
• Andy Lippincott (1/27/76) - Joanie fell in love with him, but on a date, he revealed that he was gay. Was later diagnosed with and died of AIDS. His ghost makes occasional appearances in the strip.
• Didi Robins (mentioned 4/28/71, appeared 6/12/71) - One of the members at the Walden Commune, originally introduced as Bernie's girlfriend. Her hair is so long she resembled Cousin Itt from the Addams Family. She helped found a lesbian magazine, but is straight. She was also J.J.'s art assistant when she lived in New York in the 80s.
• Phil Slackmeyer (12/13/70) - Father of Mark. A wealthy, conservative, corporate businessman. Served a term in prison for insider trading. He died in 2002. (On 18-Aug-1971 he is referred to as Morris, not Phil)
• Marilou Slackmeyer (12/18/70) - Mark's mother, later divorced from Phil Slackmeyer in favor of a trophy wife.
• B.D.'s parents (4/14/71)- introduced without names when B.D. goes home after his father loses his job. His mother is Maria (8/6/71).
• Zonker's parents first appear briefly on 12/20/71, but are redeveloped later. His father appears in regular form at 6/27/73, his mother at 12/14/1974.
• Virginia "Ginny" Slade (8/19/74) - During the 1970s, when Joanie moved to California to study law at Boalt Hall, she moved in with Ginny, a much younger, African-American law student. Ginny ran for Congress as a semester project, with Zonker, Andy Lippincott and Jimmy Thudpucker contributing to her campaign. She lost the Democratic primary to a scandal-ridden incumbent, Congressman Ventura, then re-entered the campaign as an independent. Close to Election Day, she chose to drop out so that long-time Republican candidate Lacey Davenport would win.
• Clyde Montana (8/19/74) - Ginny's boyfriend whom she later married. He's an obnoxious, but lovable guy. Clyde himself later ran against Davenport in 1986. Clyde eventually did make it to Congress as a Republican (replacing Lacey Davenport when she stepped down in 1997) and in the snack business trying to create the perfect cookie for all races. He lost his re-election bid in the general Democratic victory in 2008.
• Woodrow (11/19/74) - An overachieving student in Ginny and Joanie's law classes. Obnoxious, sexist and disliked by practically everybody (but perfectly oblivious to it).
• Bobby Matthews (10/30/74) - A white boy attending an integrated school in the 1970s as a way to introduce the subject of busing into the strip.
• Malcolm Deveaux (11/2/74) - a black boy attending the same school.
• Kirby (possibly 4/3/71, unnamed) - Player on B.D. and Zonker's college football team. Slightly timid personality, admires Zonker, who sometimes takes him under his wing.
• Clinton Caucus (heard 9/12/72; appears 9/27/72) - Joanie's ex-husband.
• Chase Talbott III (10/28/96) - Formerly Mark's significant other, a conservative Republican, and co-host of their NPR show, "All Things Being Equal."
• Bernie (2/22/71) - Mike's college lab partner and member of Walden Commune. A mad scientist, he invented a werewolf potion and spent a summer in Scotland searching for the Loch Ness Monster. He later founded a computer company and hired Mike.
• Cornell - Zonker's longtime friend. Helped out terminally ill patients by handing out desserts filled with cannabis. Currently serving a ten year prison sentence for the distribution of cannabis to the terminally ill.
• Earl (4/12/95) - Discovered in an orphanage Duke attempted to run in the early 90's. Honey sent one of Duke's warts off for DNA tests, which proved Earl was his son. He shares many of Duke's physical and moral qualities. Currently a lobbyist.
• Elias - Is a Puerto Rican Vietnam veteran. He's B.D.'s counselor after the coming home from Iraq War. Tries to help B.D. and others to overcome their post-traumatic stress.
• Ellie, Howard, and Jeanie - Three kids that first appeared at the Walden Daycare where Joanie Caucus worked. They mainly gave the input on the women's right issues and children issues in the 70s and 80s.
• Uncle Henry - Mike's uncle and tends to the Doonesbury farm. He's also a former county commissioner in Oklahoma and got caught in a corruption scandal only later to be acquitted.
• Mini-D - The small man who looked like Duke sometimes pops out of Duke's head (via a flip-top scalp) when Duke is stoned.
• Nicole (9/29/71, spelled Nichole in the strip until 1977) - A radical feminist and member of the Walden Commune. She and Mike almost had an affair after meeting at their class reunion, but broke it off when Mike learned J.J. was pregnant.
• MacArthur - A native Samoan, Duke's assistant during his tenure as Governor of American Samoa. Appointed as Governor after Duke resigns to become Ambassador to China. Last seen running a resort in Pago Pago.
• Samantha - B.D. and Boopsie's daughter born in 1992. Mainly raised by her sitter Zonker. For a several-year period, she was shown to own an action doll modeled after Sarah Palin that had been shown to come to life when humans are not around, as well as a few other toys such as a Raggedy Andy doll, Mr. Potato Head, a My Little Pony figure, and a piggy bank, but they were dropped from the strip after Sam outgrew them.
• Skip (4/4/73) - a Vietnam POW who joined the commune for a period following his release.
• Trff Bmzklfrpz - Former President-for-Life of the fictional Republic of Berzerkistan, apparently a former Eastern Bloc country. Ex-President Bmzklfrpz was a typical dictator, and, according to an interview with Mark Slackmeyer, engaged in genocide and is anti-Semitic. In a parody of former Turkmenistan president Saparmurat Niyazov, he renamed the month of April (as well as a species of plant and a type of bird) "Trff", after himself. Uncle and Earl Duke acted as his advisors, and after he was airlifted out of Berzerkistan he moved himself into Duke's home. Until he is able to return to power, he is sponging off Duke while working on receiving asylum on the U.S. (8/9/11) and trying to get his memoirs published (8/16/11).
• Drew - Alex Doonesbury's very attractive roommate at MIT.
• Mel - Melissa Wheeler (03/26/2007) - a US Army aviation mechanic who has been victim of command rape. She first appears when B.D. meets her at the Vet Center where he gets treatment, and later re-enlists and deploys to Afghanistan. She has been promoted to grade E-5, Sergeant. Her best friend is Roz, a gay Army Specialist.
• Trip Tripler - Benjamin Doonesbury's college roommate. Writer for George Will, officer in the U.S. Navy.
• Cricket (9/14/98) - Zipper's classmate at Walden.