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"Daddy, it is so hot out here you could lay an egg on the sidewalk!"

—Kelly Bundy


Kelly Bundy is the daughter of Al and Peggy Bundy; she is also the elder sister of Bud Bundy. She is notorious for her stupidity (which may or may not have been inherited from her father) and extreme promiscuity (which may or may not have been inherited from her mother), much to the dismay of Al. In early seasons, Kelly was anything but fond of her family; she thought nothing of expressing her shame of them, and got into at least one fistfight over being called a Bundy. Yet Kelly has no qualms about disregarding her own safety, popularity, and opinions - if need be - in order to defend or avenge Bud and/or their parents. Kelly is also a big fan of Garfield, especially the original comic strips, and loves to read aloud (she has a tendency toward horrendous-if-hilarious mispronunciations).

Biography[]

Kelly Bundy was born to Al Bundy and Peggy Wanker on November 27th of 1971. It has been mentioned in several episode that she was conceived in Al's Dodge[26][30], and in one particular episode, conceived the night Al scored his Four Touchdowns while celebrating with his then girlfriend, Peggy at a drive-in theater. [31] (Though if she was conceived on the night Al scored four touchdowns, that would mean she was born closer to August 1967).

But in one case, Al clearly stated that Kelly was conceived at home while he was watching the television series, Get Smart and had to put his forearm in Peggy's mouth so he could hear the show's dialogue.[32] (though the series had already ended in May of 1970, more than a year before Kelly's listed birthdate)

In the MWC comic book special, "Father Knows Worst", the flashback to Kelly's birth states that she was born in 1973 at Chicago Memorial Hospital.

When Al finally took Kelly home from the hospital, he had accidentally left her on top of the car roof and was also about to drive off without Peggy. [33]

Kelly used to be highly intelligent until a car ride with her parents in Al’s dodge that started a car crash made her dumb that she grew up with.

She already appeared to be a student at Polk High School at the beginning of the series. She graduated from the school in 1990, though it was mentioned in several episode that she was held back. She also graduated late due to her mother (who was also taking the class as she failed it and didn't officially graduate in the 1960s) swapping out Kelly's final project (a plate of Jell-O) with hers (crown rack of lamb that was ruined due to Al) for their Home Economics class. This allowed Peggy to officially graduate from Polk High with the others, while Kelly was forced to take a summer remedial class.[34]

During her senior year, Kelly found work as an "RVS" (that is, Rock Video Slut) in a music video for the Guttercats rock group. She later interned as a "Weather Bunny" for Channel 83 news.

After graduating from Polk High in 1990, Kelly was hardly cut out for college. So she enrolled at a local modeling school[35]. This led to her being hired as "the Allante Girl" (thanks to her patented "Bundy Bounce") and, after that, being crowned Miss Weenie Tots. (Eventually, Kelly's modelling school was shut down after they moved upstairs from their original location; Kelly and the other models were too dumb to find it[25]). She dabbled in several different lines of work, particularly waitressing, before landing a job as "The Verminator" at a theme park run by the local pest-extermination company. In her spare time, Kelly studied at the Larry Storch Studio of Acting.

By the end of the show, she had several acting credits under her slim belt, most notably: Lila, the Romantic Roast woman; the title role on the short-lived Princess Kelly Show. Kelly also studied massage therapy, but ended up injuring Bud due to her very-limited training.

About Kelly[]

Kelly is known for her stupidity and promiscuity, both of which are routinely mocked by her family (particularly Bud). She has had a prodigious amount of male companions throughout the series. Both Kelly and Bud use her extreme beauty to their often-separate, but sometimes-mutual, advantage. Her choice in men is dubious; most of her boyfriends get beaten up and/or ejected from the house by Al.

Her intelligence is also the topic for insult, although the extent of her stupidity appears to be fluid, varying from episode to episode, season to season. She originally appeared to be of fairly average intelligence, albeit not very keen to put it to use, though later seasons amped this up to her being unable to grasp common concepts, let alone read properly.

According to Bundyology.com, the exact point where Kelly is first shown to have been dumbed down is in the season 2 episode, "Guys and Dolls", when Bud was able to make her believe that the story Robinson Caruso takes place on the same island as the television show Gilligan's Island and later, Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven with the television show, The Addams Family. Although for the rest of season 2, she seemed to be back to having average intelligence, from season 3 onward, her stupidity would be amplified in various episodes, as Kellyisms were introduced and she would be seen accidentally bumping into the wall or tripping and falling onto the floor, or even forgetting what was she was just thinking about.

It is implied in the show that she was fairly intelligent as a young girl, as well as a voracious reader, but that a head injury during a car trip reduced her intelligence. Despite this, Kelly does show moments of very high intelligence, or at least street smarts on rare occasions.

Although she is usually portrayed as dumb, she does show that she is actually knowledgeable in math and physics, such as in T*R*A*S*H, when she is able to precisely calculate the trajectory to launch trash in to the D'Arcy's attic with a catapult and in Cheese, Cues and Blood when she is demonstrates her knowledge of angles in a game of billiards.

It was also pointed out by Bud that her memory is rather limited, meaning that for every new fact she learned, she would completely forget another fact that she had previously learned. This was first mentioned in season 3's "Here's Lookin' at You, Kid" when Bud tried to help her study. It was brought up again in the season 8 episode, "Kelly Knows Something", which proved fatal to her Dad's hopes for a new TV when Kelly appeared on a sports trivia quiz show.

Kelly was portrayed to be fairly popular in high school, and also appeared to be a bully and a "mean girl", similar to Al, who himself was both popular and a bully in his youth. She did not take school seriously, as she was often portrayed as ditching classes to hang out with friends or hide her report card since they often had low grades.

Relationships[]

Al Bundy[]

Kelly seems to be close to her father and even as an adult, she still addresses him as "Daddy" instead of "Dad", although at times, she wishes that he was not her father. Likewise, as much as Al wishes that he wasn't married or had kids, he cares about her, as he usually calls her "Pumpkin" and is willing to do whatever it takes to make her happy.

Peggy Bundy[]

Kelly also appear to be close to her mother, though she is often willing to point out the times that hasn't been a good mother. The two of them have multiple things to bond over such as talking about and ogling men, not wanting to work, and even going to the strip club together.

Bud Bundy[]

Bud and Kelly frequently laugh at each other. Kelly teases Bud for being a virgin, for having acne, and for keeping an inflatable sex-doll...while Bud teases Kelly for being (or at least acting) incredibly dumb and promiscuous. Despite this, Kelly and Bud are highly fond of each other. Each Bundy sibling is always ready and willing to defend the other (much like George and Lennie in Of Mice and Men). For example: when popular Heather McCoy pranked Bud at Polk High's Homecoming, Kelly got revenge on her brother's behalf...by leaving a nearly-nude Heather tied up in the school hallway, with a sign that read "Don't Mess with a Bundy".

Physical appearance[]

Kelly is a very beautiful young woman, with long blonde hair and a penchant for revealing clothes (particularly miniskirts and short dresses). Eventually, however, she displays relative maturity...by wearing her hair shorter and dressing more modestly.

Trivia[]

  • She may have been the inspiration for Disney's 1991 Beauty and the Beast "dumb blonde" characters the Bimbettes. Unlike 20th Century Fox, which previously also frequently employed Marilyn Monroe to play dumb blonde characters, Disney had rarely experimented with the dumb blonde stereotype. In fact, Disney would use blonde female heroines in Cinderella, Peter Pan's Tinkerbell and Sleeping Beauty, the latter two of which were even released after Marilyn Monroe gained fame for playing comical dumb blonde characters. Then Disney head Michael Eisner and then Fox head Barry Diller were well acquainted with each other when they previously worked at ABC and when they both ran Paramount Pictures.
  • It's implied that one of the several jobs that she had before being an actress, may have been as a prostitute, though this is more likely an insult directed at her promiscuity. Christina Applegate actually played a prostitute in the 1990 film Streets, however.
  • Kelly shares the first line and the last line of the entire show, as well as being the last character seen entirely (Peggy was the first to be seen). Kelly's first line was in the pilot: "Let go of my hair you little psychopath!", and the last was "Them...hahahaha!" in "How to Marry a Moron (Part 2)".
  • At first glance, the extent of Kelly's promiscuity appears incalculable. However, in the last episode of the show, Kelly reveals her "little" black book. A quick glance at the size of the Binder relative to Kelly and her friends suggests that it is medium sized- perhaps in the realm of 300-400 pages. Kelly's friend traces her finger across the page as she examines the names. She reads out five names when she is about halfway down the page. Therefore, each page has about 10 names meaning that in total, Kelly has slept with approximately 3,000 to 4,000 men!
  • The same episode implies that Kelly lost her virginity at age 8 (or 11 if she was conceived in 1967)
  • Despite Kelly being portrayed as a rather promiscuous girl, in a 2019 interview on NPR, Christina Applegate stated that Kelly was actually a virgin and also a genius.[36] However, this did not match what was presented on the show, which at times showed Kelly even being held back in school grades, mispronouncing and misspelling words and, in the final season, mistaking a turkey for a "fat chicken." Only on occasion would Kelly show signs of creatlvity. In fact, 20th Century Fox has a long history with the dumb blonde stereotype, with late Fox actress Marilyn Monroe being credited as revolutionizing the stereotype in popular culture,[37][38] Marilyn Monroe's blonde bombshell rival Jayne Mansfeld was also at one point under contract to 20th Century Fox as well.[39]
  • The main inspiration for Kelly's her glam/hair metal fashion in the early seasons was real life rock groupie Cindy Birmisa, who was also featured in the 1987 rockumentary, The Decline Of Western Civilization, Part II - The Metal Years. While doing an interview on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, she showed a clip from the film and noted how Kelly changed from being a tough girl in Season 1 to a ditzy girl wearing Lycra after seeing the film.[40][41]

Appearances on the show[]

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Kelly Doesn't Live Here Anymore
  2. 2.0 2.1 Rock and Roll Girl"
  3. The All American Family or Just Act Natural
  4. It's a Bundyful Life (Part 2)
  5. NO MA'AM (episode)
  6. 976-SHOE
  7. Al Goes to the Dogs
  8. Fair Exchange
  9. 9.0 9.1 Weenie Tot Lovers and Other Strangers
  10. Cheese, Cues and Blood
  11. You Gotta Know When to Hold 'Em (Part 1)
  12. The Stepford Peg
  13. The Unnatural
  14. Peggy Sue Got Work
  15. Al Loses His Cherry
  16. How Do You Spell Revenge?
  17. Where's the Boss?
  18. The House That Peg Lost
  19. One Down, Two to Go
  20. Driving Mr. Boondy
  21. Kelly's Gotta Habit
  22. Kelly Does Hollywood (Part 1)
  23. Kids! Wadaya Gonna Do?
  24. 24.0 24.1 Luck of the Bundys"
  25. 25.0 25.1 25.2 The Goodbye Girl
  26. 26.0 26.1 Rain Girl
  27. My Mom, the Mom
  28. Johnny Be Gone
  29. Al Loses His Cherry
  30. Old Insurance Dodge
  31. Requiem for a Chevyweight (Part 1)
  32. Top of the Heap (episode)
  33. Al... with Kelly
  34. Peggy Made a Little Lamb
  35. Kelly Bounces Back
  36. Christina Applegate Has Revealed A ‘Secret’ About Kelly Bundy From ‘Married… With Children’. UPROXX.
  37. https://footeandfriendsonfilm.com/2019/06/03/the-20th-century-fox-blondes-marilyn-monroe/
  38. https://www.mensxp.com/entertainment/gossip/9006-top-10-hollywood-actresses-playing-dumb-blondes.html
  39. https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/collectibles/_contract-with-jane-mansfield-and-twentieth-century-fox-6f1b
  40. Applegate reveals real-life Kelly Bundy. Hollywood.com.
  41. Married With Children: 10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Kelly Bundy. Screen Rant.
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