Betty Rubble Original and Limited Edition Art

Betty Rubble is a fictional character in the television animated series The Flintstones and its spin-offs and live-action motion pictures. She is the black-haired wife of caveman Barney Rubble and the adoptive mother of Bamm-Bamm Rubble. Her best friend is her next-door neighbor Wilma Flintstone. Betty lives in the fictional prehistoric town of Bedrock, a world where dinosaurs coexist with cave people and the cavepeople enjoy primitive versions of modern conveniences such as telephones, automobiles and washing machines. She speaks with an Midwestern accent. Betty Rubble's personality was based on the stock character of the lead character's best friend's wife, commonly seen in 1950s television (other prominent examples including Trixie Norton of The Honeymooners, which by conflicting accounts was a major inspiration for The Flintstones, and Ethel Mertz of I Love Lucy). Much like Trixie or Ethel, Betty spent a lot of her time socializing with Wilma, and the two would often end up working together to bail their husbands out of whatever scheme of Fred's had landed them in trouble, sometimes scheming with each other. June Foray voiced Betty in a 1959 Flintstones pilot titled The Flagstones, but Bea Benaderet was cast for the series and voiced Betty for the first 4 seasons before stepping down in 1964 (due to her scheduling conflicts with Petticoat Junction). Gerry Johnson took over the role for the last 2 seasons. Anna Bentinck has since performed the role in later Flintstones media since 1990–2003. In the 1994 film, Betty was portrayed by Rosie O'Donnell, who reportedly won the role because she captured the high pitch laugh at her audition. Jane Krakowski replaced O'Donnell in the 2000 prequel The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, in which Betty's maiden name is "O'Shale".