George Bluth is portrayed by Jeffrey Tambor and appears in 79 episodes of Arrested Development. He is last seen in "The Fallout".

About

George Oscar Bluth, Sr. (also known as Prisoner # 1881372911) is the patriarch of the Bluth family and the founder of the Bluth Company. While running his real estate empire for five decades he stole exorbitant amounts of money and unlawfully built houses in Iraq for Saddam Hussein. He was incarcerated for a year, on the lam (living in an attic) for a year, and under house arrest for several months before his exoneration.

George is married to Lucille Bluth and is the biological father to Michael Bluth and G.O.B., adopted father to Lindsay Bluth Fünke and Annyong Bluth, and legal guardian and father/uncle to Buster Bluth.

Career and incarceration

George Bluth founded the Bluth Company in 1953 and proceeded to grow it into a real estate powerhouse in Newport Beach, California. He didn't do so entirely legally or morally, and in his 50 years as CEO and president George fired his identical twin brother Oscar, ("Missing Kitty") systematically replaced the entire staff with younger, cheaper employees, ("Family Ties") and worked with Saddam Hussein for a quick buck. ("The One Where Michael Leaves")

On the day of his retirement party George was arrested by the SEC for defrauding investors, petty theft, and grand theft by using the company as his personal piggy bank. ("Pilot") He was also under investigation for "light treason" regarding his dealings in Iraq. ("Shock and Aww") George briefly enjoyed his incarceration at Orange County Prison but eventually fled to Mexico by faking a heart attack. ("Let 'Em Eat Cake")​​​​ He then fakes his own death and retreated to hide in the attic of the model home. ("Good Grief") Word got out that he was still alive so he shaved Oscar's head and had him arrested, while he fled to Reno to be a member of the Blue Man Group. ("Righteous Brothers") He was then put under house-arrest at Balboa Towers, under the watchful gaze of his wife Lucille. ("For British Eyes Only")

George was exonerated of all crimes after it was discovered he was hired by a British syndicate hired by the CIA to build model homes in Iraq to spy on Saddam Hussein. ("Exit Strategy") He couldn't stay out of trouble and soon found himself planning on exploiting the US government as they tried to build a wall between the US and Mexico. ("Borderline Personalities")

Side businesses

A talented businessman, George Bluth is also the inventor of The Cornballer, a faulty product which has been banned in numerous countries. Despite this, he still sells them in Mexico. ("Bringing Up Buster") Some of the Cornballers were turned into Babytock units which taught babies perfect rhythm. ("It Gets Better") George is also the founder of Bluth's Original Frozen Banana Stand, an idea he stole from a Korean immigrant in 1953. ("Development Arrested") George also filmed and sold a series of Boyfights films of his sons brawling. ("Making a Stand")

While in prison, George attempts to monetize the newfound Jewish "faith" by distributing a series of Caged Wisdom tapes and Bluth Banana Jail Bars. ("Marta Complex")

Religion

George has also had two religious awakenings in his life. The first was becoming Jewish after a brief period of isolation in prison. He then cuts off part of his left shoe and wears it as a yarmulke and quotes fake scripture to his family. His new divine way of life causes the guards to fear him but annoys Lucille. ("Storming the Castle") His newfound Judaism helps him cope with prison life, and he even attempts to evangelize to others in prison. ("Staff Infection") He is a self-taught Jew so he makes up a lot of the religious Dogma as he goes along.

He later becomes a Christian after reading a pamphlet left by Ann in a garbage bag while hiding in the attic. ("Shock and Aww")

Personality

George is an extremely manipulative individual. On multiple occasions he has proved himself very willing to endanger or even sacrifice his children if it is to his benefit, including turning Michael and G.O.B. against each other. ("Making a Stand") He is also serial poisoner, dubbed by the media as "The Muffin Man". He used poisoned muffins to intimidate the teachers of his children in the 1970s, and later his grandchildren in the 2000s. ("S.O.B.s")

He has a soft spot for ice cream sandwiches and Franklin but is usually sarcastic and demeaning to other people. After years of being gruff and harsh, George's testosterone levels began to plummet and he eventually found he wanted to live his life as a woman. ("Double Crossers")

Family

George has a deep-seated loathing for his twin brother Oscar. Partly because he is jealous that Oscar has hair while he does not. George stole Lucille from Oscar ("Switch Hitter") and although he loves her, he is afraid of how controlling she can be. ("Development Arrested") He has had several affairs on Lucille, most notably with his assistant Kitty.

George doesn't respect his oldest son G.O.B.'s magic career and often asks him to do reckless or dangerous tasks, knowing he'll obey because he wants to prove himself,("Charity Drive") but identifies him as having "charm", trusts him on occasion with dirty work, and overall seems to love him more than Lucille does. He respects Michael's business abilities but has never told him, as a motivation technique. ("Switch Hitter") He arguably gets along with Michael better than his other kids, though they butt heads often. He is proud of his daughter Lindsay's looks but has never thought of her as having any other respectable qualities. ("My Mother, the Car") He deeply dislikes Buster, perhaps because he knows Buster is not his biological son. ("Bringing Up Buster")

Character history

Season One

George is arrested at his retirement party for defrauding Bluth Company investors by using the company as his personal piggy bank. ("Pilot") George is evasive when Michael tries to learn the location of the family storage unit, so Michael burns down the banana stand to teach him a lesson. Unfortunately George was not able to get the message across that "there's always money in the banana stand!" ("Top Banana") Michael seeks his father's parenting advice, but George has been busy with prison life, such as strip poker. ("Bringing Up Buster") G.O.B. tries to connect with his father while incarcerated as a publicity stunt, but G.O.B. is stabbed by White Power Bill. ("Key Decisions")

George convinces G.O.B. to sneak into a permit office to file some late permits. ("Charity Drive") George tells Michael "daddy horny" so Michael arranges a conjugal visit between him and Lucille. George arranges a conjugal visit from his assistant/mistress Kitty and G.O.B. must distract Kitty. ("Visiting Ours") George is released from prison for one day to participate in the Living Classics Pageant as God. He tries to escape but is caught. ("In God We Trust") Lindsay starts visiting George in prison but turns no heads. She eventually starts wearing a SLUT shirt and George pleads with her to stop, as he has been paying off his fellow inmates to not look at her. ("My Mother, the Car")

George converts to Judaism after being locked in solitary for his escape attempt. He is, for the first time in his life, supportive of Buster. ("Storming the Castle") When Michael wants to teach his son a lesson about marijuana, George refuses to lend him J. Walter Weatherman, and instead uses the one-armed man to teach Michael a lesson about teaching lessons. ("Pier Pressure") George videocalls into a family PR meeting, but gives Judaism lessons to fellow inmates instead. ("Public Relations") Lucille visits George in prison and he suggests his line of Caged Wisdom tapes to keep her company. ("Marta Complex")

George is taken to the courthouse for his arraignment and upon hearing his full list of charges decides to flee but accidentally ends up in a cell. ("Beef Consommé") George is approached by SEC mole Cindi Lightballoon who attempts to get him to confide in her. ("Shock and Aww") Tobias is admitted to George's prison to prepare for the role of Frightened Inmate #2 and George trades him to White Power Bill for a pack of cigarettes. ("Staff Infection") Cindi, now really in love with George, tells him that she knows for a fact he can get out of prison, but he finds out she mistook a blooper on his Caged Wisdom videos and opts to take a plea bargain. ("Altar Egos")

G.O.B. steals a binder of evidence from Michael (who is carrying it for Maggie Lizer) and George asks G.O.B. to break into her house to steal more evidence. ("Justice Is Blind") George and Tobias come face to face when Tobias is named "Dorothy" in the prison after kitting White Power Bill. George tells him he resents him for taking his daughter away. ("Missing Kitty") George throws G.O.B. a bachelor party with an ulterior motive: to frame Bluth Company accountant Ira Gilligan with a fake murder so he won't testify about missing funds. ("Best Man for the Gob")

George asks Michael to give his twin Oscar a little bit of money but Michael gives him $10,000 for a lousy lemon grove. Michael tries to blame George or the shoddy deal but George Michael and Maeby give up the game when they visit George in prison. ("Whistler's Mother")​​​​ George grows angry when he finds out from Buster that Lucille is seeing Oscar. ("Not Without My Daughter") George is submitted to a lie detector test and gives himself an injection of medicine to fake a heart attack at the last minute. He and Kitty escape from the hospital to Mexico. ("Let 'Em Eat Cake")​​​​





Season Two

When Tobias is admitted to the hospital, George, disguised as Oscar, steals the briefcase of evidence G.O.B. found in the wall of the Bluth Company offices. ("The One Where Michael Leaves") Kitty and George wait in a Mexican hotel room until George flees to call Michael. He is arrested and held for illegal distribution of The Cornballer in Mexico. ("The One Where They Build a House") A fake funeral for George is held in Mexico which his sons don't notice when they try to find him. ("¡Amigos!") George pays off the police to fake his death and escapes back to Newport Beach and hides in a hole in the ground. George Michael finds him and hides him in the model home's attic. Ice tells the Bluth family that George has been killed so they hold a wake for him. Michael discovers a box of Glisten in the dirt and finds his father in the attic and tells his family he is alive and has escaped. ("Good Grief")

After seeing Lucille with Oscar at his wake, George tells Michael he will turn himself in if his wife is in love with his twin brother. Both Michael and George learn that Lucille is, in fact, in love with Oscar but Michael's care for George keeps him in hiding. ("Sad Sack") George makes Michael concerned that George Michael is pulling away from him. ("Afternoon Delight") George sneaks out of the attic to be an umpire at a Bluth Company softball game against Sitwell Enterprises. ("Switch Hitter") He tries to talk Michael out of getting a company car, and critiques some of Maeby's assigned screenplays. ("Queen for a Day")

Still jealous of Oscar, George tries to console himself by buying a hot tub for the attic, but the steam causes him to pass out in exhaustion. ("Burning Love") George suggests Michael call Jack Dorso to raise some sudden cash for the Bluth Company. ("Ready, Aim, Marry Me") George orders Michael to forbid Buster to go to army. George then sneaks into Balboa Towers and tells him the same directive, but Buster thinks he is Oscar and questions who he real father is. ("Out on a Limb") George sneaks out and test drives a Ford Escape. ("Hand to God") George begins having tea parties in the attic and is interrupted by Tobias, whom he begins coaching on how to portray him in Scandalmakers. ("Motherboy XXX")

After getting stuck next to a hot water pipe for a day, George converts to Christianity and refuses to help Michael help George Michael win a student council election. ("The Immaculate Election") George records a video for Bluth Company employees and has Tobias deliver it to the office. The FBI gets ahold of it and thinks he is in Iraq. ("Sword of Destiny")

When G.O.B. heads to the attic to retrieve Franklin, George tasks him with kidnapping Lucille and taking them to the Church of the Good Shepherd to renew their wedding vows. He flees when the police arrive. ("Meat the Veals") After watching Scandalmakers Kitty finds George in the attic and locks him in a hotel room during Spring Break. Michael and G.O.B. break in and rescue him. ("Spring Breakout") Out of brotherly love, G.O.B. knocks out George and prepares to turn him in to the police. G.O.B. discovers Michael lied about listening to Franklin Comes Alive! so the brothers fight on the courthouse lawn. George arrives and turns himself in. In the bathroom, he shaves Oscar's head and switches clothes, and escapes yet again. ("Righteous Brothers")

Season Three

George has fled to Reno and is a performer in the Blue Man Group. When Michael discovers that Oscar is imprisoned in George's place George drives the family cabin off with his son and grandson inside. ("The Cabin Show") Michael convinces the authorities to put George under house arrest in Balboa Towers where he becomes the sexual prisoner of Lucille. He pleads with Michael that he is innocent of his treason charges and was set up by a British syndicate. He has G.O.B. perform a Free Chicken illusion at the courthouse to help him escape, but G.O.B., afraid of Steve Holt, flees instead. Michael pleads "not guilty" and decides to find out the truth. ("For British Eyes Only")

To circumvent his house arrest, George hires surrogate Larry Middleman to represent him in Bluth family meetings. He tries to escape from the apartment via balloons tied to a chair. ("Forget-Me-Now") As community service, George gives a "Startled Straight" talk to young gay men (instead of the intended at-risk youth) at the Church and State Fair. He tries to flee in the fake Popemobile. ("Notapusy") George has Larry represent him at a family meeting but gets bored and grabs an ice cream sandwich. He tries to escape the apartment through a hole behind the refrigerator but gets stuck in the walls. ("Mr. F")

When Michael tells his parents he is marrying Rita, George thinks it is because she is after Bluth family money. Later he and Lucille find out Rita is a millionaire and an MRF and they try to rush the wedding. When Larry reveals the fact they knew she was mentally challenged George fires him. ("The Ocean Walker") Lucille flirts with Warden Stefan Gentles and stages the annual TBA fundraiser at the Orange County Prison to get the combination to George's ankle monitor. After he escapes, he heads to the prison to claim his wife before Warden Gentiles can make a move. ("Prison Break-In")

When George has G.O.B. build a Banana Shack to launder Colombian money, G.O.B. and Michael try to teach him a lesson about pitting them against each other by faking his kidnapping. He hires J. Walter Weatherman to scare them in return but they are one step ahead of him. ("Making a Stand") George suggests his family through a party to ask for legal fund donations. ("S.O.B.s")

George participates in the filming of the Mock Trial with J. Reinhold episode and is proven wrong by Michael, whom he had no faith in to act as their lawyer. ("Fakin' It")​​​​ George tries to have another "Black Friday" at the Bluth Company by erasing all company computers, but Michael discovers his old files of Nellie. ("Family Ties") George send G.O.B. to Iraq to burn down some model homes, and pretends to go into a coma to escape his looming trial. In Iraq his sons discover he was set up by the CIA to monitor Saddam Hussein. ("Exit Strategy") An exoneration party is thrown for George after the CIA forgives him of all charges. Lucille is in turn arrested for masterminding his thieving. George stows about The C-Word and absconds to Cabo with Michael and George Michael. ("Development Arrested")

Season four

After his exoneration party, George finds out that Stan Sitwell has landed a government contract to build a wall between the US and Mexico. George finds out that Oscar and his friends are living on some land on the border and buys it so he can gouge the government when they want to build the wall. Lucille suggests they build the wall themselves. As they wait for the project to start, George and Oscar start a "sweat and squeeze" at Father B.'s Colony to make money, where wealthy CEOs visit for "enlightenment" but George squeezes them for $15,000 for a glass of lemonade. ("Borderline Personalities")

After discovering he owes $15 million on the land, George bribes Herbert Love to build the wall. He then discovers the land is entirely in Mexico so he tries to get Michael to stop Love from supporting the wall. He also meets with Dr. Norman as he is feeling impotent. At Cinco de Cuatro George finds out from Dr. Norman he has no testosterone. ("Double Crossers") He also tells Lucille that occasionally he and Oscar had been swapping out so she demands a divorce. ("Queen B.")

He finds Lindsay's red wig in the garbage at Cinco and goes back to the penthouse to start his new life as a woman. ("Double Crossers")

George's two focal episodes in Season Four were "Borderline Personalities" and "Double Crossers". He also appears in "Flight of the Phoenix", "The B. Team", "A New Start", "Colony Collapse", "Red Hairing", "Queen B.", "Señoritis", "It Gets Better", and "Blockheads".





Season five

George Bluth appears in Season Five and is dealing with suicidal thoughts because of the loss of his libido.

Trivia

Images

→ See 539 pictures of George Bluth at Images of George Bluth.

Videos

→ Watch more videos of George Bluth at Category:Videos of George Bluth



