Old Female Cartoon Characters: The Oldest Icons

The oldest female cartoon characters, from Olive Oyl and Betty Boop to Minnie Mouse, Wilma Flintstone, and Marge Simpson, have been on our screens for more than a century. I have always had a soft spot for these classic animated women.

They are not just old cartoons to me, they are a timeline of how animation, and how we drew and wrote women, changed decade by decade. So I lined up my favorite old female cartoon characters oldest to newest, starting all the way back in 1919.

One quick note before we dig in: if you are hunting for the very first female cartoon character, most historians point to Gertie the Dinosaur from 1914.

On my main list, the oldest of the bunch is the one and only Olive Oyl.

The oldest female cartoon characters

Here they are in order, from a 1919 comic-strip beanpole all the way up to a blue-haired mom from the late 80s.

Olive Oyl

Debut: 1919 (Thimble Theatre comic strip)

Olive is the oldest character on my list, and she beat her own boyfriend to the punch. She first appeared in the Thimble Theatre comic strip in 1919, a full decade before Popeye ever turned up to fight over her. Tall, lanky, and stuck in a permanent tug-of-war between Popeye and the brutish Bluto, Olive has now hung around for more than a hundred years. Not bad for a character who is basically all elbows and attitude.

Minnie Mouse

Debut: 1928 (Steamboat Willie)

Minnie showed up the same year as Mickey, right there in Steamboat Willie in 1928. She has never once been an afterthought. In her polka-dot dress and matching bow, Minnie became one of the faces of Disney itself. I always liked that she was present from the very first frame of the Mickey era, not bolted on later to give him a girlfriend.

Betty Boop

Debut: 1930 (Dizzy Dishes)

Betty Boop is pure Jazz Age. She first booped her way onto screens in 1930’s Dizzy Dishes, and she was one of animation’s first properly grown-up female stars, all flapper sass, big eyes, and that Boop-Oop-a-Doop. The early pre-Code Betty was bold and a little wild before the strict content rules of the mid-1930s toned her right down.

Nearly a century later she is still one of the most recognizable cartoon characters ever drawn, and one of the greatest cartoon characters ever in my book.

Daisy Duck

Debut: 1940 (Mr. Duck Steps Out)

Daisy strutted in during 1940’s Mr. Duck Steps Out, and she was a breath of fresh air. Instead of being a quiet accessory to Donald, she had her own spark and a temper more than able to match his.

Their on-again, off-again romance with Donald Duck gave us some of the funniest exasperated-couple energy in classic Disney.

Granny

Debut: 1950 (Canary Row)

Granny is the ultimate old lady cartoon character, glasses, gray bun, and all. Tweety’s fiercely protective owner made her official debut in the 1950 Looney Tunes short Canary Row, forever planting herself between her little yellow bird and Sylvester the cat.

Do not let the sweet exterior fool you. She will swing an umbrella at a puddy tat without a second thought.

Wilma Flintstone

Debut: 1960 (The Flintstones)

Wilma brought the stone age home in 1960. With her white dress, pearl necklace, and that patient, capable energy, she was the real backbone of the Flintstone household down in Bedrock. Fred got the catchphrases, but Wilma and her best friend Betty usually got things done.

She was one of the first cartoon wives written as plainly smarter than her husband, a joke the show leaned on again and again.

Jane Jetson

Debut: 1962 (The Jetsons)

Two years after Wilma, Hanna-Barbera flipped the setting from prehistoric to outer space and gave us Jane Jetson. Same warm family-matriarch role, wildly different backdrop of flying cars, moving sidewalks, and a robot maid named Rosie to handle the housework.

Jane is the retro-future version of the cartoon mom, and the Jetsons idea of tomorrow still looks pretty appealing to me.

Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley

Debut: 1969 (Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!)

Scooby-Doo handed us two of the most enduring cartoon women in a single show. Daphne, with her striking red hair and a talent for finding trouble, was always far more than the damsel people wrote her off as. Velma, in her orange turtleneck and glasses, was the brains who quietly cracked every mystery with a well-timed “Jinkies.”

Together they were brains and bravery, and fans have happily argued over both of them for decades.

Marge Simpson

Debut: 1987 (The Tracey Ullman Show shorts)

Marge is the youngster of the group, first appearing in 1987 in shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show before The Simpsons spun off into its own thing. That towering blue hair is iconic on its own, but what makes Marge last is that she is the steady emotional center holding a deeply chaotic family together.

Nearly forty years later, she is still doing it.

More Old Female Cartoon Characters

Nine was never going to cover a whole century of animation, so here is a bigger list of classic female cartoon characters worth knowing, including a few more from the 60s golden age.

It is a fun mix if you are chasing old cartoon character names for a quiz or just a nostalgia hit.

From a 1919 comic-strip beanpole to a blue-haired mom in 1987, these old female cartoon characters map out a whole century of animation.

They started as damsels, wives, and sidekicks, then got slowly rewritten into the smart, funny, fully realized women we remember best.

Who is your favorite classic cartoon woman, and who did I leave off the list?

Let me know in the comments.