Family Guy's Peter Griffin is one of the show's most important characters, but where did Seth MacFarlane get the idea for the Griffin patriarch?

Seth MacFarlane took inspiration for the patriarch of Family Guy's Griffin family, Peter Griffin, from an interesting source. For a time, Family Guy was an undeniable pop culture sensation, thanks to its irreverent sense of humor and its consistent lampooning of almost every topic imaginable. The animated show owes much of that success to creator Seth MacFarlane, who, as well as being the show's creator and one of its writers, voices a multitude of Family Guy characters.

Family Guy follows the exploits of the Griffin family, an average Rhode Island family consisting of husband and wife Peter and Lois, their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie, and their dog Brian. Over the years, the show has expanded to introduce and include a wealth of colorful supporting characters, many of which have become almost as integral to the show as the Griffins themselves. However, Peter Griffin is inarguably Family Guy's most important character, and the vast majority of the show's stories heavily involve the Griffin patriarch in one way or another.

Peter's distinctive voice and mannerisms weren't based on any of Seth MacFarlane's own family members but rather on people he met while studying at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design. Tracing back the character's roots, Family Guy's Peter Griffin was essentially based on the security guards MacFarlane met while at RISD, specifically one Mr. Paul Timmins. Timmins served as the basis for Peter Griffin, including the character's accent and glasses, and - according to MacFarlane - Timmins had "absolutely no self-editing whatsoever".

Peter Griffin Was Influenced By Another MacFarlane Character

Though both MacFarlane and Timmins acknowledge that the guard was the basis for Peter Griffin, the character's history is actually a little less straightforward, because he's actually based on an earlier character created by MacFarlane. To understand how Peter Griffin came to reach his final and most iconic form, it's important to understand the early stages of MacFarlane's career, because there's a clear trajectory from the comedian's college years to the creation of Family Guy. While studying at RISD - the same place he met Paul Timmins - Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane created a thesis film titled The Life of Larry, about a middle-aged everyman named Larry Cummings, his highly intelligent talking dog, Steve, his wife Lois, and son Milt. MacFarlane's professor submitted the film to Hanna-Barbera, and the studio hired him to create another short, which he titled Larry & Steve.

The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve acted as the basis for Family Guy, with many elements of MacFarlane's later show based on the earlier work. Larry became Peter (including all the elements MacFarlane had based on Paul Timmins), Steve became Brian, and many of the other characters from The Life of Larry inspired their own elements of Family Guy. Many of the show's most significant components - including Family Guy's talking dog Brian - were clearly lifted from MacFarlane's earlier creation, with Family Guy's Peter Griffin based on both Larry from The Life of Larry and real-life RISD security guard Paul Timmins.