‘The Simpsons’ Kills Off Organ Player Alice Glick for Good

This past Sunday’s episode of The Simpsons saw the demise of Alice Glick, best known as the organist at Reverend Lovejoy’s church, and while the show has seen various characters killed off over the years, showrunner Tim Long confirmed that this is a permanent exit for the character. The nature of the animated series, which is currently in Season 37, means characters rarely age or undergo any permanent evolution, with only a handful being considered canonically dead. However, the longer the series runs, the more characters have made their exit, and this isn’t even the first time Alice died in an episode.

With Alice having been killed off previously, fans had reasons to doubt the demise, though Long admitted to Entertainment Weekly:

“In a sense, Alice the organist will live forever, through the beautiful music she made … But in another, more important sense, yep, she’s dead as a doornail.”

Alice was voiced by Tress MacNeille, who also provides the voice for Agnes Skinner, Seymour Skinner’s mother. Alice made her first appearance in the Season 2 episode “Three Men and a Comic Book,” where she was voiced by Cloris Leachman. In what will likely be considered a divisive move on the part of the filmmakers, Alice’s death was merely a footnote in this week’s episode, as it was the inciting incident in which her death resulted in her leaving her estate to Springfield Elementary’s music program.

Arguably Alice’s most iconic appearance came in the Season 7 episode “Bart Sells His Soul,” which opens with Bart tricking Reverend Lovejoy and Alice into playing Iron Butterfly’s 17-minute “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by claiming the song is actually called “In the Garden of Eden.” After performing the lengthy track, Alice collapsed in exhaustion.

What Other ‘The Simpsons’ Characters Have Died?

Various ancillary or unnamed characters and animals died in the early seasons of the series, but it wasn’t until Season 6 that more memorable figures died, including jazz musician Bleeding Gums Murphy, which was the focus of an entire Lisa-centric episode. More memorable deaths since then include Frank Grimes, Maude Flanders, Mona Simpson, and Fat Tony (who was replaced by “Fit Tony,” then becoming the new “Fat Tony”).

One of the more tragic deaths, which is due to real-life actor Marcia Wallace dying, was teacher Edna Krabappel. With Edna’s death not being canonically depicted within the series, though, some reports claim the character merely “retired.” The Season 36 finale of The Simpsons sparked a lot of speculation among fans, as the episode featured a sequence in which Marge Simpson died. With this being a season finale, some audiences assumed this would be a definitive change to the series, though the series’ producers have confirmed this was not a permanent decision.

In 2017, actor Hank Azaria announced he would no longer be voicing the character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, and while the character still appears in the background of various episodes, he has not earned a speaking role in nearly a decade.