History Main / Standard50sFather

* Bandit Heeler of ''WesternAnimation/{{Bluey}}'' is a {{Reconstruction}} of this trope for UsefulNotes/TheNewTens. He's a sensible, hard-working, hard-playing guy who always makes time for his kids and who loves and is loved by his family. He's not perfect, but he's far from the typical BumblingDad.

* Bob, the husband from the commercials for ''Enzyte'' brand male enhancement pills. He's the StepfordSmiler type, but instead of insecurities or neuroses, he's trying to hide his ''[[BiggerIsBetterInBed massive, massive penis]]''.

The Standard '50s Father is solid, dependable, and responsible. He's HappilyMarried to his wife, whom he met [[HighSchoolSweethearts when they were both teenagers]]. And if the love he gives his children is slightly distant, it is no less heartfelt for being so. He's an upstanding citizen who rarely swears or drinks to excess, [[GoodSmokingEvilSmoking if he smokes he]] [[DistinguishedGentlemansPipe smokes a pipe]], and attends a regular "bowling night" with his friends ("darts" if British). If he plays cards it will be bridge, probably in partnership with his wife, ''not'' poker in a dingy room full of cigar smoke. He wears a shirt and tie with dress pants and a cardigan during the day (even while he cuts the lawn on Saturday morning) and sleeps in sensible cotton pajamas. He usually wears glasses. He's buttoned-down, calm, wise, and thoughtful. None but a few things can rattle him: 1.) [[OverprotectiveDad His daughter getting a boyfriend]], 2.) [[PanickyExpectantFather His wife revealing that she's going to have a baby (and her later going into labor)]], 3.) His wife deciding that she wants a job (assuming that it's her idea and not his), or 4.) The threat of losing ''his'' job (combining 3 and 4 could send him into open hysterics). If the RedScare is in effect, he'll go berserk at the thought of someone close to him being a communist.

* Bandit Heeler of ''WesternAnimation/{{Bluey}}'' is this trope updated for the modern day. He's a sensible, hard-working, hard-playing guy who always makes time for his kids and who loves and is loved by his family. He's not perfect, but he's far from the typical BumblingDad.

%% * The Vision of ''Series/WandaVision'' was doing a very good job at this role, but was smart enough to realize he hadn't chosen it.

* As the ''Videogame/{{Fallout}}'' series is based on 50s culture with {{Zeerust}} technology, many subversions, parodies, and deconstructions of this character appear throughout. Jack Smith and his neighbour Willy Wilson in ''Videogame/{{Fallout 3}}'' are almost iconic. Serious men who dress properly, care for their small families, don't vote for no commie beatniks and don't take kindly to strangers using bad language where the kids can hear. They love their families and believe that it's a man's job to "bring home the bacon". Quite literally since Andale is populated with cannibals.

** Henry Winchester has elements of this. A suit and tie are his main clothing choices, with a trench coat and fedora for when he goes out. He took his son, John, to see ''Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy'' and keeps a picture they took together in his wallet. The only major deviation is his job: demon hunting.

%% * Clay Puppington from ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel''. He is a {{Deconstruction}} of this trope. [[OedipusComplex To]] [[UnwantedSpouse horrifying]] [[TheAlcoholic degrees.]]

* In one of Christopher Hart's ''How to Draw Manga'' books, he suggests making the father of any magical girl character the reader creates like this for comedic value.
%% * Usagi's father, Kenji Tsukino in ''Franchise/SailorMoon''.
%% * Also Nobita's father in ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'', replacing pipe and slippers with a yukata and cigarettes. <-- What does that have to do with being a Standard 50s Father?
%% * Fujitaka Kinomoto from ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' is the wise, stable, and friendly father of TheProtagonist. <-- Does not explain how he is wise, stable, or friendly.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', Joe Danvers Sr. is a darker variant on the trope - a StepfordSmiler who tries to force his older two children (a sporty ActionGirl and tomboy, and a quiet and artistic boy) into the roles he feels they should follow: the [[StayInTheKitchen demure]] ProperLady (though he'd settle for a GirlNextDoor) and TheAllAmericanBoy (like his youngest child). In a complicating twist, he does actually love his children, sincerely believes that he's doing what's best for them - even when that extends to ''asking Harry to [[spoiler: MindRape his daughter into compliance]]'' - and was genuinely good with them when they were small... and not defying his expectations.
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* In ''Magazine/NationalLampoon'', "The Appletons" was a regular strip, a very typical "50s family" with a dad who's a smiling, pipe-smoking psycho who constantly messes with his kids' heads.

* Professor Utonium from ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' is sort of like a scientific variant of this. He carries a pipe and is a good guy in general.

%% * ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife's'' main character is a slightly darker take on this: he's genuine, but of course, he's just lost his job. <-- How is he genuine, and how is his loss of job related to the trope?

%% * Ed Avery from ''Film/BiggerThanLife'' provides the page image. However, he's a subversion, as he develops severe physical and mental health problems. <-- Needs more context than just providing the page image, and an explanation regarding his health problems.

* [[BigBad Father]] from ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' looks like a living silhouette of one, complete with pipe. He's sort of an unusual example since his children are adopted, {{Brainwashed}} {{Creepy Child}}ren and [[PlayingWithFire he can breathe fire]].

%% * Professor Utonium from ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls''.

** Deconstructed with regards to Bojack's maternal grandfather Joseph Sugarman, who [[spoiler:got his wife Honey a lobotomy because he was [[SocietyMarchesOn woefully unprepared]] to [[RealMenHateAffection handle her grief]] over their son's death in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and then threatened his daughter Beatrice (Bojack's mother) with one of her own if she didn't keep her emotions in check]].

[[folder:Other]]

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%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

* Usagi's father, Kenji Tsukino in ''Franchise/SailorMoon''.
* Also Nobita's father in ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'', replacing pipe and slippers with a yukata and cigarettes.
* Fujitaka Kinomoto from ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' is the wise and stable and friendly father of TheProtagonist.
* Koudai Ohzaora, father of the titular ''Manga/CaptainTsubasa'', when at home. (He works as a marine merchant captain so he spends lots of time travelling through the world.)

* Prysm's "father" in the virtual reality in which she was raised in ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' comic book (the VR having been designed to simulate the world of a 50s sitcom).

* Hyperion's adopted father of ''ComicBook/SupremePower'' acted very much like this but that was only because it was his assignment to give Mark Milton the most wholesome upbringing possible.
* Mr. Darren, leader of the Men From N.O.W.H.E.R.E from Creator/GrantMorrison's run on ''Comicbook/DoomPatrol'' fits the darker versions of this trope to a T, to the point where he forces his wife to play a LaughTrack when he comes home from work.
* Mr. Fantastic has played a Standard Fifties Father pretty straight since his conception (Although ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' #1 was released in 1961).

* ''Whiteman'', by Robert Crumb, wants you to think he's this, but he has to constantly struggle to suppress his lusts, rages and racial anxiety.
* In the anti-child abuse comic, ''Franchise/{{Batman}} and the Ultimate Evil'', paedophiles are always drawn as middle-class white guys, often smoking pipes. A very nasty subversion indeed!

* ''ComicStrip/{{Mafalda}}'': Mafalda's father Ángel, though he can be more neurotic than the standard.
* Dagwood Bumstead of ''ComicStrip/{{Blondie}}''.
* In ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', Calvin's Dad looks a bit like one of these, wearing [[TwoDecadesBehind an outdated suit]] to his job as a patent attorney, and trying to present an image of stern discipline and authority to his son. He's also the {{Trope Namer|s}} for MiseryBuildsCharacter. He occasionally subverts it by making up bizarre [[JustSoStory Just So stories]]. For example, he tells Calvin that the reason that old movies were in black and white is that the world was black and white then and that the sun sets each night in Arizona, which is why the rocks there are so red. He also practices cycling as a hobby, with a few strips focusing on his escapades.
* Henry Mitchell in ''Comicstrip/DennisTheMenaceUS'' fits this trope to a T (and it probably helps that the strip itself began in the fifties); he's tall, thin, has black hair, wears glasses and a tie, is HappilyMarried to Alice, his bond with Dennis is stronger than that of Alice, and in his earlier appearances, he smoked a pipe.
* Mark Trail of ''Comicstrip/MarkTrail'', even though he was invented in the '40s, not '50s.
* ''Magazine/NationalLampoon'': "The Appletons" was a regular strip, a very typical "50s family" with a dad who's a smiling, pipe-smoking psycho who constantly messes with his kids' heads.

* ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife's'' main character is a slightly darker take on this: he's genuine, but of course, he's just lost his job.
* ''Film/{{Pleasantville}}'', as a parody of the good old days, features one. This one's a StepfordSmiler type, but with a slight twist; the emotion he's primarily suppressing behind his facade isn't hatred or anger, but rather ''affection,'' which he's not allowed to openly display as the stern patriarch. His change to color (which in the film happens when you tap into something suppressed), is triggered by accepting the love he has for his wife and family.
* In the movie ''Film/WhiteChristmas'', Bob invokes the pipe, slippers, newspaper idea of a husband when ribbing Phil, who has just (supposedly) gotten engaged.
* ''Film/BicentennialMan'': Sir, known to everyone else as Richard Martin, undergoes some [[AdaptationPersonalityChange minor changes]], mostly expanding his lines and giving him the role of mentor to Andrew. He is very dependable, and does a good job of teaching his moral opinions to other family members. His clothing, naturally, reflects his affluent yet conservative style, with him choosing cardigans and ties in the relaxed setting of his home, even as fashions change around him. Despite the film being set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture.

* Christopher Walken's character in ''Film/BlastFromThePast''.
* The title character of ''Film/TheStepfather'' cultivates this image for himself and seems to think of himself like this. At one point, he's explicitly compared to Ward Cleaver. Unfortunately, the accent here is on [[SerialKiller cleaver]] . . .

* Chris in ''Film/TheWoman'' seems to think that he's one of these, but is in fact a very dark subversion.

* Ed Avery from ''Film/BiggerThanLife'' provides the page image. Interestingly, he's a subversion, as he develops severe physical and mental health problems.

** He returns in ''Go Set a Watchman'' as a darker version of this trope.
* Mr. Brown from the ''Literature/JustWilliam'' series (father to the main character).

* Ward Cleaver from ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver''. This paterfamilias set standard -- to the point of being the former TropeNamer.
* Steve Douglas from ''Series/MyThreeSons''.

* Howard Cunningham from ''Series/HappyDays''.
* Dr. Alex Stone from ''Series/TheDonnaReedShow''.
* Dr. Jason Siever from ''Series/GrowingPains''.
* Mike Brady of ''Series/TheBradyBunch''.
* Ozzie Nelson from ''Series/TheAdventuresOfOzzieAndHarriet'' (and the sequel series ''Ozzie's Girls'').
* Lloyd Nielsen from the extremely short-lived ''Hi Honey, I'm Home''.
* Rob Petrie from ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'' is a comedic version of this.
* Andy Taylor from ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'' has some of the associated traits. The guidance he gives his son is the most obvious quality.
* Jack Pryor from ''Series/AmericanDreams''. Despite being made in the 2000s, he's a mostly idealistic portrayal and never does anything worse than being overprotective at times.
* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman'' once featured the same actor as Ward Cleaver, Hugh Beaumont, portraying a 50s father with a hidden past as a gangster.
* Henry Winchester from ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' has elements of this. A suit and tie are his main clothing choices, with a trench coat and fedora for when he goes out. He took his son, John, to see ''Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy'' and keeps a picture they took together in his wallet. The only major deviation is his job: demon hunting.

* Carl Winslow from ''Series/FamilyMatters'' during the first couple seasons. Was also the BumblingDad at this time.
* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "Ted," John Ritter plays this type of man, who gets involved with Buffy's mom. Of course, he turns out to be a killer robot.
* Subverted in ''Series/MadMen'' with Don Draper - when you realize he is the 50s dad at the end of the first episode, it comes as a surprise. And of course, he is most definitely ''not'' a paragon of American virtue (what with the affairs, stolen identity, etc). Oh, and the divorce. Let's not forget he drove his wife to divorce. (Or perhaps she drove herself to it. Whatever).
* ''Series/{{Community}}'' - in "Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy", Chang wants the chance to be a father to Shirley's son (it's a 50/50 chance he's the biological father) and Jeff tells him Shirley might give him the chance if he acts responsibly, just to get him out of his apartment. Chang starts dressing and acting like every '50s tv sitcom dad in a clear case of SanitySlippage.

* The Vision of ''Series/WandaVision'' was doing a very good job at this role, but was smart enough to realize he hadn't chosen it. Maybe next time...

* The Dad in the music video of Simple Plan's "Untitled."

* As the ''Videogame/{{Fallout}}'' series is based on 50s culture with {{Zeerust}} technology, many Subversions, Parodies, and Deconstructions of this character appear throughout.
** Jack Smith and his neighbour Willy Wilson in ''Videogame/{{Fallout 3}}'' are almost iconic. Serious men who dress properly, care for their small families, don't vote for no commie beatniks and don't take kindly to strangers using bad language where the kids can hear. They love their families and believe that it's a man's job to "bring home the bacon". Quite literally since Andale is populated with cannibals.
* ''VideoGame/{{Octodad}}'' [[PaperThinDisguise attempts to be one]]. But he's really an octopus.

* ''Webcomic/GhastlysGhastlyComic'':
** Subverted with Smokey: he looks like he's stepped straight out of the staid starchiness of Fifties suburbia, but it soon becomes clear he's as filthy-minded as the rest of the cast.
** Ghastly himself looks like the perfect stereotype of the '50s father.

* Elliot is cast as one of these in a dream sequence in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2004-08-09 "Sleepy Time: Elliot's Dream, Part I".]]

* WebAnimation/{{asdfmovie}}: The dad of the I Like Trains Kid.

* The father in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfUkQy8lz6Q this]] WebAnimation/YouTubePoop is TheFifties incarnate, despite what his mangled lines.
* Pop from ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'' has the general look and personality of this, though his wife is nowhere to be seen and implied to be dead. What keeps him from being a true example, however, is a bad case of ParentalObliviousness that keeps getting his son killed.

* Clay Puppington from ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel''. He is a {{Deconstruction}} of this trope. [[OedipusComplex To]] [[UnwantedSpouse horrifying]] [[TheAlcoholic degrees.]]
* John Hansen from ''WesternAnimation/DaveyAndGoliath'', the show which ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' is a parody of, definitely counts.
* Dexter's dad from ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' walks a fine line between this and the BumblingDad.
* Dad from ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken''.
* Professor Utonium from ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls''.
* Katie's father in the Katie Ka-Boom shorts from ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}''.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' has Professor Richard Impossible, a Standard '50s Husband combined with the [[ForScience worst traits]] of [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]].

* WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}} in the [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts Disney cartoons]] where he plays a [[BumblingDad bumbling suburban father]] named George Geef.

* Timmy Turner's dad on ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' before he was [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]].

* Played for all the horror possible in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'', where the Joker sets himself up as a mockery of one (complete with pipe) to herald... [[WouldHurtAChild Well...]]
* Bob from ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' is a modernized take on this trope. While he does have his moments, he usually serves as the voice of reason among his more eccentric wife and three kids.
* PlayedForDrama with ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'''s father, Butterscotch, who admonishes his son for having an ImaginaryFriend because they were "invented by [[RedScare Communists]] to rip off welfare". We eventually learn in flashbacks that he took up this exaggerated version of the persona purely out of spite after he failed to make it as a Beat writer and married into money.

* King roland from ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'' could be considered as one, the only reason he doesn't smoke is due to the target audience.
* Mike from ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'' is a rare western example of the previously mentioned How to Draw Manga books, as he ended being, unknowingly, the foster father of a fairy.
* Tom Dupain from ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' is another example from such book.
* Hugh Neutron from ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius''.

* J. R. "Bob" Dobbs, icon of the Church of the [=SubGenius=], is a parody of this type.

* Sam Neill's character in ''Film/BicentennialMan'' fits this trope despite the film being set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture.

* ''Film/BicentennialMan'': Sir, known to everyone else as Richard Martin, undergoes some [[AdaptationPersonalityChange minor changes]], mostly expanding his lines and giving him the role of mentor to Andrew. He is very dependable, and does a good job of teaching his moral opinions to other family members. His clothing, naturally, reflects his affluent yet conservative style, with him choosing cardigans and ties in the relaxed setting of his home, even as fashions change around him.

* Elliot is cast as one of these in a dream sequence in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2004-08-09 "Sleepy Time: Elliot's Dream, Part I"]].

[[folder: Fan Works]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* WebAnimation/{{asdfmovie}}: The dad of the I Like Trains Kid

* The Vision of ''Series/WandaVision'' was doing a very good job playing this trope, but was too smart to stay at that level forever.

* ''Film/{{Pleasantville}}'', as a parody of the good old days, features one.

* Mr. Fantastic has played a Standard Fifties Father pretty straight since his conception (Although ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' #1 was released in 1961.) and after marrying his college sweetheart. "Wives should be kissed -- and not heard!" indeed. Modern interpretations make him more subtly -- and egalitarianly -- condescending. So while his archnemesis is mocked for being medieval, he is merely Rockwellian.

* Also Nobita's father in ''Anime/{{Doraemon}}'', replacing pipe and slippers with a yukata and cigarettes.

* Bob, the husband from the commercials for ''Enzyte'' brand male enhancement pills. He's the StepfordSmiler type, but instead of insecurities or neuroses, he's trying to hide his ''[[BiggusDickus massive, massive penis]]''.

* In ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', Calvin's Dad looks a bit like one of these, wearing [[TwoDecadesBehind an outdated suit]] to his job as a patent attorney, and trying to present an image of stern discipline and authority to his son. He's also the TropeNamer for MiseryBuildsCharacter. He occasionally subverts it by making up bizarre [[JustSoStory Just So stories]]. For example, he tells Calvin that the reason that old movies were in black and white is that the world was black and white then and that the sun sets each night in Arizona, which is why the rocks there are so red. He also practices cycling as a hobby, with a few strips focusing on his escapades.

* In ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', Joe Danvers Snr is a darker variant on the trope - a StepfordSmiler who tries to force his older two children (a sporty ActionGirl and tomboy, and a quiet and artistic boy) into the roles he feels they should follow: the [[StayInTheKitchen demure]] ProperLady (though he'd settle for a GirlNextDoor) and TheAllAmericanBoy (like his youngest child). In a complicating twist, he does actually love his children, sincerely believes that he's doing what's best for them - even when that extends to ''asking Harry to [[spoiler: MindRape his daughter into compliance]]'' - and was genuinely good with them when they were small... and not defying his expectations.

** The MonsterOfTheWeek in "A Very Supernatural Christmas" is a pair of pagan Gods. While they have no children, they dress, talk, and act like a couple from a 50's sitcom. [[FauxAffablyEvil Emphasis on "act"]].

** Sometimes, Ren himself would also take on this trope, wearing glasses, a red robe, and slippers, smoking a pipe and reading a newspaper countless times. Stimpy, his partner, would also treat him as a {{HouseWife}} would her husband. This is most apparent when he gets a son in the episode "Fake Dad".

* In ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', Joe Danvers Snr is a darker variant on the trope - a StepfordSmiler who tries to force his older two children (a sporty ActionGirl and tomboy, and a quiet and artistic boy) into the roles he feels they should follow: the [[StayInTheKitchen demure]] ProperLady and the manly AllAmericanBoy (like his youngest child). In a complicating twist, he does actually love his children, sincerely believes that he's doing what's best for them - even when that extends to ''asking Harry to [[spoiler: MindRape his daughter into compliance]]'' - and was genuinely good with them when they were small... and not defying his expectations.

* Henry Mitchell in ''Comicstrip/DennisTheMenaceUS''.