Oyl Family

Segar's Thimble Theatre strips featured a number of Olive Oyls relatives named after other oils.

Castor Oyl
Castor Oyl is Olive Oyl's older brother; they are the children of Cole Oyl and his wife Nana. He was the main protagonist of Thimble Theatre for years before the first appearance of the Popeye character in January 1929. A quick-witted yet diminutive adventurer, Castor Oyl continued to be an important character in Segar's Popeye strip, but played little (most usually no) role in the Popeye theatrical cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios. His most prominent appearance in the series is as a member of Popeye's orchestra in the 1935 short The Spinach Overture.

In the 1980 film directed by Robert Altman, Castor is a key character, and is played by actor Donovan Scott. In the film, however, he is made Olive's younger brother and is considerably less sophisticated than his comic strip counterpart.

Nana Oyl and Cole Oyl
Nana Oyl is Castor and Olive Oyl's mother. Cole Oyl is Olive and Castor's father. Nana Oyl was named after "banana oil," a mild slang phrase of the time used in the same way as "horsefeathers," i.e. "nonsense".

In the 1980 film Nana is played by Roberta Maxwell and Cole Oyl is played by MacIntyre Dixon.

Other Oyls
Other members of the Oyl family include Castor's estranged wife, Cylinda Oyl, her cousin, Sutra Oyl and her two uncles, Otto Oyl and Lubry Kent Oyl. More recently, Olive's nieces Diesel Oyl & Violet Oyl appears in the cartoons.