Arthur Carlson comes from a successful family of Cincinnati business people. Arthur's grandfather, who is seen in one episode in a dream (also played by Gordon Jump), was a miserly businessman who built up Carlson Industries. He left it to Arthur's father, Hank, a sweet-natured man who was more interested in having a good time than running the business. Hank married Lillian, a former actress in Broadway musicals, who soon proved to have a talent for business and took the family business more seriously than Hank did. Eventually Lillian took over the corporation entirely, and Hank died soon after. Because his father died when he was very young, Arthur Carlson was raised mostly by his mother and by her sarcastic butler, Hirsch (Ian Wolfe). Mr. Carlson served in the Marine Corps as an officer, presumably during the Korean War, however, this is never explicitly stated; he also makes reference to being at Guadalcanal, as well as learning some Japanese, which may be a vague indication that he served during World War II instead. He is explicitly referenced as being 48 in an episode aired in 1979, giving him a birth year of 1931 (or possibly 1930) making Korea a much more likely. At some point he saw combat, a fact he confirmed to Venus Flytrap.