This is an entry to Mark Evanier's list of the twenty top voice actors in American animated cartoons between 1928 and 1968. For more on this list, read this. To see all the listings posted to date, click here.
Most Famous Role: Fred Flintstone.
Other Notable Roles: Dum-Dum (sidekick to Touché Turtle), Boris the Russian Wolfhound in Lady and the Tramp, not much else.
What He Did Besides Cartoon Voices: Reed was primarily a radio actor who segued into television. He appeared on hundreds of radio programs but was best known for playing Falstaff, the poet on Fred Allen's shows and as Pasquale, the Italian immigrant on Life with Luigi. On television, it was mostly guest star roles. You can see him (and fellow voice actor Howard Morris) in the episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show entitled "The Masterpiece." That's the one where Rob accidentally buys a seemingly worthless painting at an auction. Reed played the auctioneer.
Why He's On This List: Fred Flintstone was one of the most popular animated characters ever and a lot of that had to do with the casting of Reed, who was just plain a great comic actor.
Fun Fact: Reed wasn't the first choice for Fred. Bill Thompson, who voiced Touché Turtle, was. But after several episodes were recorded, Thompson was having trouble sustaining the chosen voice and Joe Barbera also decided they needed a more natural-sounding voice for Fred. So Reed was hired — and at the same time, Mel Blanc replaced the first choice for Barney Rubble, who was Hal Smith. The first few episodes were re-recorded and no one ever regretted the change.
Additional Fun Facts: Late in his career, Reed sometimes shared the role of Fred (especially when the character had to sing) with Henry Corden, then Corden took over entirely after Reed died in 1977. Reed was also the first voice of Fillmore Bear on Jay Ward's Hoppity Hooper cartoons but when he got a raise and/or too busy as Fred, that role switched over to Bill Scott.