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Last September, as you probably know, a bunch of us put on a big event in the theater at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills.  Its purpose?  To honor the late 'n' lovely June Foray. Last Monday night, we had a little invitational dinner at the Smoke House restaurant in Burbank for some of those who contributed to that evening. I'll identify the attendees in the above photo, starting with the folks who are standing…

At far left is my associate/assistant John Plunkett who associates and assists with so much of what I do. Then as we move left-to-right, we find animation expert Jerry Beck. Then — oh, look! — there's TV expert and host of Stu's Show, Stu Shostak He's is in the hammerlock grip of voice actor Bob Bergen.  Bob is, of course, the voice of Porky Pig and many other characters and he's one of the best teachers of cartoon voicing.  Peeking over his shoulder is Marian Massaro, who was our main announcer at the event.  You've heard Marian announcing some of the major awards shows on TV and countless commercials.

Then the fine-looking lady dressed like a zebra is chanteuse extraordinaire Shelly Goldstein, who has been oft-mentioned on this blog as a first-rate writer and performer and next to her is Joe Campana, a superb film editor who did some of the superb film editing for us.  Then the guy in black is Neil Ross, voice of dozens of your fave cartoon characters and our other announcer that evening.  Neil does most of the commercials and award show announcing that Marian doesn't do.  And way over on the end is one of the greatest guys I know, Disney exec Howard Green. This is not to suggest anyone else in the photo is not a great guy or gal.

I'm the fellow who's seated and for some reason, I'm holding Howard Green's "to go" order.  To my right and your left is the lovely Amber Payne.  She's the Amber I've written about on this blog the last few months.  Finally: To my left and your right is the lovely Jeanine Kasun, spouse of Stu Shostak and host of her own podcast, Baby Boomer Favorites with Jeanine Kasun.

Three other points or maybe more…

• If you've been thinking you might want to make a living as a voice actor or announcer, go visit Bob's, Marian's and Neil's websites and click on the links that play their demos. That's your competition.
• The Smoke House is a fine place to eat and it also has some interesting connections to the worlds of animation and comic books. I wrote about them in this article.
• But every time I write about it here, I get e-mails from folks scolding me for spelling its name wrong.  Go look at their website, people.  They spell it "Smoke House," "Smokehouse" and "SmokeHouse" there, sometimes varying it on the same page.  If they can spell it any way they want, I can spell it any way I want.
• But however you spell it, it still has the best Garlic Cheese Bread in the world. In fact — and this is true — that's all that was in Howard's "to-go" order: Garlic Cheese Bread. This dinner was paid for with a $500 gift certificate we had and I was thinking maybe we should forget about the steaks and chicken and salads, and just get $500 worth of Garlic Cheese Bread.

And one more point: A lot of other folks helped out, including animation expert Tom Sito, who wasn't there because some lunkhead (the guy holding the Cheese Bread in the photo) accidentally gave him the wrong time to be there. We were and are grateful to all who pitched in to help. It is an additional tribute to June that so many folks volunteered to help, many of them saying, "I just want to be a part of it." Thanks to everyone who was.

June Foray died this morning, just 54 days shy of what would have been her 100th birthday. This was not unexpected. I saw her just six weeks ago and she was very small and very frail and just about ready to go. Her sister had died not long before and her brother-in-law died shortly after that visit.

She was, of course, the premier female voice talent of her era. I don't know who the runner-up was but whoever it was, she was in a distant second in terms of hours logged voicing cartoons and commercials, dubbing movies, doing narration, appearing on radio shows and records…even providing the voice for talking dolls. A few years ago when Earl Kress and I assisted her with her autobiography, we foolishly thought we could whip up a near-complete list of everything she'd done. Not in this world possible. I know more of June's credits than most people and I'd be surprised if I know 10% of it.

She was Rocky the Flying Squirrel. She was Natasha Fatale. She was Nell Fenwick. She was Jokey Smurf. She was Cindy Lou Who. She was Granny, owner of Tweety. She was Witch Hazel. She was Chatty Cathy. She was thousands of others.

Most of all, she was June Foray, a talented workaholic who for decades, drove into Hollywood every weekday early in the morning and went from recording session to recording session until well after dark. Everyone hired her because she was always on time, always professional and what she did was always good. It was her good friend, director Chuck Jones who said, "June Foray is not the female Mel Blanc. Mel Blanc is the male June Foray."

June Foray was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on September 18, 1917. The talent she exhibited at an early age was encouraged by her parents and by age 12, she was appearing on local radio dramas playing children's parts. By 15, she was working steadily on a wide array of series and was playing roles that were often older — much older than she was.

When she finally graduated high school, her family moved to Los Angeles, California so that June could break into national radio, which she did in no time. A short list of the programs on which she was heard would include The Cavalcade of America, A Date With Judy, Sherlock Holmes (with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce), Mayor of the Town (with Lionel Barrymore), The Whistler, The Billie Burke Show, The Rudy Vallee Show, Stars Over Hollywood, The Al Pearce Show, This is My Best (with Orson Welles), Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge, Baby Snooks (with Fanny Brice), Dr. Christian (with Jean Hersholt), I Deal in Crime (with Bill Gargan), Jack Haley's Sealtest Village Store, Glamour Manor (with Kenny Baker), Phone Again Finnegan (with Stu Erwin), The Charlie McCarthy Show (with Edgar Bergen), The Dick Haymes Show, Fibber McGee and Molly, The Bob Hope Show, The Penny Singleton Show, Presenting Charles Boyer, Tex Williams's All-Star Western Theater, Red Ryder, The Screen Directors' Playhouse, The Screen Guild Theatre, The Lux Radio Theater, The Great Gildersleeve, My Favorite Husband (with Lucille Ball), Richard Diamond: Private Detective (with Dick Powell), and Martin Kane, Private Eye. She was a regular on the popular comedy series, Smile Time, which introduced her longtime friend Steve Allen to much of America.

When television came along, June was there with roles on Johnny Carson's first TV series, Carson's Cellar, and dozens of other programs including Andy's Gang, where she worked with the man she'd soon marry, Hobart Donavan. They were married until his death in 1976.

Experts disagree as to when June did her first animation work. She usually cites the role of the cat Lucifer in Disney's Cinderella (1950) and she did much work for Mr. Disney, both in front of the microphone and also posing occasionally as a model to aid the animators. In 1955, she began voicing dozens of characters for Warner Brothers cartoons and then in 1959 came Rocky and His Friends, the show on which she first played Rocky the Flying Squirrel. In fact, she not only voiced the plucky squirrel but most of the female (and even a few male) voices for the many cartoon shows produced by Jay Ward.

June was in fact heard in the cartoons of every major animation producer located on the West Coast for years, including MGM, UPA, Walter Lantz and Hanna-Barbera. She continued to work in animation well into her nineties and in 2012 won her first Emmy Award for her role as Mrs. Cauldron, a witch seen around the world on The Garfield Show. Some claim that victory made her the oldest performer to ever win an Emmy. She was later awarded an honorary one.

Her voice was also heard on hundreds of live-action TV shows, including Baretta, The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., Green Acres and The Twilight Zone. For the latter, she was the voice of "Talky Tina" in a memorable episode that called for June to play the evil side of the popular talking doll she voiced for Mattel Toys, Chatty Cathy. She has been heard (but not seen) in dozens of motion pictures including Jaws, Bells Are Ringing, The Hospital and The Comic.

June was active in the film community, having founded the Los Angeles chapter of Association Internationale du Film d'Animation (the International Animated Film Association) and serving multiple terms on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She was also a wonderful lady and someone I loved dearly. A lot of us are going to spend the rest of our lives bragging unashamedly that we got to know and/or work with June Foray.

It's not polite to tell a lady's age but when the lady in question is the First Lady of Cartoon Voices, it's not exactly a secret. June Foray is 99 years old today and that's just one of many amazing accomplishments in her long, amazing life. Others involve the staggering number of times in which her voice was heard in animated cartoons, radio commercials, records, dubbing other actors in movies, narrating films and TV shows, etc.

There was a long period in that life when she would get up early each morning, drive herself into the Hollywood area and spend the day going from job to job to job to job, often not returning home until late in the evening. You all know how she played Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha and almost all the female voices in Jay Ward cartoons…how she played Granny (owner of Tweety) and many supporting roles in Warner Brothers cartoons…a couple of Smurfs…witches for Disney and really every cartoon studio in Southern California…and so many other cartoon characters.

Well, all that is just a small part of what this woman did. For 20-30 years in this town, if you needed a thoroughly dependable male voiceover artist, there were many men you could call in. If you needed a female, you said these four words: "Get me June Foray!" Not all that long ago, the late Earl Kress and I were honored to assist June with her autobiography and one of the big problems we had was that even June couldn't tell us all the things she'd done. I'm still learning about jobs we should have included.

I was also honored to hire June on many occasions for cartoons I directed…and believe me, I was not doing her a favor. Other way around. I was merely getting the best person I could for the job.

I worked with her many times and June was always early. Always. One day, she was sitting in the waiting room, complaining not in the slightest that the engineer wasn't ready yet to record what she was there to record. A young, beginner actress was there for some other job and she recognized June.

The beginner told the old pro how much she admired her, how she had learned so much from studying her work, how she hoped someday to have the kind of career June had had…and was then still having. She asked, "Do you have any advice for me, Ms. Foray?"

June said to call her June, then asked her, "What are you doing here today and what is your call time?"

The newbie said, "I'm here to record some lines for a movie trailer spot and my call time is 11 AM."

It was around 11:10 when this conversation took place. June asked her, "And what time did you get here?"

The young lady said, "I was here at 11."

June said, "Then you were a half-hour late. You should have been here at 10:30."

The young lady said, "But I was here on time. And look — they still aren't ready for me."

June said, "That doesn't matter. They could have been ready for you at 11. You also could have hit unexpected traffic or had car trouble or something else on your way here. My call time was 11 and I was here at 10:30." (And she was. She was there waiting for me when I arrived…and remember, this was June Foray doing a job for someone who loves her and thinks she's the best in the business and wouldn't have minded one teensy bit if she'd been late.)

The young lady didn't get it. She said, "I don't see what the problem is. They said to be here at 11 and I was here at 11." Another human being might have at least paused to think, "Hmm…this is June Foray, the woman who has had the greatest success in my chosen profession. Maybe she understands something I don't." But this young lady just didn't get it.

What she might have learned from June is that if you're going to do a job, do it right. I might have booked June for her ten-thousandth voice job but she did it right. You don't get to your ten-thousandth job — or for that matter, to the age of 99 — doing things any way but right.

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: Rocky the Flying Squirrel.

Other Notable Roles: Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, almost any other female or little boy voice on a Jay Ward or Walter Lantz cartoon, Granny (owner of Tweety), Jokey Smurf and Mother Nature on The Smurfs, Magica De Spell and Ma Beagle on DuckTales, Grammi Gummi on Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Grandmother Fa in the 1998 Disney film Mulan, about 80% of all cartoon witches and hundreds of others.

What She Did Besides Cartoon Voices: June was another superstar of radio shows back when we had comedy and drama radio shows, plus she has done hundreds (make that thousands) of commercials and promos and she's often heard dubbing on-camera actresses and children in movies and television.  Her on-camera jobs have been limited but she did play a Mexican telephone operator in several episodes of the TV series, Green Acres, and a serious on-camera romantic lead in a forgettable movie called Sabaka.  And then there was her work with Stan Freberg on his records, radio shows and commercials, and her dozens of childrens records and her founding of the animation society ASIFA-Hollywood and so many other things.

Why She's On This List: She's June Foray, the most prolific and in-demand voice actress who ever lived.

Fun Fact: June did the voice of the popular doll, Chatty Cathy.  And then when the TV series The Twilight Zone (the first version) decided to do an episode about an evil version of such a doll called Talking Tina, June did the voice of Talking Tina.  Who else?

Additional Fun Fact: In 2012, June received an Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for her role as Mrs. Cauldron on The Garfield Show, making her the oldest entertainer to ever be nominated for and to win an Emmy.  The following year, she was honored with the Governors Award at the 65th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

The First Lady of Cartoon Voices, June Foray, celebrates her 98th birthday today — the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Natasha Fatale and Granny (owner of Tweety and Sylvester) and Jokey Smurf and Magica DeSpell and Mrs. Cauldron (on The Garfield Show) and Cindy Lou Who and if I list them all, this post will run into her 99th birthday and maybe the big 100.

A few years ago, the late Earl Kress and I assisted June with the writing of her autobiography. Before we started, we figured we knew everything she'd done and boy, were we wrong! As we find out, not only did we not imagine the length and breadth of this lady's career, it turned out she didn't even grasp it. For close to three-fourths of a century, she was so busy working in cartoons (and radio and commercials and dubbing movies and…) that she couldn't track all she'd done.

I remember one day when she phoned me and said, "Mark, I just got a residual check for a Frank Sinatra movie called Dirty Dingus Magee! Was I in that?" Apparently, yes. I haven't seen it but June probably looped a couple of voices somewhere.

This is an amazing woman. For around four decades, she was the "workingest" voice actress, working at the top of a highly competitive field. (Do you have any idea how many people think they can do voices?) 5-6 days a week, she would work from morning 'til after dark going from session to session to session. Everyone wanted to hire her because she was the best at what she did.

It has been a pleasure and an honor to know her and to work with her. And it's a pleasure and an honor to wish her a happy birthday. I have some other things to say about her but I have to save something for her 99th birthday, her 100th birthday, her 101st…

The First Lady of Animation Voices, June Foray, is 97 years old today. That's ninety-seven, only three shy of a century. She is living proof that you can live to a ripe old age if you're small and have a big mouth.

Oh, and it also helps if you're beastly talented, very industrious and loved by many generations who grew up hearing your voice in cartoons, commercials, dubbing movies, everywhere.

That's June posing with the second of her two Emmy Awards. She got the first one when she was 94 and the second when she was 95. What the hell took them so long?

Happy Birthday, June. Just keep having them.

Hey, remember yesterday when I promised a great piece of news about June Foray today? Well, here's something we hope you'll really like…

ICONIC VOICE ACTRESS JUNE FORAY NAMED RECIPIENT OF TELEVISION ACADEMY'S 2013 GOVERNORS AWARD

Foray to Be Honored at 2013 Creative Arts Emmy® Awards on Sunday, September 15th at the Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE

NoHo Arts District, CA August 29th, 2013 – The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Board of Governors has voted to bestow its prestigious Governors Award this year to prolific and Emmy® Award-winning voice actress June Foray. The announcement was made by Television Academy Chairman and CEO Bruce Rosenblum.

Ms. Foray has enjoyed a show business career that has spanned more than eighty years, and for sixty of them, she has been one of the most famous and beloved voices in animation. Often referred to as "The First Lady of Cartoon Voices," Ms. Foray has lent her voice to such famous characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Natasha Fatale on "The Bullwinkle Show," Nell Fenwick on "The Dudley Do-Right Show," Cindy Lou Who in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," Granny, the owner of Tweety and Sylvester on "The Bugs Bunny Show," and Jokey Smurf on "The Smurfs." Most recently, Ms. Foray received the 2012 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for her work on "The Garfield Show." She continues working to this day providing the voice of Granny on the Looney Tunes Show and Magica DeSpell for the DuckTales remastered video game, as well as voicing several new characters in a series of Independent Animated short films produced by TDA Animation.

"Each year the Board of Governors recognizes a person or organization whose contributions to our industry will forever live on," said Television Academy Chairman and CEO Bruce Rosenblum. "June Foray absolutely embodies everything that this honor represents. A legend and a pioneer, June is not only in a class of her own, but she literally created that class. There is simply no one more deserving of this honor."

Ms. Foray exhibited talent at an early age, appearing on local radio dramas as young as 12 years old. By the time she was 15, she was working steadily on a wide array of series playing roles that were often much older than her. After graduating high school, Ms. Foray moved out to Los Angeles to focus on radio full time. Once television came along, Ms. Foray landed roles on Johnny Carson's first TV series, "Carson's Cellar," and dozens of other programs including "Andy's Gang." One of her first animated roles was voicing the character of Lucifer the Cat in 1950 for Disney's "Cinderella." This led to many more Disney roles for Ms. Foray, both in front of the microphone and also posing occasionally as a model to aid the animators. In addition to animated roles, Ms. Foray's voice was also heard on hundreds of live-action TV shows, including "Baretta," "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.," "Green Acres" and "The Twilight Zone". She has been heard (but not seen) in dozens of motion pictures including "Jaws," "Bells Are Ringing," "The Hospital" and "The Comic."

Created in 1978, the Governors Award salutes an individual, company or organization that has made a substantial impact and demonstrated the extraordinary use of television. A Governors Award Selection Committee presents up to seven candidates for the Board of Governors' review and final vote. There is a possibility of one or no award every year. The award will be presented during the 2013 Creative Arts Emmy® Awards on Sunday, September 15th, at Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE. A two-hour, edited presentation of the Creative Arts Emmys will air Saturday, September 21st at 9:00 PM (ET/PT) on FXX.

Like the man said: No one more deserving.

Today is the 95th birthday of the First Lady of Cartoon Voices, June Foray. It's still a little fuzzy as to when she started doing that. She used to tell all who asked that her first job in animation was speaking for Lucifer, the cat in Cinderella, which came out in 1950, which would probably mean she recorded her part in 1949 or 1948. Historians have since found what seems to be June in a few earlier cartoons but that wouldn't (couldn't) make her body of work any more impressive.

And she is still working. She's playing Granny on The Looney Tunes Show. She occasionally guests in her Emmy-winning role as Mrs. Cauldron on The Garfield Show. She recently recorded the voice of Rocket J. Squirrel for an upcoming Rocky & Bullwinkle short. She's really amazing and is, of course, much loved by all who know who she is and what she's done.

I was trying to think of a great June Foray video I could put up here today…and I had many from which to choose: All her work for Jay Ward, all her work for Warner Brothers, all her work for Walter Lantz, etc. I settled on maybe the least impressive film to which she ever contributed…and I don't expect you to watch all or even most of this. I certainly never have. But at least watch the opening titles…

Okay, I took a break to post this. Last Friday night, I participated in a live event at the Jon Lovitz Comedy Club up in Universal City. Voice Wizard Rob Paulsen hosted an episode of his podcast, Talking Toons, with special guest June Foray. It's Rob and me talking to the First Lady of Voice Acting for a little over an hour before an enthusiastic audience including a number of talented voiceover actors. You can listen in at this site or if I've configured things correctly by clicking on the player below…

I am told there are still tickets available — not many but some — for Friday evening's "live" (if you're there) podcast of Rob Paulsen's Talking Toons. Rob is, of course, one of the top voiceover artists in the business and he usually does his weekly podcasts, sans audience. But this coming Friday night, he's recording it live at the Jon Lovitz Comedy Club up at Universal CityWalk here in Los Angeles.

Who are his guests? Well, me but never mind that because he's also welcoming the First Lady of Cartoon Voicing, Ms. June Foray! Fresh from winning her first Emmy at age 94, June will be appearing to talk about more than 70 years of voiceover work including her days as Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Granny, the owner of Tweety and Sylvester. (And she's still playing Granny! Matter of fact, as will be soon announced, she's still playing Rocky, too.)

Anyway, you'll hear all about June's amazing career and she'll do some voices and it should be quite a show. You can be there for it if you get tickets here. If not, I'll let you know when you can hear it over on Rob's website and elsewhere online. That's this Friday night and you just know you wanna be there.