We're sorry to report the passing of Wayne Allwine, a charming gent who among his other achievements had been the voice of Mickey Mouse since 1977. He died yesterday at the age of 62 due to complications relating to diabetes.
The lineage of The Mouse is as follows: Walt Disney was, of course, the first voice of his studio's superstar. In the forties, when Walt got busy (and hoarse from cigarettes), he began handing off some of the voice chores to one of his sound effects editors, Jimmy MacDonald. The last known time Walt spoke for Mickey was for the lead-ins and animated wraparounds done for The Mickey Mouse Club in 1955. By then, MacDonald was doing it on most occasions, though once in a while, someone else would tackle the role. Stan Freberg, for instance, played Mickey on a 1955 children's record. And Hal Smith sometimes did some of the lower-profile appearances.
In the seventies as he neared retirement, MacDonald began training Allwine, who was a fellow sound effects editor at Disney, breaking him in on the mouse beat. By '83, Wayne was well enough established in the role that he and not MacDonald handled it for the character's big "comeback" film, Mickey's Christmas Carol…and he's done it ever since.
Wayne was married to voice actress Russi Taylor, who among many other credits has been the voice of Minnie Mouse for some time. They were both named Disney Legends (an in-house Hall of Fame award) in 2008. Russi, if you read this, please know that you have the condolences of everyone in the animation community. Because everyone liked Wayne. Everyone.