We're still thinking about Minnie Mouse and about the lovely Minnie-like actress who did her voice, Russi Taylor. Esteemed Disney historian Jim Korkis sent me this…
Like Mickey Mouse, Minnie only did squeaks and squawks provided by Walt Disney himself in the earliest cartoons. Marcellite Garner from the ink and paint department began doing Minnie's dialog in 1930. Thelma Boardman took over from approximately 1940-1942 followed by Ruth Clifford from around late 1942 to 1952. Russi Taylor became Minnie's official voice in 1986.
I am sure many people have shared Russi and Wayne stories with you. One of mine was that back in the 1990s when I worked at Walt Disney World, I got to be their unofficial tour guide and helped them do things like get V.I.P. viewing for the fireworks at Epcot. I joked to them that they could never get divorced because it would break the hearts of every Disney fan knowing Mickey and Minnie got divorced. Wayne took the offhand remark very seriously and started explaining in great detail why he could never divorce Russi because she was so important in his life. Russi, realizing it was just a joke, kept laughing and laughing. I still hear that joyful laugh decades later.
Russi did have a great laugh. Meanwhile, I got this from Jon Balogh…
It's disturbing to hear about all those voice artists lining up to get a crack at Russi Taylor's job. Could you advise on the ethics of such matters? I'm not a voice actor but I'm curious. When would it be okay to apply for that kind of job? What if the actor is still alive but just can't do the voice any longer?
If the actor who voices an established character dies, a potential replacement should wait a suitable interval — and no, I can't tell you what would make an interval suitable but I know it's more than a week or two — before even thinking about moving in on the role. I would think one should wait longer if the deceased actor originated the voice in question. Something like fifteen people have now been the voice of Bugs Bunny and no one's had the job exclusively like Mel Blanc did. If the current guy dies, it's not as big a deal.
If the actor is alive but the studio thinks he can no longer do the voice well, that's where it gets dicey. When Don Messick had the stroke that ended his acting career, he had his agent notify the studios than he was retiring and they should go ahead and recast Scooby Doo and other iconic parts he played. That is rare. Usually, the actor doesn't want to give up that important part of their lives and careers and admit they can't do it anymore. And sometimes, they don't agree that they can't.
June Foray wanted to keep working until the day she died. She was polite to a vast number of actresses who did their imitations of her for her, perhaps hoping she'd endorse them as her replacement…but she was privately pissed about every one of them. I don't think any voice actor really wants to hear that you can imitate them well, though most will be too polite to tell you that.
I was in the room one day when a noted voice actor decided for some silly reason to do his Bugs Bunny voice for Mel Blanc. At the time, Mel was getting paid very well every time Warner Brothers called on him to do Bugs — and deservedly so. The execs there used to weep and wail over what it cost to hire Mel and I thought that was petty and greedy of them. There were a number of people who were responsible for Bugs becoming a character worth billions and if Mel wasn't at the absolute top of that list, he was right behind whoever was.
Still, at least one of the WB suits talked to me like Mel was shamefully holding a gun to their heads. The exec was very well paid himself and used the old "it'll only take him twenty minutes" line to justify his resentment of Mel's asking price; no recognition that there was a special value to WB to have Mel Blanc voicing a Mel Blanc character. Even leaving aside the horrendous publicity that might have resulted, some good mimic doing Bugs was not — and still is not — the same thing as Mel friggin' Blanc doing Bugs.
So when that noted voice actor showed Mel he could do a great Bugs, Mel did not take it as the sincerest form of flattery. The guy might just as well have said, "Hey, Mel! One of these days, some dunce at WB will decide to save money and have me replace you!" Oddly enough, the noted voice actor in this story had been in Mel's position. He was holding out for a raise to do a famous character he voiced, they hired an imitator for less money and he was furious with that "scab" (as he called him) forever after.
Generally speaking, most good voice actors will tell you that you don't imitate another actor while he's still live and available. You just don't. If the reason they want you to do him is because they think he's just too old, that gets dicey and you have to really analyze and discuss the situation. Ideally, what should happen is that the studio should deal with that actor before they seek out a replacement; maybe pay him a fee, maybe find him other work which he can do.
If the reason is just that he wants a raise, you don't undercut him. It's that simple and most successful voice actors will tell you this. I know of at least three separate occasions where Actor A was offered serious money — in one instance, millions — to imitate and replace Actor B but Actor A said absolutely not.
In every case, the Actor A was working steadily and didn't need the dough. Still, there's a certain amount of integrity and decency involved in turning down a job worth six or even seven figures for reasons of principle and it is to be admired. By me, at least.
Ultimately, all this is one of the things agents are for. An actor who covets someone else's job will always (always) look like an asshole of some dimension for campaigning on their own. The way to avoid that is to have your agent contact the person who does the hiring and say, "Hey, I know one of these days, you may need a soundalike for Abercrombie Alligator. If and when that happens, I hope you'll read my client before you make a final decision."
That's how professionals do it. If you want that kind of job, professionalism is a great quality to display.