Search Results for: top20voiceactors

This is the final 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: Bugs Bunny.

Other Notable Roles: Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Tweety, Sylvester, Pepe LePew and hundreds of other characters in Warner Brothers cartoons; Woody Woodpecker (for a while), Barney Rubble, Mr. Spacely (on The Jetsons), Secret Squirrel, Captain Caveman and many, many more.

What He Did Besides Cartoon Voices: Mel was a superstar of comedy and variety radio shows.  In addition to regular appearances with Jack Benny and Abbott & Costello, he appeared on dozens of other shows and even had his own program for a time.  He followed Jack Benny into television and appeared on other comedies, plus there were hundreds of commercials and talk show appearances.

Why He's On This List: Does anyone need an explanation?  He was the first superstar of cartoon voicing and the guy everyone else who went into the business wanted to emulate, career-wise.  And it wasn't just a matter of him being able to do a lot of different voices.  It had more to do with him being a great comic actor — the kind who could hold his own in a sketch with great comedians like Benny.

Fun Fact: At one point in the fifties, Mel did one line voicing a cartoon pig in a TV commercial for Paper Mate pens. The commercial ran hundreds if not thousands of times and Mel, who was paid for each usage, collected more money for it than he'd been paid for all the Warner Brothers cartoons he'd done to date. For years, he held the record for the highest payment ever received by an actor for performing one line.

This is the next-to-last 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: Yogi Bear.

Other Notable Roles: Huckleberry Hound, Dixie the Mouse, Mr. Jinks, Hokey Wolf, Quick Draw McGraw, Baba Looie, Super Snooper, Blabber Mouse, Augie Doggie, Snagglepuss, Wally Gator, Elroy Jetson, Lippy Lion, Captain Crunch and hundreds of others.

What He Did Besides Cartoon Voices: Not very much. Daws co-starred with Stan Freberg on Time for Beany, the groundbreaking puppet show on early TV.  Later, he was heard on Freberg's radio show and many of his records, some of which Daws co-wrote. Daws was also heard on hundreds of commercials, many of which he also wrote.

Why He's On This List: A lot of voice actors would tell you Daws was the best practitioner of their craft.  The Hanna-Barbera empire was largely built on his ability to make a character funny and expressive even when the script and animation didn't.

Fun Fact: Daws was one of the most beloved figures in the animation business and a very fine teacher of his profession.  Don Messick was once asked how he learned to do cartoon voices and he gave a very simple answer: "I worked with Daws Butler." Daws gave lessons for years in a little workshop out back behind his home. Many of today's top voice actors studied with him and the ones who never had that opportunity envy the ones who did.

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.

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: Boris Badenov.

Other Notable Roles: Professor Ludwig Von Drake, Capt. Peter "Wrong Way" Peachfuzz, Inspector Fenwick, Squiddly Diddly, Toucan Sam, Poppin Fresh the Pillsbury Doughboy and hundreds of others.

What He Did Besides Cartoon Voices: Frees had occasional on-camera roles but was simply in too much demand for the off-camera ones (like the unseen philanthropist character in the TV series, The Millionaire.  He was a superstar of radio dramas, a frequent re-dubber of on-camera actors, a voice in thousands of commercials, a narrator, a recording artist and even a stand-by when someone hired Orson Welles to narrate something and needed to have someone impersonate Orson.  The most famous Frees voice job may be his voiceover as the "Ghost Host" in the Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland and he is still heard in other rides at the Disney theme parks.

Why He's On This List: Paul may have been the most versatile voice actor ever and his peers still marvel at some of his vocal feats.  In the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons, bad guy spy Boris Badenov often adopted disguises and fake dialects…so Frees was called on to do a Russian feigning a Texas accent.  And as producer/co-star Bill Scott once remarked, "We could never stump Paul with that kind of stuff.  He always got it in one take."

Fun Fact: There are hundreds of examples of Paul replacing the voices of other actors in movies and TV shows.  Near the beginning of the Academy Award-winning motion picture Gigi, star Louis Jordan walks into a mansion and has a conversation with three servants.  All three actors were redubbed by Paul Frees.

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: Junior Bear.

Other Notable Roles: Pete Puma, The Beaver (in Lady and the Tramp), half of the Goofy Gophers (Mac & Tosh), half of Hubie & Bertie, many more.

What He Did Besides Cartoon Voices: What didn't he do? Puppeteering (Cecil the Seasick Serpent and Dishonest John on Time for Beany), dozens of best-selling comedy records, acting for movies and television, hundreds of popular commercials produced by his advertising company, etc.

Why He's On This List: Stan was the other, unbilled voice in dozens of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, holding his own alongside Mel Blanc. Even after he was the highest-paid talent in the advertising business, he always made time for any cartoon voice job that came along.  He was one of the best comic actors to ever lend his voice to an animated cartoon.

Fun Fact: Stan got his first voice job in 1945 — a Warner Brothers cartoon — only weeks after getting out of high school. Stan passed away in April of 2015 but before he did, he did his last voice job for an episode of The Garfield Show that is scheduled to air in 2016.  That's a span of 71 years and a longevity record that will never be broken.

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: Tigger.

Other Notable Roles: Dick Dastardly, Fleegle of the Banana Splits, Gargamel (on The Smurfs), Goober of Goober and the Ghost Chasers and many more.

What He Did Besides Cartoon Voices: Paul was one of the greatest ventriloquists ever and a true superstar of early television. He was also an accomplished inventor holding dozens of patents including one for a prototype artificial heart that he built in his home workshop. In the sixties, he was a frequent actor in live-action comedy shows including The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Lucy Show.

Why He's On This List: Paul brought to cartoon voicing the same skills for characterization that he brought to his famous ventriloquist figures, Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smif. In recording sessions, he would sometimes forget himself and deliver his lines without moving his lips. This unnerved other actors in the session.

Fun Fact: Paul's daughter April has followed in one of the family businesses, becoming one of the most in-demand voice actresses these days. She got interested in the field accompanying her father to recording sessions at Hanna-Barbera and other studios.

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: Atom Ant.

Other Notable Roles: Jughead (on Filmation's Archie shows), Beetle Bailey, Mr. Peebles (owner of Magilla Gorilla), Jet Screamer (on The Jetsons), Wade Duck (on Garfield and Friends), The Gopher in the original Winnie the Pooh shorts, Flem (on Cow and Chicken) and hundreds of commercials including the Koala in a series of popular ads for Qantas Airlines and the Hamburglar and other denizens of McDonaldland.

What He Did Besides Cartoon Voices: Howie became famous as Sid Caesar's sidekick on Mr. Caesar's legendary comedy shows.  He directed TV shows like Get Smart, Hogan's Heroes and The Dick Van Dyke Show, movies (including "Who's Minding the Mint?") and commercials.  He guested on hundreds of TV shows and is probably best remembered as Ernest T. Bass, who appeared on five episodes of The Andy Griffith Show.

Why He's On This List: Howie was one of the most creative, spontaneous actors who ever voiced cartoons.  Have him read a line five times and you got five different interpretations, each more colorful than the one before.  Daws Butler used to cite him as a true comic actor who could find the "funny" in whatever lines you gave him.

Fun Fact: One of Howie's first animation voice jobs was doing all the major roles for "Munro," a 1960 theatrical short directed by Gene Deitch which won the Academy Award that year.

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: Bullwinkle J. Moose.

Other Notable Roles: Mr. Peabody, Dudley-Do-Right, Fearless Leader, Tom Slick, Super Chicken, George of the Jungle, Gruffi Gummi (on Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears), Moosel (on The Wuzzles) and others.

What He Did Besides Cartoon Voices: Bill was primarily a writer, gagman and producer for animation.  Before he became the main creative talent for Jay Ward Productions, he worked for Warner Brothers animation and U.P.A.

Why He's On This List: Maybe the best-ever acting ensemble in animation was the crew on the Jay Ward shows and Bill was the keystone player.  On the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons, William Conrad was the narrator, then Paul Frees, June Foray and Bill did all the voices, each often expertly playing a half-dozen roles in one short cartoon.  No guest actors were ever needed.

Fun Fact: Bill was credited on-screen as producer and sometimes as a writer on the Jay Ward cartoons but never as a voice talent even though he usually played the star characters.

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: Bluto.

Other Notable Roles: King Leonardo, Buzzy the Crow, The (unnamed) Fox in the Baby Huey cartoons, the Narrator of the Superman cartoons and many others.

What He Did Besides Cartoon Voices: Thousands and thousands of radio shows, movies and TV shows, usually as the Narrator or an off-camera newsman.  Woody Allen used him to narrate Take the Money and Run and to redub the actor playing the newsman in Radio Days who reported on the little girl trapped in a well.  He may have done more commercials than any actor who ever lived but was probably most recognized for the Little Caesar's "Pizza, Pizza" commercials.  On radio, his countless roles included Philo Vance and the Cisco Kid.

Why He's On This List: Beck was the consummate narrator and announcer, much imitated by others.  And unlike most announcer-types — Gary Owens being another exception — he could infuse great drama and suspense into copy and then turn around and when appropriate, be really, really funny.

Fun Fact: Beck was one of several actors who voiced Popeye's arch-nemesis Bluto over the years but once he took on the role but he did more of them than anyone else.

Additional Fun Fact:  He was a a founding member of the American Federation of Radio Artists, which later morphed into the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.  He proudly held union card #2 and continued working almost every workday until shortly before he died at the age of 92.

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: Speedy Alka-Seltzer.

Other Notable Roles: Davey (of Davey and Goliath), Gumby (at times), Ralph Phillips, Reggie VanDough (on Richie Rich), Buzz (on Frankenstein Jr.), hundreds of children both male and female.

What He Did Besides Cartoon Voices: Dick Beals started in radio and quickly became the go-to guy for everyone who needed a child's voice and didn't want the hassle or risk of hiring an actual child.  He often redubbed real little children on TV, movies and especially commercials and for several decades was one of the workingest voiceover actors in the business.

Why He's On This List: The sheer volume of his work.

Fun Fact: Dick stood 4'7" but never let his height limit his achievement.  For instance, he drove cars and piloted planes using special controls.  He usually showed up for recording sessions in a suit and tie, reportedly his way of reminding those he worked with that he was an adult, not a child.  He was also a very fine actor.

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: Donald Duck of course.

Other Notable Roles: Huey, Dewey, Louie and (briefly) Daisy Duck, plus he does bit roles in many Disney features, usually making sounds for inarticulate animal characters.  Once in a while, he even did a line or two as Mickey for something.

What He Did Besides Cartoon Voices: He started out in show biz doing impressions, mostly of animals and touring schools to entertain.  Later, Disney equipped him with the above Donald puppet and sent him out to make personal appearances as a goodwill ambassador for the studio.

Why He's On This List: Has there ever been a voice that more people tried to imitate than the quackery of Clarence "Ducky" Nash?  And Donald was such a great character, in large part because of Nash's acting skills.

Fun Fact: As Mr. Nash grew older, he found that doing the duck voice inflamed his throat so he cut back on personal appearances.  But he also never wanted to disappoint anyone so if you met him, he would always do Donald saying hello to you and saying your name.  He's probably the only major voice actor who ever built a career on one role.

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: Space Ghost.

Other Notable Roles: Roger Ramjet, Blue Falcon, Powdered Toast Man and the Narrator/Announcer on an awful lot of shows.

What He Did Besides Cartoon Voices: Just about everything but he was most notably a popular disc jockey, an on-camera personality, an off-camera announcer and a guy who did thousands of commercials, film and TV trailers and promos, and even a game show host.  His most memorable job in front of the cameras was as the announcer on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.

Why He's On This List: There are countless guys out there with All-American, testosterone-flavored male voices but very few who can underscore all that macho with a great sense of humor or, in the case of a show like Space Ghost, a convincing sense of drama.  And most of those other guys wind up sounding alike, whereas Gary was so distinctive that his inflections became a direction that other vocal talents would receive from their directors: "Can you give it a little more Gary Owens?"

Fun Fact: Gary started out to be a cartoonist but his voice seemed to be too valuable for that profession.  So he got into reading the news for radio and when programming directors discovered how witty he was, he became a d.j.  He was remarkably successful at it but still retained a strong love of cartoons, animations and old comic books. He was one of those kids who had Superman #1 and Batman #1 and all those early issues which would later be worth zillions but his mother threw them out. In this case, it was because Gary was a sickly kid — his parents were once told he wouldn't survive into his teens — and the smell of old pulp paper was actually having an adverse impact on his health — so out the comics went. In the seventies when comic book publishers began reprinting old comics on good paper, Gary happily bought every volume.

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: Popeye the Sailor Man.

Other Notable Roles: Felix the Cat (and all major roles) in the 1959-1960 Felix the Cat cartoons, various supporting roles in the Popeye cartoons, various characters in other Max Fleischer cartoons like the Superman series and Gulliver's Travels.

What He Did Besides Cartoon Voices: Mercer started out as an apprentice animator at the Fleischer Studios, then switched to the writing/gag departments and did a lot of writing, both for cartoons featuring his voice and many that didn't.

Why He's On This List: Popeye is one of the five-or-so greatest cartoon characters of all time and his voice had an awful lot to do with that. Jack Mercer was neither the first voice of Popeye nor the last but the consensus seems darn near unanimous that he was the best. In the earlier cartoon, his muttered asides — mostly ad-libbed during recording sessions — were a special joy.

Fun Fact: In the early thirties Mercer was a gag 'n' storyman at Fleischer's and like others on the staff, he was occasionally tapped to do a few voices in a cartoon. In 1935, William "Red Pepper Sam" Costello was the voice of Popeye and more trouble than the Fleischers thought he was worth. When he was fired, the studio turned to Mercer, who'd been imitating the Popeye voice around the office. He had trouble at first but once he got the hang of it, he became the official voice of Popeye. Others did it while Mercer was away for military service and occasionally someone else did it for merchandise such as a kids' record…but Mercer was Popeye for just shy of half a century.

Additional Fun Fact: Mercer keeps getting credited for a voice in Disney's Pinocchio but it ain't him. The one cited — the Rough House attraction statue in the Pleasure Island sequence — was probably Clarence Nash. Mercer did voices for New York cartoons and during the years the Fleischer Studio relocated to Florida, he relocated with them, then moved back to New York when the studio did. But he never did a cartoon voice in Hollywood until 1979-1980 when Hanna-Barbera brought him out for a Popeye series that studio was producing for television. And he even did some of his work on that series from New York.

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.

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: Scooby Doo.

Other Notable Roles: Boo Boo Bear, Ranger Smith, Papa Smurf, Astro and many supporting players on The Jetsons, Bamm-Bamm (baby version) and many supporting players on The Flintstones, Muttley, Mumbly, Dr. Benton Quest on Jonny Quest, Hamton J. Pig on Tiny Toon Adventures and dozens of others.

What He Did Besides Cartoon Voices: Not much. Messick started out as a ventriloquist and puppeteer and quickly found himself in so much demand for voiceover work that he did only that for the rest of his life. The one real exception was his on-camera role as a cartoon voice actor in the short-lived 1984 situation comedy, The Duck Factory.

Why He's On This List: Messick was the consummate professional and the guy who could do anything, including playing six roles in the same scene and doing it so well you'd never know all those voices were coming out of the same guy. He could even overlap himself. No one on this list or others to come could ever switch between voices so quickly and expertly. And no one who ever hired him ever regretted their selection.

Fun Fact: Messick believed in not doing imitations. Once in a while, Joe Barbera pressed him into mimicking a celebrity but he didn't like it and almost never based a voice on someone recognizable — an amazing fact given how many different voices he was called upon to invent throughout his career. He also usually refused to replicate another voice actor, especially if that actor was available to be hired for the job in question. He adopted this policy after an unpleasant incident. He'd agreed to imitate a Howie Morris character when Howie wasn't available to record a part in a Hanna-Barbera record based on a prime-time animated special of Alice in Wonderland. Howie didn't blame Don but was furious with Barbera, leading to a fight which led to Howie not working again for H-B for a few decades. Under pressure, Messick agreed to take over as Atom Ant and a few of Howie's other roles but turned down later requests to "do" others' characters. One exception was taking over as Scrappy Doo after Lennie Weinrib but in that case, Messick wasn't imitating Lennie.