He is primarily known for being the creator of Family Guy and American Dad, but first and foremost he's an animation writer and voice-over talent.
MacFarlane began his career studying animation and design at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he created the animated short film, "The Life of Larry". Impressed with his ideas, executives at Hanna-Barbera encouraged MacFarlane to move to Los Angeles in 1995 to create and direct a short film for them. After moving to L.A., he went on to work on numerous animated series, including Ace Ventura, Jungle Cubs, and Johnny Bravo.
Executives at Fox recognized his talent and offered him a chance to create a primetime animated series of his own. Over the next six months, MacFarlane created, animated, wrote, directed, and provided all the main male characters' voices for what became the hit animated TV series Family Guy. MacFarlane went on to receive an Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his role as 'Stewie Griffin,' and Family Guy has garnered two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Animated Series. In 2002, he also received an Emmy for Outstanding Music and Lyrics for the show. In 2009, Family Guy was only the second animated show since The Flinstones in 1961 to be nominated for a primetime Emmy in the Outstanding Comedy category.
The show's producer, Spike Jones, Jr., once said "...of all MacFarlane's talents, Everyone knows his extraordinary voiceover skills, but we’re only beginning to see him as a versatile live performer. He can sing, dance, spin plates…and we’re going to put him to work."
No matter what you think of the man and what your opinions are of the work he's created, you can't deny the fact that he's distinctive animated character voices have left a mark on television. See his full credit list here.
A true legend in the industry of voice-overs for animation and video games, Paulsen began his voice over career at Hanna-Barbera on The Smurfs animated television show as an extra in 1981. A few years later, his career launched into more substantial roles such as Tripwire, Cobra Slavemaster, Snow Job and Flash on G.I. Joe and Corky on The Snorks. He had an impressive turn as the villain "Jesse Blue" in the series Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs. The character has a bit of a cult following, due in part to his excellent portrayal.
Paulsen has provided voices for a great amount of characters, among which are Yakko Warner, Dr. Otto Scratchansniff and Pinky in Animaniacs, Steelbeak in Darkwing Duck, "Brick" and "Boomer" in The Powerpuff Girls, Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost in The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, Ogden Ostrich in Channel Umptee-3, "Reuben" in Lilo & Stitch: The Series, "Jack Fenton," "Box Ghost," "Technus", and "The Ghost Vultures" in Danny Phantom, "Carl Wheezer" and "Butch" in Jimmy Neutron, "Mark Chang", "Mr. Birkenbake" and "Peppy Happy Gary" in The Fairly OddParents, Peck the Rooster in Barnyard, and Back at the Barnyard, and "Gordon" in the Nickelodeon cartoon Catscratch.
He was also the voice of "Rothchild" in the early episodes of Samurai Jack. Additionally, Paulsen provided the voice of "PJ" in Goof Troop, the animated series starring Goofy. He also voiced "Zeek" and "Joshua" in K10C: Kids' Ten Commandments, Rude Dog in Rude Dog and the Dweebs, and Archie the Raccoon, A.K.A., Ze Archer in "Mask of the Raccoon" on The Penguins of Madagascar.
He reprised his role as "Throttle" in the 2006 Biker Mice from Mars, and played a role in The Boondocks as an art teacher. He also provided the voices of 2T Fru-T, Mike Ellis, Dark Comet and Ronald in the 2001 cartoon series Butt-Ugly Martians. He also portrayed the voice of Chomper The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure, Spike in The Land Before Time sequels and the TV series, but Spike was played anonymously in the original The Land Before Time.
Paulsen played Mo in The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water. It was not long before Paulsen returned to Warner Bros. Animation, which had diverged into a new era of television serials (following what is sometimes referred to as the "Silver Age of Animation").
Paulsen appeared as "Rev Runner" of the new show Loonatics Unleashed and stars in Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island. He also voiced "The Source" in the Teen Titans episode "Employee of the Month." He was also the voice of the character "Squeeky" on the TV show Danger Rangers. Paulsen also provides the voice for the Honda character "Mr. Opportunity." In the Rob Zombie animated film, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, Paulsen voices the characters "El Gato" and "Col. Hans Wolfburger". He also has a role as "Ditto", one of the alien forms on Ben 10.
He is also the current voice of classic Disney character "José Carioca". Rob became the new voice of "Prince Eric" of Disney's The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea in 2000. He is also the voice of Peck the rooster and other minor characters in the Nickelodeon computer-animated series Back at the Barnyard & various minor characters on the Disney Channel animated series, The Replacements. One of the newer titles he is voiced in is the Tinker Bell line as Bobble. He also did the voices of Boober Fraggle, Sprocket and Marjory the Trash Heap in the animated version of Fraggle Rock.
Another legendary voice actor showcased this week. Primarily known for his extensive work at Disney for the past 20 years! At Walt Disney Animation Studios, Cummings not only replaced the ailing Holloway as the voice of Winnie-the-Pooh, but also took over as the voice of Tigger when Paul Winchell retired. Then, when Jeremy Irons experienced problems with his vocal cords during production of The Lion King, Cummings was hired to imitate Irons's voice for the last few lines of the song "Be Prepared".
Cummings duplicated the voice of Russell Means for the songs in Pocahontas, and he also duplicated the voice of Christopher Lloyd for the song, "In the Dark of the Night" in Anastasia. When Cummings provided a rendition of Louis Prima's voice for King Louie in TaleSpin, this provoked a controversy with Prima's widow.
Cummings was the only original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles voice actor to return for the 2007 film. His first three TMNT appearances were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. The 2007 film was Cummings's sixth computer-animated movie appearance. His first five computer-animated movie appearances included Antz, The Nuttiest Nutcracker, Shrek, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, and Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas; and his latest animated movie appearances are Bee Movie, The Princess and the Frog and BIONICLE: The Legend Reborn.
In the course of two decades, Cummings's career as a voice actor has taken him from bit parts to leading roles in major series at various studios, including Nickelodeon, Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera, DreamWorks, and 20th Century Fox studios. His most memorable roles, however, have been at Walt Disney Studios. There, he provided voices for a variety of television series, including leading roles in Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, (taking over the character of Zummi Gummi after Paul Winchell's departure from the role), DuckTales, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, Bonkers, Gargoyles, and House of Mouse, and movies such as Hercules, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Pocahontas and the Disney special edition of Alice in Wonderland (as the Cheshire Cat singing "I'm Odd"). Cummings also voiced the non-speaking roles of Ed the laughing hyena in 1994's The Lion King, Duncan the horse for one episode of The Simpsons, and Papa Smurf and Gargamel for a TV Funhouse sketch on Saturday Night Live.
Other notable roles include "Mr. Bumpy" in the Claymation show Bump in the Night, Dr. Robotnik on Sonic The Hedgehog, Mayor Manx on SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, Psy-Crow, Bob the Killer Goldfish on Earthworm Jim, Taz Tazmanian Devil on Taz-Mania, Dakota Dude on Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa and a number of other projects. In addition to Taz and Pooh, Cummings has over the years become the official voice for a number of legendary cartoon characters, including Tigger, Pete, Humphrey the Bear, Popeye, Dick Dastardly, the Slag Brothers, Big Gruesome, Private Meekly, Clyde, and others. He also did some voices on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles such as Leatherhead the mutant alligator and some additional characters.
He also did the voice of Don Karnage in Disney's TaleSpin. Cummings has also provided voices for video games, television commercials, and movie trailers, and was one of the official announcers for Kids' WB!, promo announcer for Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, as well as the official spokesperson for the current Cheez-It commercials and some current Weather Channel commercials (most notably the Wake Up With Al ones). He returned to his role as Taz on Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas.
Cummings has done the voice of Minsc of Baldur's Gate/Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn and Drizzt Do'Urden in the first Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance game. He is also prominently displayed in the credits of Kingdom Hearts as Pooh, Tigger, and Pete. Cummings provided the voices for "Bad Mr. Frosty", "Hougan", and "Sumo Santa" in Clay Fighter 63⅓. He also voices "Sarge" and the other soldiers in the Army Men games. In Ys I & II for the Turbografx -16 CD system, he is credited as voicing "Dalles", and he provided voices for minor characters in Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers. He played several characters in the little-known Toonstruck.
Cummings has even made some vocal performances using his voice at normal pitch for some younger looking characters like Witterquick from Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light and Glatorian Ackar in Bionicle: The Legend Reborn.
Asner has had an extensive voice acting career; He provided the voices for J. Jonah Jameson on the 1990s animated television series Spider-Man, Hudson on Gargoyles, Jabba the Hutt on the radio version of Star Wars, Master Vrook from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel, Roland Daggett on Batman: The Animated Series, Cosgrove on Freakazoid!, Ed Wuncler on The Boondocks, and Granny Goodness in various DC Comics animated series.
More recently, Asner provided the voice of Carl Fredricksen in the 2009 Pixar film Up. He received great critical praise for the role, with one critic going so far as to suggest "They should create a new category for this year's Academy Award for Best Vocal Acting in an Animated Film and name Asner as the first recipient."
Warburton has put his voice to use for several animated films and TV programs, including a lead character in Game Over, and replacing Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, in addition to the Aliens in the same show, and he voiced Steve Barkin in the Disney Channel show Kim Possible.
But most famously, he played the voice of Kronk in The Emperor's New Groove, a role he reprised for Kronk's New Groove and the subsequent TV series The Emperor's New School. His next major project was on the animated series The Venture Bros., under Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block; in it he voices Brock Samson, the Venture family's brutally effective bodyguard and former secret agent. Warburton also voices Joe Swanson on Fox's Family Guy and Detective Cash on The Batman's episode JTV.
Warburton has also lent his voice talent to computer-animated feature films Hoodwinked, Chicken Little, Space Chimps and Open Season. He also voices Lok in all 3 Tak games and Lok in Tak and the Power of Juju Nickelodeon series.
Warburton's live-action acting roles often rely on his deep, booming voice and large physique. In the mid to late 1990s, he was most well-known for his role as David Puddy, Elaine's indifferent boyfriend on Seinfeld. See his full credit list here.
Garrett got his start in show business working at various comedyclubs in Los Angeles, including 'The Improv' in Hollywood and The Ice House in Pasadena. In 1984, he became the first $100,000 grand champion winner in the comedy category of the TV show Star Search. This led to his first appearance, at age 23, on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, making him one of the youngest comedians ever to perform on the show. His appearance with Carson brought Garrett a lot of national attention, and soon he was appearing as an opening act in several Vegas shows.
Garrett's distinctive deep voice has landed him prolific work as a voice actor, one of his first parts was he was the voice of wrestling legend Hulk Hogan for the cartoon series Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n Wrestling. Other roles were in the animated series the Mighty Ducks, 2 Stupid Dogs, The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, Project Geeker, Toonsylvania, A Bug's Life, Asterix and the Vikings, Superman the Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited (as Lobo) , Finding Nemo, Disney's One Saturday Morning and as Auguste Gusteau in Pixar's Ratatouille.
We are in a time when hollywood celebrity actors dominate the majority of the big budget voice-over roles in animated feature films - like Ben Stiller and Brad Pitt... Seriously? Did you hear their awful voice performances in Madagascar and Mega Mind?
Granted not all film actors do a bad job of doing cartoon voices for big budget animated films, people like Jack Black and Bill Hader did amazing jobs in my opinion. But when you have trained voice artists that have taken decades to perfect their craft, you have talents like Mr. Horvitz.
Richard Steven Horvitz is known for his work as the the title character Zim from the show Invader Zim. He was also the voice of the original Alpha 5 in all the Power Rangers series, as Raz in Psychonauts, Billy in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Daggett in The Angry Beavers and as Orthopox in the Destroy All Humans! series. He continues to provide the voice of Zim, albeit in mostly video games as the series was canceled in 2002.
He began voice acting in 1993, starting with voice of Alpha 5 on the live-action series Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. This is one of Richard's often-forgotten roles that he has performed. From here, he expanded into several other regular voice roles on such animated shows as The Angry Beavers (Daggett), Invader Zim (Zim), Kim Possible, Dave the Barbarian (Ned Frischman), Zatch Bell! (Kanchomé), and more recent shows like The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (Billy, Billy's dad), Ben 10 (Grey Matter), Squirrel Boy (Rodney), and Shorty McShorts' Shorts as Dudley.
He also played the main character Razputin in Psychonauts and Orthopox in Destroy All Humans!, Destroy All Humans! 2, and Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon, in a voice that closely resembles that of Zim (rather, what would happen if Zim adopted an English accent). He has voiced various NPCs in Everquest 2. He also does the voice of the Berserker Darklings in The Darkness. He also had a minor part as a grocer that Sophie buys potatoes from in Howl's Moving Castle. Observe his credit list here.
In a behind-the-scenes style interview on the first Invader Zim DVD collection, when questioned about how hard it was to do Zim's voice (meaning all the screaming he did), he simply stated "Did I find doing the voice of Zim hard on my voice? How do I put this?...yes." He also claims his favorite line from the entire series is "You! Obey the fist!" from Career Day but his favorite exchange was in Rise of the Zitboy, where Zim angrily yells out "Why was there BACON IN THE SOAP?!"
Kasem is best known for his 53 year career as a radio personality, but he has also performed very memorable cartoon voice overs from 1969-2010.
He has provided the voice of many commercials, has done many voices for Sesame Street, was the voice of NBC, helps out with the annual Jerry Lewis telethon, and most notably, provided the cartoon voice of Robin in Super Friends, Mark on Battle of the Planets, and a number of characters for the Transformers cartoon series of the 1980s. In 2008, he was the voice of "Out of Sight Retro Night" which airs on WGN America, but recently was replaced by rival Rick Dees. After 40 years, Casey retired from his role of voicing Shaggy from Scooby Doo in 2009, instead voicing Shaggy's father in the 2010 TV series, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.
His most famous role was the voice of Shaggy in the Scooby-Doo franchise, beginning with the first series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! in 1969. He has done work for many other animated series, such as the voice of Robin, The Boy Wonder in the 1968 Batman cartoons, three 1970 episodes of Sesame Street, and various versions of SuperFriends, the drummer Groove from The Cattanooga Cats (1969), Alexander Cabot III from Josie and the Pussycats (1970, 1972), Merry from the animated The Return of the King (1980 film), and television specials such as Rankin-Bass' Here Comes Peter Cottontail.
West is best known for his voice-work on Ren & Stimpy, Doug and Futurama. His favorite characters are Philip J. Fry (Futurama) and Stimpy (Ren and Stimpy), both of which he originated. West's most notable film work was in Space Jam (1996) providing the voice of both Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd; he has provided the same voices for other Looney Tunes films and video games. West has been very outspoken over his displeasure about the influx of movie star actors providing voice-over for films and major shows.
West's first two high-profile roles came almost simultaneously: Doug and Ren & Stimpy, which were two of the first original three Nicktoons (the other being Rugrats). Over his career West has been the voice talent for close to 120 different characters including some of the most iconic animated figures in television history. He has become one of few voice actors who can impersonate Mel Blanc in his prime, including characterizations of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and other characters from Warner Bros. cartoons.
In 1998, Entertainment Weekly described West as "the new Mel Blanc" and noted his ability to mimic well-known voices, though he would rather develop original voices. West's favorite characters are Philip J. Fry and Stimpy. West has been very outspoken over his displeasure about the influx of movie star actors providing voice-over for films and major shows. West has stated that he did not like the Disney version of Doug, and that he "couldn't watch" the show. West was also the voice of the show's namesake, Geeker, throughout Project Geeker's 13 episode run.
West was the voice of Zim in the original pilot for Nickelodeon's Invader Zim. Richard Horvitz was chosen for the series role because West's voice was too recognizable, according to Invader Zim creator Jhonen Vasquez during DVD commentary. Ever since the late 90s, West has had a bit of a reputation of being difficult to work with, but that often comes with great talent.
West is also the voice of "Red" in numerous M&M commercials as well as the 3-D movie "I Lost my M in Vegas", currently playing at M&M's World in Las Vegas, NV. West also voices a number of characters in the series Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World. He does not play a regular character in that series, but appears in almost every episode of the show voicing various minor and one-off characters. West voiced the character Moobeard in Moobeard the Cow Pirate, a short animation featured on Random! Cartoons.
West provided the voice of Stimpy in Nickelodeon's The Ren and Stimpy Show from 1991 until 1996, and he provided the voice of Ren from 1993–1996 (after Ren's original voice and series creator John Kricfalusi was fired by Nickelodeon for delivering un-airable episodes). West performed other characters on the series as well, such as Mr. Horse (another role that West was issued after Kricfalusi's departure) and the "Announcer/Salesman" of such shorts as the "Log" ads (a voice West would years later use as the Narrator for The Weird Al Show).
According to West, he was originally supposed to do the voice of both Ren and Stimpy (and performed both characters on the tape that was used to sell the show to Nickelodeon), but then Kricfalusi decided to do the voice of Ren himself once the show was sold and he had West on board as part of the selling point. However, West provided Ren's maniacal laughter when John Kricfalusi was the voice of Ren.
West went into the Futurama auditions and was asked to try out for, as he says, "just about every part"; eventually landing the professor, Zoidberg, and Zapp Brannigan. It wasn't until some casting changes were made that West got the part of Fry, which originally had gone to Charlie Schlatter. While West is known for doing many different and unique voices, the voice he does for Philip J. Fry is often considered to be closer to his natural voice than any other character he has done (in an audio commentary, he states Fry is just himself at age 25). This similarity, West acknowledges, was done purposefully in order to make it harder to replace him in the part along with placing more of himself personally into the role (DVD commentary).
The part of Zapp Brannigan was created for Phil Hartman, but he died before the show started and West was issued the role. West has described his interpretation of Zapp Brannigan's voice as an imitation of Hartman, but described the actual vocalizations of the character as being based on "a couple of big dumb announcers I knew."
Futurama was renewed by Comedy Central as four direct-to-video movies broken into 16 television episodes. West had reprised his roles for these films, in addition to the new 26-episode season of Futurama which began airing last June 2010.
Maurice LaMarche (born March 30, 1958) is a Canadian voice actor and former stand up comedian. He is best known for his voicework in Futurama and Pinky & The Brain.
LaMarche began on Inspector Gadget and went on to Dennis the Menace, Popeye and Son and The Real Ghostbusters. After The Real Ghostbusters, LaMarche became a regular mainstay of the voiceover industry appearing in such shows as Talespin, Tiny Toon Adventures, GI Joe, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Animated Series, Taz-Mania, Where's Waldo, The Little Mermaid, Batman: The Animated Series, and Bonkers before landing perhaps his most recognized role in 1993 as The Brain on Animaniacs (and later its spin-off show Pinky and the Brain). Following this, LaMarche worked on The Critic, Freakazoid!, and The Tick before then reprising his role of Egon in Extreme Ghostbusters.
The stretch of two years after this saw LaMarche portray characters in such shows as Duckman, Hey Arnold! as Big Bob Pataki, Queer Duck, King of the Hill, The Chimp Channel, and Sonic Underground as Sleet. It was at this time, 1999, that LaMarche began work on Futurama. Since Futurama LaMarche has continued to work steadily in television, including guest roles on The Simpsons (where he once again parodied Orson Welles). His most recent regular role came as Hovis the butler on the Nickelodeon series Catscratch.
LaMarche has done various voice work for many Warner Bros. Animation and DiC Entertainment cartoons. He also delivered the protracted belches for the "Great Wakkorotti" shorts on Animaniacs, in which Wakko Warner performed various pieces of music.
LaMarche plays the character of The Brain in Pinky and the Brain. In creating the voice for Brain, LaMarche says he looked at a picture of the character and immediately thought of Orson Welles, although the character wasn't modeled after Welles. Voicing Brain gave LaMarche the opportunity to make use of his signature impersonation of Welles. Many Pinky and the Brain episodes are nods to Welles' career. LaMarche won an Annie Award for his role as the Brain, and was nominated for an Emmy.
While working on The Critic, LaMarche once voiced 29 characters in one 30-minute episode!
His time on The Critic also afforded LaMarche the opportunity to once again parody Orson Welles, this time after a video reading of a will (the Sherman family was so wealthy, they had hired Welles to narrate it) dissolves into a commercial for Mrs. Pells Fishsticks (as well as another for Rosebud Frozen Peas, and another for Blotto Bros. wine).
Even though he does not have have a big career as a voice actor, I saw fit to mention this comedic genius. Varney has lent his voice to the character Slinky Dog in the first two entries of Disney's Toy Story film series, and played numerous others, including "Cookie" Farnsworth, from Atlantis: The Lost Empire, released the year after his death, the carny character Cooter in the "Bart Carny" episode of The Simpsons, the character Walt Evergreen in the Duckman episode "You've Come a Wrong Way, Baby".
As a tribute to Varney, comedian Blake Clark succeeded him as the voice of Slinky Dog in Toy Story 3. Pixar originally were going to write the character out of the story but they soon discovered that Clark was a good friend of Varney's and their voices sounded the same, so Slinky Dog returned in the film. In addition, Steve Barr also replaced him for the sequel Atlantis: Milo's Return).
Varney's most popular live-action character performance has to be Ernest P. Worrell. It proved so popular that it was spun off into a TV series, Hey Vern, It's Ernest!, and a series of movies in the 1980s and 1990s.Ernest Goes to Camp brought Varney a nomination for "Worst New Star" at the 1987 Golden Raspberry Awards; however, the movie was a huge hit, grossing $25 million at the box office.
In 1989, Jim Varney won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series for Hey Vern, It's Ernest (1988). Varney, playing Ernest both times, was nominated for a Razzie Award one year (1988) and then won an Emmy Award the next year (1989). Other Ernest movies include Ernest Saves Christmas, Slam Dunk Ernest, Ernest Goes to Jail, Ernest Goes to Africa, Ernest Rides Again, Ernest Goes to School, Ernest Scared Stupid, and Ernest in the Army.
Donald Earl "Don" Messick (September 7, 1926 – October 24, 1997) was one of the most prolific voice actors of the 20th century. He voiced several classic cartoon characters, including Scooby-Doo, Ranger Smith and Boo Boo Bear, Muttley, Bamm-Bamm Rubble, Astro, Zorak, Godzooky, Dr. Benton Quest, Papa Smurf, Ratchet, and Paper Doll Man and Mr. Jinks.
His big break came in the mid-1940s. At MGM, Tex Avery was producing the Droopy Dog cartoons. The regular voice actor, radio actor Bill Thompson, was not available. Daws Butler, who voiced characters for MGM, suggested that Avery seek out Messick, and so, he was hired to voice Droopy. Later, in the mid-1950s, when Bill Thompson parted ways with MGM, Messick took over the role of Droopy.
Messick and Butler became a voice acting team for the Hanna-Barbera unit in 1957 with the arrival of Ruff and Reddy. Don was Ruff the cat and the Droopy-sounding Professor Gizmo. Butler was the southern-speaking dog, Reddy. Messick also narrated the show, which played out like an animated soap opera.
From 1957 to 1965, Butler and Messick gave voice to a large number of characters. Always the sidekick, Messick’s characters were not headliners. His notable roles in this era were Boo Boo Bear, Ranger Smith, Major Minor, Pixie Mouse, Astro and Muttley.
Messick was used primarily for his narration skills, which were heard on many of those cartoons in which Daws Butler starred. In narrating the Yogi Bear cartoons, he also voiced Ranger Smith in something close to his natural voice, leaving the impression that the Ranger was narrating the cartoons.
Messick would eventually star in a cartoon series: Ricochet Rabbit. This character was paired with the slow-poke Deputy Droop-a-Long, voiced by Mel Blanc.
In outer space cartoons, Messick created noises and sounds for weird space creatures and aliens. His "Ranger Smith" voice was often heard as various space villains. His narrator voice was given to Vapor Man, Dr. Benton Quest, The Perilous Paper Doll Man, and Multi Man. His narrating voice was also heard on Hong Kong Phooey and Laff-A-Lympics. In 1974, he performed on Hong Kong Phooey as Spot the cat, Hong Kong Phooey's faithful sidekick.
In 1969, he was cast as the cowardly canine Scooby-Doo on Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!. This role would remain Messick’s biggest and best-known. He voiced the Great Dane through all of the various versions of Scooby-Doo: on television in numerous formats from 1969 to 1985, four television films, and a number of commercials as well. Messick was still voicing the role when A Pup Named Scooby-Doo came along from 1988 to 1991. From 1980 to 1988, Messick also voiced Scooby's nephew, Scrappy-Doo, having taken over the role originated by voice actor Lennie Weinrib in 1979.
In 1981 Messick started another well-known role as Papa Smurf on the Smurfs series from 1981 to 1989. He also voiced Ratchet (the Autobot doctor), Gears, and Constructicon Scavenger on The Transformers.
A true legend in the world of cartoon voice acting. His first voice work came in 1943 at MGM. Tex Avery hired Butler to provide narration work for several of his cartoons. In many cartoons, there was a nameless wolf who spoke in a Southern accent and whistled all the time. Butler provided the voice for this wolf. While at MGM, Avery wanted Butler to try to do the voice of Droopy Dog, a character that Bill Thompson regularly voiced. Butler performed the voice for a few cartoons, but he then told Avery about Don Messick, another voice actor and Butler's life-long friend. Messick quickly became a voice actor.
In 1949, Butler landed a role in a televised puppet show created by former Warner Brothers cartoon director Bob Clampett called Time for Beany. Thirty-three-year-old Butler was teamed up with 23-year-old Stan Freberg, and together they did all the voices of the puppets. Butler voiced Beany Boy and Captain Huffenpuff. Freberg voiced Cecil and Dishonest John. An entire stable of recurring characters were seen. The show's writers were Charles Shows and Lloyd Turner, whose dependably funny dialog was still always at the mercy of Butler's and Freberg's ad libs. Time for Beany ran from 1949 to 1954 and won several Emmy Awards. It was the basis for the cartoon Beany and Cecil.
Butler briefly turned his attention to TV commercials, although he quickly moved to providing the voice to many nameless Walter Lantz characters for theatrical shorts later seen on the Woody Woodpecker program. His notable character was the penguin "Chilly Willy" and his sidekick, the southern-speaking dog Smedley (the same voice used for Tex Avery's laid-back wolf character). Also in the 1950s, Stan Freberg asked Butler to help him write comedy skits for his Capitol Records albums. Their first collaboration, "St. George and the Dragon-Net" (based on Dragnet), was the first comedy record to sell over one million copies. Freberg was more of a satirist who did song parodies, but the bulk of his "talking" routines were co-written by, and co-starred, Daws Butler.
In 1957, MGM closed their animation division, and producers William Hanna and Joseph Barbera found themselves unemployed. They quickly formed their own company, and Daws Butler and Don Messick were on-hand to provide voices. The first being The Ruff & Reddy Show, which set the formula for the rest of the series of cartoons that the two would helm until the mid 1960s.
Characters voiced by Butler from 1957 to 1978 included: • "Bring 'Em Back Alive" Clive • Aesop's Son (in the "Aesop and Son" segment of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show) • Fibber Fox and Alfy Gator (of Yakky Doodle) • Ali Gator (in two Lantz theatrical shorts) • Augie Doggie • Baba Looey (from Quick Draw McGraw) • Barney Rubble (from The Flintstones) (Pilot & season 2 - episodes 1, 2, 5, 6, and 9 only) • Big Gruesome • Bingo (of Banana Splits) • Brutus the Lion (of The Roman Holidays) • Cap'n Crunch • Captain Skyhook (of The Space Kidettes) • Chilly Willy • Cogswell • Colonel Pot Shot • Dixie Mouse (of Pixie and Dixie) • Elroy Jetson • Fibber Fox (of Yakky Doodle) • Fred Flintstone (1959; The Flagstones pilot only) • Gabby Gator (of Woody Woodpecker) • Gelationous Giant from The Phantom Tollbooth • Gooney the "Gooney Bird" Albatross • Hair Bear (of Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch) • Henry Orbit • Hokey Wolf • Huckleberry Hound • Hustle (of The CB Bears) • Jonathan Wellington "Mudsy" Muddlemore (of The Funky Phantom) • Karlos K. Krinkelbein (from the 1971 animated TV special version of The Cat in the Hat) • Lambsy (of "It's the Wolf" on Cattanooga Cats) • Lippy the Lion • Loopy De Loop • Maxie the Polar Bear • Mr. Jinks (of Pixie and Dixie) • Peter Perfect • Peter Potamus • Quick Draw McGraw • Quisp • Raggedy Andy (in "The Great Santa Claus Caper (1978)") • Red Max • Reddy the dog (from The Ruff & Reddy Show) • Rock Slag • Rufus Ruffcut • Scooby-Dum • Senses Taker from The Phantom Tollbooth • Sgt. Blast • Smedley the dog (from the Chilly Willy cartoons) • Snagglepuss • Super Snooper and Blabber Mouse • Stick and Duke (of Posse Impossible) • Undercover Elephant • Terrible Trivium from The Phantom Tollbooth • Whether Man from The Phantom Tollbooth • Wally Gator • Wimpy (from The All-New Popeye Hour) • Wolf (from the Droopy cartoons) • Yahooey (from Yippee, Yappee and Yahooey) • Yogi Bear
Butler would voice most of these characters for many decades, in both TV shows and in some commercials. The breakfast cereal mascot Cap'n Crunch became an icon of sorts on Saturday morning TV through many commercials produced by Jay Ward. Butler gave voice to the Cap'n from the 1960s to the 1980s. He based the voice on that of character actor Charles Butterworth. In the 1970s he was the voice of "Hair Bear" and a few characters in minor cartoons such as C.B. Bears. On Wacky Races, Butler provided the voices for a number of the racers, notably Rock Slag, Big Gruesome, the Red Max, Sgt. Blast, Peter Perfect, and Rufus Ruffcut. On Laff-a-Lympics, Butler was virtually the entire "Yogi Yahooey" team.
He voiced a penguin and a turtle in the movie Mary Poppins, his only known film work for Disney. Along with Stan Freberg, Paul Frees and June Foray, Butler also provided voices for countless children's records featuring recreations of several successful Disney cartoons and films. When Mel Blanc was recovering from a motor vehicle accident, Butler stepped in to provide the voice of Barney Rubble (another rather Carney-esque voice) in four episodes of Flintstones.
Butler remained somewhat low-key in the 1970s and 1980s, until a 1985 revival of The Jetsons. In 1975, Butler began an acting workshop that spawned such talents as Nancy Cartwright (The Simpsons), Corey Burton (Old Navy, Disney), and Joe Bevilacqua (NPR).
In the year of his death, The Good, the Bad, and Huckleberry Hound was released, a tour-de-force featuring most of his classic early characters. Butler died from a heart attack on May 18, 1988.
He is recognised as the voice of many characters, often for Filmation in the 1970s and 1980s, such as Mighty Mouse, Ming the Merciless on Flash Gordon, the Overlord on BlackStar, and Skeletor, Man-At-Arms and Mer-Man from Filmation's 1980s cartoon He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Other notable voice roles include Thundarr the Barbarian, Vanity on The Smurfs, Crock from The Wuzzles and Falkor and Gmork from 1984's The NeverEnding Story. In the early 90s Oppenheimer was the voice of Merlin in The Legend of Prince Valiant. He also performed various supporting roles in various incarnations of Scooby-Doo. He took over the voice of Roger Smith's butler Norman Burg in the second season of The Big O.
Oppenheimer also worked on Transformers, most notably as two contrasting characters, the pacifist Beachcomber and the bellicose Warpath. His rendition of Seaspray was remarkably similar to Mer-Man, including the gurgling effects. He was the voice of Alistair Crane on the soap opera Passions up until 2004 (when the character was made fully visible, played by David Bailey).
Oppenheimer recently provided the voice of the Scientist for the 2009 film 9. Oppenheimer's repertoire also includes video games, voicing Prometheus in God of War II and Jandor the Airship Captain in Nox. In Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, he spoke the part of Harold, an ancient mutated survivor of nuclear holocaust who has appeared in four of the Fallout series games.
Oppenheimer also voiced the parts of a non-player character Soldier and the Wasteland Trader, and the NPC 'enemies' Cult Ghoul Thug and Kamikaze in Fallout: BoS. Also, in the 1990-1992 compilation of Ys Book I and II, Oppenheimer voiced the roles of the Narrator, and the game's lead antagonist, Darm.In Superman/Batman: Public Enemies he had a brief role as Batman's butler, Alfred Pennyworth.
Voice actor Billy Mae Richards passed away just last year, September 10th, at the age of 88.
Born Billy Mae Dinsmore in 1921 in Ontario, Canada, she held a career that spanned nearly 40 years, centered mainly around voice-over work.
Her most notable voice role was that of Rudolph in the Rankin-Bass series of stop-motion holiday specials during the 1960s and 70s, including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Rudolph's Shiny New Year, and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July. She also provided voices in the Rankin-Bass feature films Willy McBean and His Magic Machine and The Daydreamer.
Richards was the voice of Tenderheart Bear in the original Care Bears television series and films produced in the 1980s, and guest-starred in several episodes of the 1967 Spider-Man series as Billy Connors.
She also was well-known for her radio work with the Canadian Broadcasting Company, and starred in the 1950s program, Jake and the Kid.
Talented and versatile comic actor Kenneth Mars passed away two months ago at the age of 75. He was most famous for his roles in Mel Brooks comedies, like The Producers and Young Frankenstein.
Throughout the eighties and nineties, he did a lot of cartoon voice work, most notably on Darkwing Duck, where he gave life to the villain Tuskernini. Additionally, he voiced The Little Mermaid‘s King Triton and many other characters you might recognize (see the list below).
