Rest In Peace:
DOB: August 5, 1915
DOB: 1961
DOB: May 30, 1908
DOB: November 16, 1916
DOB: December 25, 1913
Thanks to Bobby Bickert for sending me some of this information.
DOB: August 31, 1928
DOB: May 23, 1910
DOD: June 13, 2004
DOB: December 1, 1929
DOB: December 9, 1931
DOB: May 29, 1931
DOB: February 16, 1932
DOB: November 6, 1914
DOB: April 5, 1929
DOB: May 6, 1964
DOB: January 4, 1905
DOB: 1921 or 1922
DOB: September 17, 1928
Mr. McDowall provided the voices for Snowball of Pinky and the Brain and Animaniacs, the Wind in the Willows' Ratty, and The Mad Hatter of Batman, among others. He suffered from cancer.
DOB: 1923
DOB: September 7, 1926
DOB: May 2, 1937
DOB: May 27, 1911
DOB: August 20, 1907
DOB: October 11, 1919
DOB: December 11, 1929
DOB: June 15, 1950
Parley Baer
DOD: November 22, 2002
Best know Ernie the Keebler Elf in the commercials, Mr. Baer was also
heard as the owl in Disney's live action fantasy "The Gnome Mobile." He was much more active in radio, however, appearing, as it were, in “Gunsmoke” as Deputy Chester Proudfoot, as well as "The Count of
Monte Cristo" (1947-1952; regular as Rene the manservant), "Dragnet" (1949-1957, as various informants, victims,
etc.), "The CBS Radio Workshop" (1956-1957; heard in several
episodes, including the second half of the premiere, an adaptation
of "Brave New World," in a bit as a Soma distributor; played himself
and "Lead Nobody" in "A Matter of Logic"; and seemed to be enjoying
himself as the fussy censor in Stan Freberg's "Colloquy #3: An
Analysis of Satire"), and many, many others.
Blandings5 says of him, “Fine actor, wonderful at dry cynical types as well as amiable
rustics. Definitely missed.”
Mary Kay Bergman
DOD: November 11, 1999
Ms. Bergman was quite active in the field when she passed away. She had recently been in several movies including her role as Daphne on Scooby Doo on Zombie Island and nearly all of the newest Disney movies, and was working on South Park, Cow and Chicken, The New Adventures of Captain Planet, and Jay Jay the Jet Plane. She was also credited as Shannen Cassidy. Tragically, she committed suicide.
Mel Blanc
DOD: July 10, 1989
Mr. Blanc was best know for his outstanding work on Looney Tunes. He provided the voices for all of the characters for many years. Though many have tried, few have come anywhere near duplicating any one of his characters.
Daws Butler
DOD: May 18, 1988
Mr. Butler was the original voice of a great deal of the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons, including Yogi Bear, Snagglepuss, Huckleberry Hound, Dixie and MR. Jinks, Quick Draw McGraw, Augie Doggie, Wally Gator, Elroy Jetson, and others. He also provided the voices for Ed Morton
and Ralph Crumdan of "The Honeymousers", as well as the cereal characters Cap'n Crunch and Snap of Rice Crispies fame.
Mr. Butler suffered a heart attack.
Candy Candido
DOD: May 19, 1999
Mr. Candido had a very deep and throaty voice. He provided the voices for The Great Mouse Detective's Fidget, the alligator from Robin Hood, the Indian chief of Peter Pan (who was supposedly modeled after him), and Popeye for one cartoon between William Costello and Jack Mercer, among others.
James Coburn
DOD: November 18, 2002
Best known to animation fans as Henry J. Waternoose in "Monsters Inc." and Looten Plunder of “Captain Planet and the Planeteers.”
Scatman Crothers
DOD: November 22, 1986
Also credited as Sherman Crothers, Mr. Crothers's most memorable role was probably Hong Kong Phooey, but he was also Scat Cat of The Aristocats, Jazz in The Transformers, and Meadowlark Lemon from The Harlem Globetrotters Animated Series. He was also very active in screen acting and music, and The Twight Zone, The Shining, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest are only a few of the many movies in which he appeared. He suffered from lung cancer.
Thanks to Mr. D.T. Dey for some of the info about Mr. Crothers.
Danny Dark
Mr. Dark was the voice of Superman in the Super Friends cartoon series in the mid 1980s. He was perhaps better know for his commercial voice overs, however, having been involved in numerous StarKist, Budwiser, and Raid commercials. Mr. Dark suffered from bleeding in the lungs.
David Doyle
DOD: February 26, 1997
Some times credited as David F. Doyle, Mr. Doyle had several roles, but he is probably most well known in the voice acting field as Lou Pickles. Mr. Doyle was the voice of Grandpa from when the show started in 1991 until he passed away. His voice was so unique that even Joe Alaskey, one of the few people who can imitate Mel Blanc, cannot match him. David Doyle will always be the better Grandpa in my book. He is probably more well known in the long run as Charlie's Angels's John Bosley. He died in Los Angeles of a heart attack.
Thanks to D.T. Dey for some of the info.
Paddi Edwards
DOD: October 18, 1999
Ms. Edwards, not to be confused with Patti Edwards, has the distinction of being the first cast member of Hercules to pass away. Among her credits are Atropos, Flotsam and Jetsam, Gozer the Gozarian in Ghostbusters, and "Receptionist at Office" in An Extremely Goofy Movie. She suffered respiratory failure.
Betty Lou Gerson
DOB: April 20, 1914
DOD: January 12, 1999
Ms. Gerson was in several Disney movies, including Cinderella, in which she was the narrator, and One Hundred and One Dalmatians, where she was the notorious Cruella De Vil, as well as Miss Birdwell. She suffered from a massive stroke.
Ed Gilbert
DOD: May 8, 1999
Mr. Gilbert was the voice of Baloo in TaleSpin. He was also Mr. Beeman in Scooby Doo on Zombie Island and Francois in Rescuers Down Under among many other roles. He passed away due to lung cancer. Just a bit of trivia: He was an entomologist and named over 100 insects!
Harry Goz
DOD: September 6, 2003
Mr. Goz appeared in several movies and television shows, including Marathon Man and Ned and Stacey, before turning to voice acting. He was Gronam Ox in a movie released in the US under the name Aaron’s Magic Village, Captain Hazel “Hank” Murphy in Sealab 2021, and provided additional voices in Buster & Chauncey’s Silent Night. He suffered from cancer.
Jonathan Harris
DOD: November 3, 2002
Mr. Harris was best known as Dr. Smith in Lost in Space. In the animated realm, he voiced Professor Jones in "Freakazoid," the cleaner in Toy Story 2, Manny of A Bug’s Life, and Athos in The Banana Splits Adventure Hour’s Three Musketeer Segments, not to mention Phineas Sharp in the DWD episode "In Like Flint", among other roles.
Thanks to Blandings5
Phil Hartman
DOB: September 24, 1948
DOD: May 28, 1998
Mr. Hartman was Paddywhack on "The Haunting of Mr. Banana Brain" and Troy McLure on The Simpsons. Mr. Hartman was a victim of homicide.
Sir Nigel Hawthorne
DOD: December 26, 2001
I first recognized Sir Hawthorne's name in the credits of Watership Down, in which he was Campion. While never a huge fan, I would always stop to think for a moment when seeing his name in the credits of a movie. While he was a screen actor a majority of the time, he also provided the voices of Professor Archimedes Q. Porter, The Black Cauldron's Fflewddur Fflam, Brigadier G of "Freddie as F.R.O.7", and Dr. Boycott in "The Plague Dogs".
Sir Hawthorne suffered a heartattack.
Dana Hill Goetz
DOD: July 15, 1996
She was more commonly credited as simply Dana Hill. Among Ms. Hill’s parts were Tank Muddlefoot of Darkwing Duck and Max of Goof Troop. She was also on a few episodes of Rugrats and was Young Sally on Sonic the Hedgehog. She died of a stroke, which happened to be the result of a diabetic coma.
Sterling Holloway
DOD: November 22, 1992
Mr. Holloway had such a neat voice. He was best known for his role as Winnie the Pooh, but my favorite character of his is Kaa. Jim Cummings does a good job with his characters, but the original is better.
Norma Macmillan
DOD: March 17, 2001
Mrs. Macmillan was most well known as the voice of Underdog's Sweet Polly Purebread, though she was also Goo on Gumby, Kokette in the "Mean Moe" series, and Sally Hansen of Davey and Goliath. She was also on "Casper" and a comedy album called "The First Family".
Mrs. Macmillan suffered a heart attack.
Thanks to Bobby Bickert and www.cartoonresearch.com for the information.
Roddy McDowall
DOD: October 3, 1998
Thanks to Mainecoon for bringing him to my attention.
Bob McFadden
DOD: January 10, 2000
Mr. McFadden provided the voices for Hardware, Steelwill, and Yes-Man in Silverhawks and Slythe and Snaf from Thundercats as well as many other characters. He suffered from Lou Gerhig’s Disease.
Jack Mercer
DOD: 1984
Mr. Mercer was best known as the voice of Popeye from circa
1935 until his death (except most cartoons released in 1945-46
because he was drafted into WWII), as well as Poopdeck Pappy and nephews
Pipeye, Pupeye, Poopeye, and Peepeye, occasionally Wimpy, and even Bluto in a
few cartoons. He also performed ALL of the voices in the 1960 Felix the Cat
TV cartoons and could even do inanimate objects like a vacuum cleaner. On top
of all this, he also wrote cartoon scripts, and not just for Popeye cartoons.
Mr. Mercer is listed in the 2000 Guiness Book of Records as the longest serving voice actor in a cartoon series, having voiced Popeye for 45 years.
Thanks to Bobby Bickert for calling him to my attention.
Don Messick
DOD: October 24, 1997
Mr. Messick was the voice of many classic characters. Some of these include Atom Ant, Bamm Bamm, Droopy, Pixy, Dixy, Astro, Scooby-Doo, Scrappy-Doo, Pappa Smurf, Arael, Dreamy Smurf, Sleepy Smurf, Boo Boo, and Hampton J. Pig.
Lorenzo Music
DOD: August 5, 2001
Mr. Music is best known as the voice of Garfield. He was also Carlton (your doorman) on Rhoda, the spider in DWD episode "Aduckiphobia," Tummi Gummi, the crash test dummy, Peter Venkman, and Dunder on TaleSpin. He suffered from lung cancer.
Thanks to MoeLFan, dantoris, Bobby Bickert, D.T. Dey, and Fay Weber for sending this information my way.
Vincent Price
DOD: October 25, 1993
Mr. Price was in many horror and drama movies from 1938's Service de Luxe to Arabian Knight in 1995. His only voice acting credit to my knowledge was Professor Rattigan in The Great Mouse Detective, but it was a terrific job. He sounded so...crazy. Knowing Disney, they will inevitably try to make a direct-to-video sequel and it just wouldn't be the same with out him.
Here is an excerpt from an email I got from Bobby Bickert regarding Mr. Price's voice work. "I came up with some other voice work Vincent Price did. He voiced an
animated version of himself (called Vincent Van Ghoul) in The 13 Ghosts of
Scooby Doo, which was sort of a ripoff of Ghostbusters. He was the narrator
of Vincent, a weird Disney animated short made by Tim Burton. (Price is
Burton's idol.) Also, if it counts, Disney used his voice in Phantom Manor,
the haunted house at Euro Disneyland."
Mae Questel
DOB: September 13, 1908
DOD: January 4, 1998
Ms. Questel performed the voices of Olive Oyl and Swee'pea on the "Popeye" cartoons, as well as Betty Boop. In 1939 she was replaced as the Popeye characters by Margie Hines (Jack Mercer's first wife) because the studio moved to Miami but she wouldn't leave NYC. But the move was short-lived so in 1944 she resumed doing Olive Oyl and Swee'pea on through the TV cartoons of 1960-61, in which she also voiced the Sea Hag. She also supposedly did Popeye's voice (!) when
Jack Mercer was in WWII, but not every cartoon.
Ms. Questel suffered from Alzheimer's disease.
Thanks to Bobby Bickert, once again, for sending Ms. Questel's information to me.
Alan Reed
DOD: June 14, 1977
Mr. Reed, whose real name was Edward Bergman, earned his fame as Fred Flintstone, a role which he performed from the show's inception until his death. He was also Boris in Lady and the Tramp, Touché Turtle's Dum Dum, and Glasstor from Space Ghost.
Thanks to John Bertalan for pointing my negligence here.
Jean Vander Pyl
DOD: April 10, 1999
Ms. Vander Pyl was the voice of Wilma in the immensely popular Flintstones and was several characters in it’s futuristic counterpart The Jetsons, including Rosie, Jane’s mother, Mrs. Spacely, and George’s secretary. She died in Dana Point, California of lung cancer.
Hal Smith
DOD: January 28, 1994
Mr. Smith was the voice of Beauty and the Beast's Philippe, Gyro Gearloose and Flintheart Glomgold of Duck Tales, Winnie the Pooh's Owl, as well as occasionally performing the voice of Elmer Fudd.
Additionally, Daniel Cartwright has brought the following to my attention:
"Your overview of Hal Smith on the Deceased Voice Actors page lacked the
roles for which he is most famous: Otis Campbell on the Andy Griffith Show
and radio's John Avery Whittaker (the main character of Adventures in
Odyssey, a Christian program). Granted, the first is hardly a voice credit
but it certainly is worth the mention."
Certainly. Thank you, sir.
Jim Varney
DOD: February 10, 2000
Mr. Varney was most well known for his role as Ernest in the movies, though he did a bit of voice acting as well. He was Slink in the Toy Story movies, Gus Holder of Annabelle's Wish, the tobacco CEO from Duckman, Cooder on an episode of The Simpsons, and will be Cookie, the cook, in the upcoming Atlantis. He died of lung cancer.
