August 12 - Barry Cook

Image courtesy zimbio.com

On this day, in 1958, Barry Cook was born in Nashville, Tennessee. Like many filmmakers, Barry spent a good chunk of his childhood looking through the eyepiece of his family’s Super 8 movie camera. By the time he was ten, he’d completed his first film. When he was 12, he won two prizes in a local Young Filmmakers Contest. As a teen, he spent his summers developing his drawing talents (and, just as importantly, earning money) as a caricaturist at Opryland USA. As soon as he graduated from high school, Barry left the mountains of Middle America and moved to Southern California to pursue his dreams of a career in the film industry.

Barry started his studies at Columbia College in Hollywood, where, just as often as he worked on his own projects, he spent time helping his fellow students finish theirs. His time there led to an internship with Hanna-Barbera in 1978. He spent almost three years at that studio, doing assistant animator duties on shows like The New Fred and Barney Show, among others. He was even around long enough to get a hand in on the pilot episode of The Smurfs. But, in 1981, destiny called him to do other things in other places (and if you’ve read any of this blogs’ posts before, I bet you can guess where that might be).

Image copyright Disney

Barry became part of the Disney family as an effects animator. Those are the guys who might make leaves swirl around in a gust of wind or create tendrils of magic flowing from a wand to a pumpkin. Their work is painstaking, and often abstract, but is what can push a merely okay project into an absolute masterpiece. And they rarely get the public credit they deserve. Barry's first movie with Disney was the cutting edge, computer-graphic driven, cult classic Tron. He stayed with the company following that release, crafting effects for The Black Cauldron, Captain EO, Oliver and Company, The Little Mermaid and The Rescuers Down Under.

Image copyright Disney

When the Disney-MGM Studios theme park opened in Orlando in May 1989, a big part of it was a new satellite animation studio. Barry moved to Florida as part of the team that took over the new space. He’d been promoted to supervisor of the effects department at this point and was starting to stretch his wings as a director. He got the opportunity to develop an idea for a short he had about a rocking horse who tries to regain the attention of the video game loving boy who used to ride him. He wrote Off His Rockers and directed it, eventually enlisting the help of almost everyone who worked in Disney’s Florida Animation department, all while supervising effects work on Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. Rockers was theatrically released with Honey, I Blew Up the Kid in 1992.

Image copyright Disney

Barry was then put in charge of directing and developing the story for the third and final Roger Rabbit short Disney produced. Once Trail Mix-Up was released with A Far Off Place in March 1993, management decided that Barry was ready for the big time gave him the choice of helming a Scottish tale with dragons or a Chinese war legend. When Barry started talking about how dragons figure prominently in Chinese culture as well, he was assigned to the project surrounding the Legend of Fa Mu Lan (even though he would have chosen the Scottish story himself). Barry was partnered with another first time feature director, Tony Bancroft, and the pair wrestled with the saga, eventually turning it from a ho-hum romantic comedy into an epic tale that encompasses both love of family and love of country. And yes, even though there were no dragons in the original legend, Barry did slip one in.

Image copyright Disney

In June 1988, Mulan opened to critical and financial success, both important to the Florida animation division as it was the first feature that was primarily done by the new staff.  It would go on to win Barry and Tony the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature. Production was already underway at the satellite studio on two more features, Lilo and Stitch and Brother Bear, and life was looking good in Orlando. After the exhausting journey of directing his first feature, Barry took a five month sabbatical to regroup and recharge.

Image copyright Aardman Animation

When he returned to work, Barry pitched the idea for a feature based on Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost.  It was decided that the project had potential and he was given the go ahead to develop a script. After months of tinkering with story and adding several more folk elements into it, he brought the finished product to another pitch meeting and was green lighted to direct A Few Good Ghosts with a budget of $45 million. Production began, even going so far as to cast Dolly Parton, Lilly Tomlin, Hal Holbrook and Charles Durning in key roles, before the bottom fell out of everything related to the studio’s Florida location. In November 2003 production on Ghosts was halted and by January 2004, the Florida Animation Studio no longer existed. Barry himself became a casualty amidst the destruction when Disney declined to give him a contract to return to the fold in Burbank.

Barry spent the next several years with a variety of more independent studios developing projects, none of which ever actually entered production. Finally, in 2009, he signed a contract with Aardman Animations, the studio that started with the Wallace and Gromit shorts, and became co-director on an animated feature once more. Alongside Sarah Smith, he delivered the studio a modest success with Arthur Christmas, a fresh take on the Santa Claus story. Barry was then contracted by 20^th Century Fox to co-direct Walking with Dinosaurs, a feature based on the BBC documentary series of the same name. The intent was a film that modeled the series, with a narrator explaining otherwise dialogue-less events. Fox executives freaked out at a rough screening, however, and insisted that some celebrity supplied dialogue would make the movie better than anyone’s wildest dreams. Audiences did not agree (especially since there wasn’t time or budget to worry about things like lip synching or making dinosaur mouths move at all).

Image copyright Jesus Film Project

Barry has also been involved lately with the Jesus Film Project, a movement dedicated to telling the story of Jesus to everyone on earth, mostly through the medium of film. He wrote the screenplay and helped produce a short in the anime style called My Last Day, done from the perspective of one of the thieves that was crucified with Jesus. He is currently working with Digital Dimension, directing a film based on the children’s book Mean Margaret, about a toddler human who gets raised by woodchucks. No word yet on a release date for the quirky comedy, but we’re glad that Barry is still out there creating. Happy birthday, Mr. Cook!

March 12 - Frank Welker

Image courtesy disney.fandom.com

On this day, in 1946, Franklin Wendell Welker was born in Denver, Colorado. Since the total box office take of all the films he has ever been in is well over $6 Billion, I probably don’t need to tell you who Frank Welker is. I do? But what about all the iconic characters he’s played on television? You say you still couldn’t pick him out of a crowd of one? To be honest, neither could I but what I could do is listen to his voice and tell you who his is. If you haven’t figured it out by now, Frank is a voice actor, and not just any old guy who sits in front of a microphone for a living, either. He’s considered by many to be the King of Voiceover Land.

In the early Sixties, Frank moved to Southern California and decided to become a corsair at Santa Monica City College studying the theatrical arts. His first professional acting gig was as Rutgers College Kid in Elvis Presley’s second to last film, 1969’s The Trouble with Girls. Around the same time he was cast as a disembodied voice in a Friskies commercial. During the Friskies shoot, Frank heard about an audition that was taking place over at the Hanna-Barbera studio for a new cartoon series about a group of meddling kids and their dog. He auditioned for part of the dog, but when the cast list for Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? came out, he’d won the role of Fred Jones. Not only has Frank been performing as Fred ever since (he’s the only original actor still involved with the franchise), he’s become an almost ubiquitous voice in the industry.

Image copyright Hanna-Barbera

Frank’s early years centered almost exclusively on Hanna-Barbera productions. In addition to Fred, he was the voice of Jabberjaw, Wonder Dog, Dynomutt (theDog Wonder), the Schmoo, and Marvin White. As the Seventies wore on, he began to branch out to other studios until he was one of the busiest actors in Hollywood. His resume is a who’s who of Eighties and Nineties cartoons:

Inspector Gadget: Brain, Dr. Claw and MAD Cat

Super Friends: Mister Mxyzptlk, Darkseid and Kalibak

G.I. Joe: Wild Bill and Dreadnok Torch

Image courtesy theinfosphere.org

The Transformers: Megatron, Soundwave, Buzzsaw, Ravage, Mirage and about a dozen others

The Real Ghostbusters: Ray Stantz and Slimer

The Muppet Babies: Kermit, Beaker, Skeeter and Camilla the Chicken

Johnny Quest: Dr. Jeremiah Surd

The Smurfs: Hefty Smurf, Poet Smurf and Peewit

The Simpsons: Santa’s Little Helper and Snowball II

Futurama: Nibbler

Image copyright Warner Bros.

Animaniacs: Mr. Plotz, Runt, Ralph the Guard and Buttons

Tiny Toon Adventures: Gogo Dodo, Furball and Bleeper

And those are just the highlights. From those two decades. And only covers television. This brings us to some of his film work, which is again a widely varied group of characters. Frank’s been the voice of the martians in Mars Attacks!, the penguins in Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Spock’s screams in Star Trek III, the Thing in The Golden Child, Jinx the robot in SpaceCamp, Alien Sil in Species, Malebolgia in Spawn, Azrael, Gargamel’s cat, in the latest Smurf movies, a whole slew of bots in the Transformers film series, Stripe and Mogwai in Gremlins and Mohawk in Gremlins 2.

Image copyright Disney

Frank has managed to pretty well permeate the Disney family as well.  For a while there, if there was a cute, usually fuzzy sidekick in a Disney film, chances were pretty good that it was one of Frank's performances. He's been Louie the Hot Dog Vendor and additional dogs in Oliver and Company, Dumbo in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Max in The Little Mermaid, Stuffed Tiger in DuckTales the Movie, Marahute and Joanna in The Rescuers Down Under, the Footstool in Beauty and the Beast, Abu, Rajah and the Cave of Wonders in Aladdin, several additional voices in The Lion King, the Reindeer in The Santa Clause, Bigfoot in A Goody Movie, Flit in Pocahontas, Pegasus in Hercules, Cri-Kee, Khan, Little Brother and Hayabusa in Mulan, Thumper in A Bug's Life, Sabor in Tarzan, Nana 2 in Return to Neverland, the Anglerfish and the Whale in Finding Nemo, the Bandersnatch in 2010's Alice in Wonderland and will be reprising his roles of Abu and the Cave of Wonders in the live action version of Aladdin coming out later this year.

Image copyright Disney

As if that weren't enough, he's appeared in the following television series for the company as well: DuckTales, Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, TaleSpin, Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, The Little Mermaid, Bonkers, Aladdin, Gargoyles, Timon and Pumbaa, Quack Pack, Jungle Cubs, 101 Dalmatians, Hercules, Recess, Mickey Mouse Works, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, House of Mouse, The Legend of Tarzan, Kim Possible, Lilo and Stitch and The Emperor's New School. And we haven't even touched video games yet (just know that there are dozens, including the role of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in Epic Mickey).

At the age of 73, Frank seems to be slowing down, if only slightly (he is already in pre-production on another Scooby-Doo movie). But even if he were to stop cold today, he leaves behind a body of work that most actors can only dream of. So it is with a joyful heart and many thanks for bringing so much of our childhoods to life that we wish a happy birthday to the King of Voicelandia!

February 22 - Lea Salonga

On this day, in 1971, Maria Lea Carmen Imutan Salonga was born in Ermita, Manila, Philippines. The first six years of Lea's life were spent i the upper class City of Angeles (her father owned a shipping company). Shortly after the family moved to Manila, she made her professional debut in a Repertory Philippines production of The King and I. Two years later, she was playing the title role in Annie and by the time she was 17, had appeared in a dozen shows as varied as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Paper Moon and The Fantasticks. Just that would be enough to make Lea a Superteen but there is, of course, more.

Image courtesy leasalonga.com

In 1981, Lea's ten at this point, she recorded her first album, Small Voice. It reached gold status. I don't know what you were doing at ten, but I was too busy watching Saturday morning cartoons to make my gold record (at least that's what I'm telling myself). The success of Small Voice gave Lea the opportunity to have her own musical television show, Love, Lea, from 183-85. After her show finished its run, she became part of the Thursday cast (different casts performed on different days) of the popular variety show That's Entertainment when it debuted in 1986. Now, you could be forgiven for thinking that one girl couldn't possibly do more. You'd be wrong but you'd be forgiven.

Somehow, around the stage shows and television gigs, Lea also appeared in Filipino films like Tropang Bulitit, Ninja Kids and Pik Pak Boom. Along the way she earned a FAMAS Award nomination (it's like a Filipino Oscar) and won three Aliw Awards (think of something like a Tony). She began opening for acts like Menudo and Stevie Wonder when they came through Manila. Then, at the age of 17, she released her second album, Lea, and it went multi-platinum. So what does a wildly successful Filipino actress/singer do for an encore? She becomes a wildly successful international actress/singer. Duh.

Image courtesy t2conline.com

To be fair, Lea hadn't intended on extending her career past her teens. She was a biology major at Ateneo de Manila University studying for a career in medicine when a new musical came along and changed her plans. The producers of Les Mis were mounting an update of Puccini's Madame Butterfly but had run into a major problem: they couldn't find a young Asian woman in all of England who could handle the demands of their show. They began a worldwide search, asked Lea to audition and she blew them away. She originated the role of Kim in Miss Saigon on London's West End in 1989 and I don't know of the British capitol has ever recovered. After two years of dazzling European audiences, Lea and her co-star, Jonathan Pryce, crossed the Atlantic to open the show on Broadway. All told, Lea won a Laurence Olivier Award, a Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award and became the first Asian woman to ever win a Tony for her performance in Miss Saigon.

Image copyright Disney

Lea became a Disney princess in 1992 (or at least the singing part of a Disney princess) when she sang for Jasmine in Aladdin.

And here we pause while I climb up on this soap box I just happened to find laying around. I can understand when you cast someone in a musical who has the star power you need to make a go of your picture but not the vocal chords, so you have someone who can sing, but can't necessarily act, take care of the soaring vibrato. What I cannot understand is when you hire a virtually unknown actor who can't sing to be in a musical and then relegate someone who can do both to half a role (or less depending on the spoken/singing ratio). The streets of New York (and Chicago and LA and any other place you can mention) are literally crawling with unknowns who can sing and act your socks off (and will be willing to do it for scale), so hire one of them for crying out loud. Because let's face it, while a whole lot of Aladdin fans know Lea sang it (and some of them already think she did the whole thing), how many of you can name the actress who spoke for Jasmine (without looking it up)? Exactly. It's Linda Larkin, by the way, and I'm not trying to disparage her performance, I'm just fed up with how things are done in general when it comes to casting musicals (don't even get me started on Russell Crowe).

Image copyright Disney

For the 1993 Academy Awards Ceremony, Lea teamed up with Brad Kane, the voice of Aladdin, to sing the Oscar nominated song A Whole New World (spoiler: it won). She returned to the Disney recording studio again in 1998 to provide (again) the singing voice for the title character in Mulan and it's 2004 sequel. She graciously continues to sing for both Jasmine and Mulan in video games, episodes of Sofia the First, and whenever else Disney is willing to cut her a check.

In the decades since Miss Saigon, Lea has basically traveled the world, giving concerts, earning awards for shows in London, Manila and the United States and releasing several more albums, only three of which went platinum (don't feel too bad though, another one also went gold). She's returned to Broadway several times, in 2002 as Mei-Li in Flower Drum Song, in 2016 as part of Allegiance with George Takei and, most recently, as Erzulie in the 2017 revival of Once on This Island. The 48 year old Superteen turned Princess turned International Sensation shows no signs of slowing down and I can't wait to hear where she turns up next. Happy Birthday, Lea!

January 11 - Pres Romanillos

Image courtesy jimhillmedia.com

On this day, in 1963, Priscillano Antonio Romanillos was born in Zamboanga City, Philippines. When he was 6, Pres and his family moved to Queens, New York. At some point, his older brother, Bob, started to take a correspondence course in art. Bob quickly lost interest but the lessons, already paid for, kept coming. Pres began looking at his brother’s lessons, loved them and finished the course for him. When he grew older, Pres attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, eventually earning himself an MFA.

In 1989, as the Disney Renaissance was starting and the company was actively recruiting animators for the first time in years, Pres was hired on as an animation trainee. He cut his teeth on The Little Mermaid, impressing one of the supervising animators, Ruben Aquino, with his draftsmanship and passion. He continued to hone his skills on The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. By Pocahontas, Pres had been promoted to animator and worked under supervising animator Glen Keane on the title character. Pocahontas co-director Eric Goldberg said he was in awe of the sheer beauty that was Pres’ work.

Image copyright Disney

Pres made minor contributions to The Hunchback of Notre Dame but came into his own on Disney’s 36^th animated feature, Mulan. As supervising animator for the films villain, Shan-Yu, as well as the villainous sidekick, Hayabusa the falcon, Pres really threw himself into his work, albeit mostly subconsciously. He said in an interview once that he left work feeling sexy during production on Pocahontas, but when he shifted to Mulan, his wife kept asking why he was so angry all the time. Feelings below the surface or not, Pres managed to create a menacing figure in Shan-Yu that no one felt too bad about when he met his explosive demise at film’s end.

Image copyright DreamWorks

Once Mulan was finished, Pres became another Disney casualty in the animation war of the time, when he followed Jeffrey Katzenberg to his newish studio, DreamWorks SKG. He came in during production on The Road to El Dorado as an animator. By Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, he was once again a supervising animator as he also helped design the Native American character Little Creek. Pres continued as a supervisor for Dunbar’s Crew on DreamWork’s 2003 film, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. Unfortunately for Pres (and Jeffrey and DreamWorks) none of those movies were a financial success. Following Sinbad, DreamWorks would abandon traditional animation altogether in favor of CGI. Fortunately for Pres, he was able to make the transition to computer animation and contributed to films like Shrek 2 and Madagascar.

Image courtesy lifeisapickle.blogspot.com

In 2007, Pres travelled to Spain, where he established the Enne Animation Studio with his artist friend, Scott Johnston. While there he completed a short film, The Old Chair, using characters from a blog he’d started in 2006, Life as a Pickle. Tragically, while in Spain, Pres would be diagnosed with leukemia. He returned to the States, underwent a bone marrow transplant and seemed to be on the road to recovery. He actually returned to work at Disney in July of 2009 as an animator on Prince Naveen for The Princess and the Frog.

Pres might have angered the voodoo gods through his work on Princess, though. In March of 2010, he not only suffered a relapse of his cancer, but the leukemia was much more aggressive this time around. Pres passed away on July 17, 2010. Following his death, Steve Hulett, a representative of the Animation Guild, declared that of all the animators who deserved a few more decades of artistic success, Pres was at the top of that list. He was only 47 years old.

December 26 - Byron Howard

Image copyright Disney

On this day, in 1968, Byron P. Howard was born in Misawa, Japan. Byron grew up in Issaquah, Washington, a small city about 15 miles east of Seattle. He graduated from Issaquah High School in 1986 and moved on to Evergreen College in Olympia. His dream had always been to be an animator for Disney and to help achieve that dream he wrote Frank Thomas, one of Disney’s Nine Old Men, for advice. The letter he got back was treated like a roadmap to success and it clearly worked (or I wouldn’t be talking about him today).

To help speed up his goals, Byron moved to Orlando, Florida after his college graduation and began submitting his portfolio in an effort to get hired. While he was waiting to check that box, he figured why not and took a job at the Disney-MGM Studios as a guide on the animation tour. In 1994, after four submissions, Byron was selected to be a part of the internship program. He began as an inbetweener on Pocahontas. He then became a full-fledged animator for Mulan and by Lilo and Stitch, a mere five years after being hired, he was the supervising animator for the character of Cobra Bubbles. He continued that role with Brother Bear as supervisor for Kenai. After the release of Brother Bear (and the collapse of the Florida animation department), Byron relocated to Southern California and enjoyed another promotion.

Image copyright Disney

In 2008, Byron co-directed Disney’s 48^th animated feature, Bolt, with Chris Williams. Bolt was only moderately successful at the box office but signaled a turnaround in Disney’s commitment to story and quality in its animated offerings. Byron and Chris’ efforts earned them an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature (they would lose to Disney’s other feature that year, WALL*E). Byron followed his freshman picture with the even more successful Tangled. He co-directed the Rapunzel tale with Nathan Greno (and it strangely did not get nominated for the Oscar).
 
As they sometimes say, the third time’s the charm. In 2016, Byron teamed up with Rich Moore to direct the mega-hit Zootopia. This time out, Byron’s work became the fourth animated film to rack up over $1 Billion in worldwide box office receipts (which still only made it the fourth highest grossing film of the year) and put several little golden statues on his mantle including an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a Critic’s Choice Award and an Annie. As a follow up to Zootopia, Byron is reportedly working on a new story with Lin-Manuel Miranda, who we all now know as Jack from Mary Poppins Returns (I think he also did some sort of historical piece on Broadway).

December 9 - Donny Osmond

Photo courtesy twitter.com

On this day, in 1957, Donald Clark Osmond was born in Ogden, Utah. As the seventh son (and no he wasn't the last one either) of George and Olive Osmond, Donny grew up in a close-knit Mormon family that produced a large number of performers.

Four of Donny's brothers, Alan, Jay, Merrill and Wayne, formed a singing group known as The Osmonds Brothers when they were kids (Alan was the oldest at 9). They were basically a barbershop quartet and sang to raise money to pay for the hearing aids two of their other brothers needed. As they gained popularity in Utah, their father decided to have them audition for the Lawrence Welk Show. When they got to California, Welk wasn't able to meet them so the family visited Disneyland as a consolation. When Tommy Walker, Disneyland's Director of Entertainment, stumbled upon the boys signing with the parks own barbershop quartet, the Dapper Dans, he hired them to appear on an episode of the television show Disneyland After Dark. When that episode aired in 1962, Andy Williams' dad was so impressed with their singing, he told his son to book them on his show. Andy did and The Osmond Brothers quickly became regular guests. A year later, five year old Donny joined the group and it became known simply as The Osmonds. The five brothers kept performing on The Andy Williams Show until it ended in 1967. At that point they signed with The Jerry Lewis Show for its two year run.

Image courtesy of wikipedia.com

Following the cancellation of The Jerry Lewis Show, The Osmonds decided they wanted to become a rock and roll band. With Merrill singing lead and Donny singing co-lead, the group had their first hit single with "One Bad Apple" in 1971 (the song had been written for the Jackson 5 who turned it down). A string of hits followed as the brother's popularity skyrocketed. Some songs followed the Merrill/Donny formula (Yo-Yo and Double Lovin') while Donny sang solo on others (Go Away Little Girl and Puppy Love). Minor tragedy struck in early 1972, when Donny hit puberty and his voice changed. It wasn't enough to keep the hits from coming though and the boys got their own Saturday morning cartoon that same year on ABC (it would only last the one season).

Photo lifted from youtube.com

During this same time period, Donny was starting to make it as a solo artist. He would still perform full time with The Osmonds, but was becoming increasingly popular on his own. He also began creating a string of hits with his only sister, Marie, who was climbing the country charts. By 1976, The Osmonds popularity had waned, which was okay with Donny as the next phase of career started that same year: a family produced television show called The Donny and Marie Show. The show ran for three seasons before being unexpectedly cancelled. The aftermath was terrible for the family. They incurred a lot of debt when they built a state of the art television studio in Utah, Donny suffered from performance anxiety, and Marie had wrestled with an eating disorder. Every member of the family would spend the next several years trying to recreate themselves and revive their careers.

Donny would continue performing and occasionally appeared in other musicians music videos. It wasn't until 1989 that he finally returned to the charts with the songs Soldier of Love and Sacred Emotion. As the Nineties progressed, Donny found success on the stage in the title role of a revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He performed the role over 2000 times, in spite of his anxiety and was chosen by Andrew Lloyd Webber to star in the film version in 1999.

Image copyright Disney

Donny officially became part of the Disney family in 1998 (he hadn't become a member of The Osmonds until after their Disneyland After Dark performance) when he was chosen to be the singing voice of Captain Li Shang in Mulan. His rendition of I'll Make a Man Out of You has, in my opinion, become a Disney classic. Interestingly, Donny had auditioned to voice Hercules the year before but was deemed too old sounding. In 2006, he returned to the Broadway stage in a limited engagement as Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. He was so popular, his six week run was extended several weeks and he was invited back to close the show in July 2007.  He then was a part of the 2008 film College Road Trip which also starred Martin Lawrence and Raven-Symone. Donny's final appearance for Disney was as himself when he competed on the ninth season of Dancing with the Stars. He basically did it to try to show up his sister, Marie, who had competed on an earlier season. His strategy worked because he ended up being crowned champion.

Donny has had many other success in his varied career. He spent two seasons hosting a syndicated version of the game show Pyramid. He hosts his own syndicated radio show called, funnily enough, The Donny Osmond Show. And since 2008, he's appeared with his sister in a Las Vegas stage show at the Flamingo simply title "Donny and Marie." At 61, Donny not only keeps chugging along steadily, but continues to do it with the family that got him started in the first place. And that is something worth celebrating.

September 18 - June Lucille Foray

On this day, in 1917, veteran voice actress June Lucille Foray was born in Springfield, Massachusetts.

 As a little girl, June, like many little girls, wanted to be a dancer when she grew up. Lucky for us, if not for her as a child, an ill timed case of pneumonia kept her home from dance class and she ended up becoming a voice actress instead. By the age of 12, June had already been heard in a drama on the local radio station and by 15, was doing that sort of thing regularly. After graduating from high school, her family fell on hard financial times and moved to Los Angeles, mostly to be near an uncle, but that was when June's career took off.

By the late 1930s, June had her own radio show, Lady Make Believe (also the title of a children's album she released in 2016). It didn't take long for her to be featured on coast-to-coast radio shows like The Jimmy Durante Show. In the 1940s, June began working in the movies. Very occasionally she would do a live action part, but mostly she voiced animated characters. This work naturally spilled onto the television screen when the new media came along. If you've payed even the tiniest bit of passing attention to cartoons since the 1950s, I guarantee you've heard June's voice. How can I make this guarantee? June provided the voice for:

Rocky J. Squirrel, Natasha Fatale and Nell Fenwick for The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show

Granny and Witch Hazel for The Bugs Bunny Show (and dozens of Loony Tunes shows and shorts both before and after)


Cindy Lou Who for How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Ursula and Marigold for

The original voice of Karen and the Teacher for Frosty the Snowman

Jokey Smurf and Mother Nature for The Smurfs

 Mrs. Cauldron for The Garfield Show (for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award)


Plus literally dozens and dozens of other characters in everything from Scooby Doo to Mr. Magoo to the Pink Panther. If you try to say you haven't ever heard her voice, you're flat out lying.



 June also did extensive work for Disney. Those credits include:

Lucifer in Cinderella

Witch Hazel in the Donald Duck short Trick or Treat (and not to be confused with her Loony Tunes character of the same name)

Mrs. Sheep in Lambert the Sheepish Lion

A Squaw in Peter Pan (she also was the live model for one of the mermaids)

Wheezy Weasel and Lena Hyena in Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Mrs. Featherby  and Magica De Spell in Duck Tales

Grandmother Fa in Mulan and Mulan II

She can also be heard in the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction as the wife of the man getting dunked in the town well.

In the mid 1960s, June looked around and began to worry that the legacy of animation wasn't being paid attention to much less preserved. Being who she was, rather than talking about the problem, she did something about it by creating the Annie Awards, basically the Oscars of animation, in 1972. Almost 46 years later, the Annies are still going strong thanks in large part to June's efforts. The fact that there is an actual Oscar for Best Animated Feature is also due to June's lobbying efforts.

June worked regularly up until 2014. In 2015, her health began to decline after she was involved in an automobile accident. On July 26, 2017, June passed away in Los Angeles, California. She was less than two months shy of her 100th birthday.