September 10 - Bret Iwan

On this day, in 1982, Bret Iwan, the fourth person to officially give voice to Mickey Mouse, was born in Pasadena, California.

 When Mickey Mouse was first created and needed a voice because sound had come to the movies, the Disney Studio didn't have to go far to find someone to do it. Walt himself stepped up to the mic and falsettoed his way through dozens of shorts and even a few features. It was always a source of pride for Walt that he shared a voice with his little mouse.

By 1946 however, the demands of leading a growing company meant that Walt just didn't have time to spend in a recording studio anymore. After the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" segment of Fun and Fancy Free, Walt had to hand squeaking duties off to someone else.

A sound effects master and veteran musician for the company, Jimmy MacDonald became Mickey's second official voice. You might remember him if you ever saw the pre-show video to the sound effects show at Disney-MGM Studios. Jimmy gave voice to most of Mickey's words from 1946 until he retired in 1977. I say most because occasionally Walt would still sneak in a voice over before his death.

Another sound effects man took over from Jimmy, Wayne Allwine. The fun part about Wayne doing Mickey's voice is that his wife, Russi Taylor, started doing Minnie Mouse's voice in 1986. And Mickey still didn't pop the question. Wayne did the Big Cheese up until his death from diabetes complications in 2009.

Thus enters young Bret Iwan, a greeting card artist and official voice number four. The crazy thing is that Bret had been hired to understudy Wayne as his health declined. Unfortunately, Wayne died before Bret ever had a chance to meet him. Bret did received Russi's blessing though and continues to work with her right up to the present. And since Bret turns the ripe old age of 36 today, I'm guessing he'll be performing M. Mouse for decades to come.