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!