Very Voice Actors – June Foray

June Foray is one of those legendary legends. A legend of legends.

She’s one of the founding fathers mothers of animation voice acting. A quick a glance at her IMDB will show you her cartoon credits date back to the early forties! Her work goes back even earlier than that, however. Her voice was first aired on a local radio drama when she was just 12 years old. Originally doing radio voice work in and around Springfield, Massachusetts, her home town, she and her family eventually moved to Los Angeles. Her voice credits only grew as she eventually got work on The Jimmy Durante Show and the Lux Radio Theatre.

It’s comical to note the point at which June started working toward her acting career. Her parents were very artistic. Her mother was both a pianist and a singer and pushed June into piano and dance classes. June hated the piano so much that she recalls being overly-thankful when she accidentally broke her fingers at a baseball game. After the ordeal she finally said to her mother ‘I don’t want to play the piano! What I really want to do is act!’ Her parents immediately began sending her to top-notch acting teachers.

So what makes June a legend? Is it her many awards and acclaims through the years including Annie’s for her work on The Garfield show and Tweety and Sylvester Mysteries and the Hollywood Star made in her name? Is it her dedication toward the recognition, appreciation, and growth of the animation industry as a member of ASIFA-Hollywood (a group devoted to promoting the art of film animation)? Perhaps it’s her countless iconic roles as some of the world’s most beloved cartoon characters? How about her undying passion for voice over? Did you know she’s 97 years old…AND STILL WORKING?

Or is it a bit of all of that?

No.

It’s A LOT of all of that!

It’s very difficult to excessively express the talent and importance of June Foray in the world of entertainment.

If there’s any second guessing her relevance, just check out the images below to get a taste of the endless voice credits:

 

                

     

 

Crazy right??? I bet you wouldn’t have guessed that the well known voice of Rocky the flying squirrel was also the classic Talking Tina of the Twilight Zone or nearly every kid from the Rankin Bass Frosty the Snowman or the Granny from Mulan or Cindy Lou Who from the classic How The Grinch Stole Christmas! Her credits don’t stop there! She did voices for two animated characters in Who Framed Roger Rabbit including the weasel “Wheezy”. She was the popular Fortune Teller character from the original Scooby-Doo series. She was the mother, the evil cobra, and the wife bird from Chuck Jone’s Rikki Tikki Tavi.

Want me to go on? Oh I could. I could go on all day!

June brought to her characters a vigor and life that existed no where near mere silly voices. They had energy and complexity. They had life and they had truth.

If you’d like to hear all about a legend’s life directly from her own words, pick up a copy of her autobiography: “Did You Grow Up with Me, Too?” You’ll see deeper into all the corners of your childhood.

NEXT WEEK’S FEATURED VOICE ACTOR: Straight out of Dimension X it’s….Krang- I mean, Pat Fraley!

 

 

 

Very Voice Actors – Rob Paulsen

Rob Paulsen. What can I say? He’s toony and a whole lotta looney.

A role model is what he is.

Sure he’s big in the voice acting business. I mean BIG. He’s the voice of so many-a starry eyed kid’s childhood. You can hear him singing about llamas, going crazy over pizza, naming every country in the world, and Narfing up a storm on your screen. Some of his lesser credited roles are some of my favorites! Jack Phenton never ceases to send me into fits of laughter. Mark Chang is a thoroughly entertaining character. And Batroc the Leaper from The Ultimate Spiderman is an absolutely hysterical bit.

But these things aren’t what put him at the tippy top of my role model list. (Well, they do, but something else seriously solidifies his place there.)

He is a model citizen in socialization.

I mean it, you listen to him on his growingly popular Rob Paulsen’s Talkin’ Toons, hear him talk to his fans at conventions, or watch him in any interview and you’ll see that he’s what every entertainer should strive for. He’s stupidly polite and makes the person he’s talking to feel like a million bucks. He has a joke up his sleeve and a voice ready to pop out at any minute. He does his best not to bad mouth a soul and endlessly sings the praise of the people he’s so honored to work with.

I’m fascinated by the way he can essentially get along with anyone. You throw him in a crowded party without a soul he’s familiar with and you can bet he’d have a list of friends by the time the night’s over.

Don’t get me wrong, his acting chops are among the best. I mean, come on, I feel like I don’t even have to say anything to applaud his award winning performances. But it’s the way he gets along with everyone so well that draws me to him constantly.

He’s got it all. The right mind set for the business, the acting skills, AND the inability to be disliked.

We could all do well to take a page out of Paulsen’s book. Whether it’s self-deprecation, just as Rob mocks his own film career with credits such as “Body Double” and jokes of his age saying “I was the entertainment at the last supper”; whether it’s in humility, just as Rob praises the musicians and directors of Animaniacs and Tiny Toons saying they are the true rock stars; or whether it’s in charitable acts, just as Rob donates the proceeds of his ordered autographed photos to The Wounded Warrior Project and Operation Smile, Rob Paulsen is an icon to follow.

No, I’m not Rob’s secret promoter. And no, he didn’t slip me a twenty. 😉 I simply want to spread good advice: Be like Rob Paulsen.

NEXT WEEK’S FEATURED VOICE ACTOR: Is it Ricky Gervais? Is it President Bush? Is it Robert De Niro? NO! It’s…All of them! JIM MESKIMEN