The Fabulous Disney Babe
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 Pete Reneday

If you missed it, Part One of this interview is still available.

Pete started at Disney as a messenger, then 7 months later moved to the Art Props department, where they were developing a walk-through attraction for Disneyland based upon a haunted house concept.  During this time, Pete was also a member of the on-lot theatre group, The Disney Players - it was a bunch of frustrated actors who had "real jobs" on the Disney lot.  They put on plays just for fun - but Walt liked to use them for roles as well - Pete was in both Flight to the Moon and Mission to Mars, for example, and his role of Henry in the Country Bears grew from his being the test voice - Phil Harris was originally cast as Henry.  He had us back on visual in Adventure through Inner Space, too.  Remember the big eye? One day, Walt approached the players with a musical he'd bought the rights to but never seen: "The Happiest Millionaire".  Walter Pigeon had played the father on Broadway, but they decided to skew a little younger and hire Brian Keith for the role.  Roberta Shore, most famous in Disney circles for her role in The Shaggy Dog, played the daughter, and Pete played the John Davidson role.  The Butler?  Well, actually, that part was almost nonexistent- It was created especially for the film, as a showcase for Tommy Steele.  Brian Keith did well in the part, and when Walt said he was going to make it into a film, Keith backed out of a major role to make himself available- but Walt hired Fred MacMurray for the part.  Leslie Ann Warren was cast as the Biddle daughter, and the rest is history.

In the movie Gus, Pete is one of the people at the Airport.  He, along with Frank Welker, Whom he calls Brilliant, Appear in The computer wore Tennis shoes.  He's also in The Strongest Man in the World and The Million Dollar Duck.  After leaving Disney, he appeared in a Universal Studios attraction Based on the TV show Murder She Wrote. His villain was chosen by the audience far more often than the other two- "it's the beard", a friend explained.  Upon meeting Angela Lansbury, He noted that they had worked together before - sort of - in the UK, Bedknobs and Broomsticks had run as a radio serial.  Pete narrated it and the studio spliced in the actors' voices from the film.  Angela was very pleased when Pete gave her a copy of the tape.  "I'll play it for my grandchildren." she said.  Other non-Disney projects he's worked on had been as Papa Bear in the Berenstain Bears and countless computer games, including a few for George Lucas.  He played Bill's Father in the short-lived cartoon version of Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure.  With Disney, He did a lot of audition readings - he read with every woman who tried out for the part of Madison In Splash except Daryl Hannah - including playmate Shannon Tweed. He read with Delta Burke and Stephanie Zimbalist but neither got the lead in The Apple Dumpling Gang.

I asked him a little about The Country Bear Jamboree.  He hadn't been cast as Henry - in fact, That role was meant for Phil Harris, who had lent his voice to Disney bears Baloo and Little John as well as Thomas O'Malley, the alley cat from the Aristocats. I collect rare Disney audio, and in my collection I have one of the Phil Harris demos:

"The Bear Band Bears are ready
They're set to serenade
Zeke and Zeb and Ted and Fred
And a bear named Lemonade"

"Lemonade?!?"  Pete said, wide-eyed.
"Yep."

Pete revealed that the WED Imagineers were so accustomed to having him as the voice of Henry during character development and AA testing that they just kept him on.  It's never been a matter of record what Phil Harris thought of this development, but, as much as I love Phil Harris, I couldn't imagine any other Henry than Pete Reneday.

Al Bertino, who was Big Al, Pete says, told him, after hearing him record the soundtrack for the show with the Weavers: "You oughtta get into that country western singin'. You'd make a lot of money!"

Thurl, Frank and Pete recorded their parts together at WED's recording studio, as they were the anchors for the show. The "stars'" singing parts were recorded separately.