Toon Talk Mailbag
Page 6 of 7

(c) Disney

The 101 Greatest Disney Voice Artists, posted June 29 and July 6, 2001:
Another epic endeavor.
Thanks to all who wrote in with additions to the individual artist credits and suggestions for omitted actors.
Click to read article: Part One • Part Two

"I believe that Billy Bletcher was the usual voice of Pete (Pegleg or otherwise).  The current voice of Buzz Lightyear, both in the animated cartoon series and also the direct-to-video sequel, is Patrick Warburton." -- K.D.

I found it difficult to nail down some of the earlier voice actors' credits as to which characters they played, but it is more then likely that Bletcher did voice Pete in several shorts.

Warburton is the voice of Buzz in the animated series, but it was Tim Allen (the original Buzz, of course) in the direct-to-video feature.

"Wow great job ... Much of the "reuses" of their talents I was unaware of." -- Jason

It is amazing that some of these actors have played so many different characters and most people don't even realize it, which of course is the point of a great vocal performance.

"When you get to June Foray, don't forget she was also a live-action model for the mermaids in Peter Pan." -- Bill Turner

Unfortunately, Foray was not in the final list. While she is definately a great voice actor, her work for Disney was minimal (Witch Hazel in Trick or Treat, Magica de Spell in Duck Tales, Grammi Gummi in The Adventures of the Gummi Bears) compared to her other work (Natasha and Rocky on The Bullwinkle Show), and it was decided to not include her in this particular list.   She joins Mel Blanc, Phil Hartman and others, all great voice talent who just didn't work that much for Disney.

"Who provides the voice of Mayor Jeff on Playhouse Disney's PB&J Otter? The voice sounds very familiar, possibly from TV advertisements." -- Andy Schubert

Mayor Jeff is voiced by Bruce Bayley Johnson.  His credits include Mr. Swirley on the Doug TV show and movie.

"In Atlantis: The Lost Empire, I thought I heard a Pete-like voice from one of the professors at the museum where Milo works.  Was it Jim Cummings?" -- Bryan

Good ear.  I discovered after the article had been submitted that Jim Cummings supplied "additional voices" to Atlantis.  While no specific characters are named, it's likely that the voice you recognized was indeed Cummings'.

"Is The Brave Little Toaster a Disney film?" -- Mara

That film was not produced by Disney, but released on the Disney video label.

"I don't mean to complain (so I won't) ... but I feel you've forgotten a memorable voice, Wally Boag.  (He) did the voice of Jose in the Tiki Room (and various other voices) and was part of the Golden Horseshoe Review.  You could also add Fulton Burley, the Irish tenor of the Golden Horseshoe, who also did one of the birds in the Tiki Room." -- Steve (Main Street Magic) Simmons

While Boag and Burley did memorably contribute to the Tiki Room show, their voice work was limited beyond that, thus their exclusion from the list.

"What about Royal Dano?  For nearly forty years he has been heard as the voice of President Lincoln. While I expect we may have a new voice of Lincoln when Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln reopens, I think his work worthy of mention in your list." -- Chuck Oberleitner

A lot of the voice casts for theme park attractions, notably The Country Bear Jamboree and The Enchanted Tiki Room, are difficult to locate, thus there were some unfortunate exclusions to the list, including Dano's stirring performance as our 16th president.

Another name that was brought up a lot was Jack Wagner, the "Voice of Disneyland" for many, many years.  His exclusion was simple though:  the list was designed for actors playing characters.  In retrospect, it's hard to ignore Wagner's contributions, thus he is now officially #101.5 on the list.