Kaplan Eternal Rest Prep

Marvin Kaplan, a real-life Droopy Dog, has died at the age of 89. Best remembered for his thick glasses, thick eyebrows and thick Brooklyn accent as Arizona phone lineman Henry Beesmeyer, who stomached a lot of food at Mel’s Diner on Alice, Kaplan’s career spanned 7 decades. His nasal whine made him a go-to voice actor in radio comedies, and helped attract enough attention for him to steal his scenes as the court stenographer in Adam’s Rib. He also did a number of cartoon voiceovers, most notably Choo Choo on Top Cat, and he had minor but memorable roles as the gas station attendant in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and as a carpet cleaner in Freaky Friday. Other roles included various voices on Garfield and Friends, Aah Real Monsters, Francis, Angels in the Outfield, The Nutty Professor and more time at an unappetizing lunch counter on Becker. 

Where’s Waldo?

(An epitaphany shared with Monty)

Janet Waldo, best remembered as Mrs. Slaghoople from The Flintstones, has died at the age of 96. Impressive enough in student theater at the University of Washington to get noticed by Bing Crosby, Waldo had roles in several nondescript movies and TV shows as well as an 8-year run starring in the radio program Meet Corliss Archer. That radio experience laid the groundwork for the unseen, but oft-heard majority of her career – long-time roles as Granny Sweet in The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show; Josie, of and the Pussycats fame; and Penelope Pitstop in The Perils of same and Wacky Races. And of course, most notably, Waldo voiced Judy Jetson from 1962 up to, but not including, the terrible 1990 feature film, and was the last surviving original cast member. Waldo had actually completed her work on the 1990 release when bosses at Universal decided to have fading pop star Tiffany re-record the lines. The decision led the casting director to have her name removed from the credits, the voice director to tell Tiffany to sound more like Waldo and critics to add Tiffany’s acting to the long list of problems with the movie. 

Wilburied

(Props to Don)
Or
You never heard of a smelly corpse?
Well listen to this.
He is Mr. Dead.
Or
Wilbur Post-humous
Or
Scrooge McDead
(Kudos to observer Craig)
Or
Wilbrrrrr
(Hit tip to Joe)

Alan Young, who channeled his rage at the subjugation by the animal kingdom into becoming the most powerful duck in the world, has died at the age of 96. He parlayed his Emmy-winning turn in The Alan Young Show (because eponymous shows were apparently easy to come by in the 1940s and ‘50s) into a turn as the second fiddle on a sitcom derivative of the low-budget Francis, The Talking Mule movies of the 1950s. Young spent 5 years as klutzy architect Wilbur Post, the much put-upon manservant to Mr. Ed who looks increasingly eccentric due to the fact that Ed only talks to him. His next major role was as Scrooge McDuck in Disney films and DuckTales. He also voiced Farmer Smurf and Hiram Flaversham on The Great Mouse Detective. He played Rod Taylor’s friend in The Time Machine, which led to a role in the 1993 sequel no one remembers and a cameo in the 2002 remake no one watched. 

Coe Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Good Bye

George Coe, who I had no idea voiced Wodehouse on Archer, has died at the age of 86. Coe holds the distinction of being the first person fired from Saturday Night Live, getting a call out in the first episode and making a few more appearances before joining Chuck Cunningham, Cousin Oliver and Judy Winslow in the TV Penalty Box. Coe earned an Oscar nomination for his 1968 short film, a Bergman parody called The Dove. He played General Watson in Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, who didn’t care, but surprisingly could tell, that Kate Mulgrew was a woman. He ran Network 23 on Max Headroom and played the patriarch of the Huntzberger clan on Gilmore Girls. He made two appearances on The West Wing as Senator Howard Stackhouse, whose titular filibuster held up healthcare legislation for the benefit of his autistic grandson, and who later considered a left-wing challenge to President Bartlet’s second-term nomination. Most recently, he voiced the heroin-addicted, much put upon valet of Sterling Archer.

Flag Draper

Or

If I stay here with you girlThings just couldn't be the same'Cause Stan Freberg is Dead NowAnd Freberg is in a Grave

Stan Freberg, the satirical ad man who tried to boost sales for Pacific Air Lines following a 1964 plane crash that killed all 44 people on board with ads saying the pilots were just as afraid as the passengers and handing out survival kits with luck rabbit’s feet, has died at the age of 88. You may have noticed you’ve never heard of Pacific Air Lines. Despite that misstep, he was considered one of the finest ad men this side of Don Draper, Darrin Stephens and Roger Thornhill, winning 21 Clios, the top award in the industry, though his unorthodox style kept him out of the Advertising Hall of Fame, which apparently is a thing. One commercial for Chun King Chow Mein featured an announcer declaring, “Nine out of 10 doctors prefer Chun King,” followed by the camera panning to show nine Asian ‘doctors’ and one Caucasian. When not trying to give people a reason to stop going to the bathroom while watching TV and for reading around the articles in the newspaper, he made a number of hit comedy records, including “Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America,” considered one of the best comedy albums ever recorded, and voiced hundreds of cartoon characters, including Cecil, from the Beany and Cecil show, one of the Goofy Gophers, a beaver in “Lady and the Tramp,” and Pete Puma. George Lucas had tabbed Freberg to voice C-3PO for Star Wars before Freberg suggested letting Anthony Daniels, the man in the costume, provide the voice himself. He also was the last comedian on commercial radio with his own program, having inherited Jack Benny’s slot on CBS Radio in 1957, before getting canceled after telling jokes about the hydrogen bomb and refusing tobacco advertisements.

Dead, From Beautiful Downtown Burbank

(An epitaphany shared with Monty)

Or

It’s Space Ghost

(Another epitaphany shared with Monty)

Gary Owens, who lent a polished baritone to complete and utter nonsense as the announcer on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, has died at the age of 80. He later voiced Roger Ramjet, a patriotic nimrod pilot on a crudely animated series – the American Dudley Do-Right. He voiced cartoon superhero Space Ghost in the 1960s, then later helped turn the long-forgotten character into a surreal star as the host of a fake late-night interview show on the Cartoon Network, going so far as to cameo in an interview segment with himself. He voiced the Blue Falcon, a parody of Batman, with falcon gadgets and a falcon belt and idiot robot sidekick Dynomutt filling the role of the easily kidnappable Robin.

Don't Die Like My Brother

(Kudos to Monty)

 

Or

Tap Out

(A shared epitaphany with Monty)

Tom Magliozzi, who along with his brother Ray did not smack a smart ass intern from Minneapolis while introducing humor to public radio listeners, has died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 77. So he wasn’t kidding that he couldn’t remember last week’s Puzzler. The rare MIT grads to find honest work, the brothers opened an auto repair shop in Cambridge, their fair city, in the late 1970s. In 1987, Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers, started as weekly contributors to Weekend Edition on NPR, then got their own gig: Car Talk. Combining corny humor and convincingly impressive automotive distress diagnostic skills – which occasionally proved accurate – they became a fixture on NPR for 25 years, earning a Peabody in 1992, until Tom’s illness forced the end of new shows in 2012. While running the garage, taping the show, and teaching at local universities, Tom also found time to earn a doctorate in Marketing from Boston University School of Management, becoming a full professor for 8 years before deciding he really didn’t like teaching. The brothers “appeared” in Pixar’s Cars as the owners of Rust-eze, Lightning McQueen’s sponsor, with Tom voicing a 1963 Dodge Dart convertible, a reference to the beloved car he mentioned often on the radio.

The Shaggy DOA

Or

The longest distance dedication

(Kudos to Shawn)

Or

Reaching for the stars just got a little easier

Or

Keeping his feet in the ground...

(More merit for Mark)

Or

Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the feeding tube

(Props to Patrick)

Or

Final Countdown

Casey Kasem, who made more out of his ability to count than anyone this side of Sesame Street, has died at the age of 82. As the co-founder of the American Top 40 franchise and its spin-offs, Kasem helped limit pop music radioplay to the same songs day after day ad nauseum for almost 40 years. He also put his distinctive voice to good use in a variety of animated shows, including Norville “Shaggy” Rogers in Scooby-Doo cartoons and movies for 40 years, Robin in Super Friends, Meriadoc Brandybuck in The Return of the King, Alexander Cabot III, manager of Josie and the Pussycats, and, in his best live action role, the friend of lunatic scientist Bruce Dern in The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant. He served as the narrator for the pilot of Soap, but quit immediately thereafter because of the show’s adult themes. 

The Shaggy DOA

Or

The longest distance dedication

(Kudos to Shawn)

 

Or

Reaching for the stars just got a little easier

 

Or

Keeping his feet in the ground...

(More merit for Mark)

 

Or

Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the feeding tube

(Props to Patrick)

 

Or

Final Countdown

Casey Kasem, who made more out of his ability to count than anyone this side of Sesame Street, has died at the age of 82. As the co-founder of the American Top 40 franchise and its spin-offs, Kasem helped limit pop music radioplay to the same songs day after day ad nauseum for almost 40 years. He also put his distinctive voice to good use in a variety of animated shows, including Norville “Shaggy” Rogers in Scooby-Doo cartoons and movies for 40 years, Robin in Super Friends, Meriadoc Brandybuck in The Return of the King, Alexander Cabot III, manager of Josie and the Pussycats, and, in his best live action role, the friend of lunatic scientist Bruce Dern in The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant. He served as the narrator for the pilot of Soap, but quit immediately thereafter because of the show’s adult themes.

In a World Without a Voice

(Props to Monty)

Hal Douglas, who spent more time begging for attention in the dark than a prom queen runner-up with daddy issues, has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 89. In his gravelly baritone, Douglas invited “audiences everywhere” to “a world where” “the laws of the universe no longer apply,” ensuring moviegoers would be “thrilled by images never before seen ... until now!,” as the narrator of thousands of cinematic trailers. For decades Douglas, the late Don LaFontaine, and Don Morrow were the go-to voices in trailerology – so far ahead of the pack they didn’t even bother adding the 4^th face on their Mount Rushes-more. His unique status scored him an on-camera role as a voice-over artist in the trailer for Jerry Seinfeld’s 2002 documentary, “Comedian,” where he spoke only in clichés to the growing frustration of his director. He was also the subject of a short documentary about his career in 2013 titled “A Great Voice.”

Mann Down

January was not kind to the men behind the animagic, as Larry D. Mann, the voice of Yukon Cornelius in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, has died at the age of 91. If you were curious as to what the pick-axe licking Canuck looked like, he was also the conductor/dealer in the poker game in The Sting where Henry Gondorff out-cheats Doyle Lonnegan. 

Fang, for the Memories

Phyllis Diller, the Title IX Rodney Dangerfield, has died at the age of 95. Giving up the glamour of being a 37-year-old homemaker for the stage, Diller delighted fans for 50 years by discussing her ineptitude at housework, her beloved husband Fang and her ridiculous appearance. Wearing hideous metal muumuus, high-heeled boots, a jeweled collar or fur scarf, a fright wig, and an elongated cigarette holder, Diller crafted her stage persona as the slightly mad self-deprecating harpy, complete with unholy cackle. Among her gems: “I once wore a peekaboo blouse. People would peek and then they’d boo;” “I never made ‘Who’s Who,’ but I’m featured in ‘What’s That?’” Just a few years after regaling fellow housewives at the laundromat with exaggerated tales of her poverty-tainted homelife, she was telling them to the nation as a frequent guest of Jack Paar’s on The Tonight Show. Although she eventually fixed her long nose, she was attractive enough to be asked to pose nude for Playboy, though the photos were rejected – she looked too good to elicit the comedic effect the magazine expected, one of the rare times she  failed to get a laugh. Her attempts at starring in TV and movies were duds, but she was a frequent guest star, playing a drunk cook on 7th Heaven, Mimi Bobek’s grandmother on The Drew Carey Show, chain-smoking, gambling Thelma Griffin, Peter’s mother on Family Guy and appeared as herself, one of Denny Crane’s past lovers, on Boston Legal.

Norman Abated

Norman Alden, who with 237 roles in a 50-year career may have elicited the phrase, “Hey, it’s that guy,” more than any actor in history, has died of natural causes at the age of 87. He asked about Marty McFly’s life jacket as the diner owner in Back to the Future, voiced Aquaman, gave Electra Woman and Dyna Girl their marching/awkward flying orders, was a color-blind cameraman in Ed Wood, and he was Lou the Mechanic in 7 years of AC Delco commercials. And of course he played Senator William Orloff, who had received a no-pay mortgage from the Ewings, but had to resign his seat when Cliff Barnes got J.R.’s secretary/mistress Julie Grey to spill company secrets after J.R. loved her and left her (with  a $100 bill on the pillow to buy herself something pretty).

Not so McHale or McHearty

Or

Resuscitation is Futile

Ernest Borgnine, who had a thing for white cotton panties, has died of renal failure at the age of 95. After sending Frank Sinatra’s Maggio From Here to Eternity as Fatso Judson, Borgnine was the logical choice to play the painfully shy, gentle butcher with mommy issues in Marty. Borgnine won the Best Actor Oscar, ironically beating Sinatra (from The Man with the Golden Arm) again, and in the days before carelessly throwing your life away guaranteed you an Oscar, James Dean. He sent The Dirty Dozen to certain doom, escaped certain doom on the Poseidon, got strangled in Ice Station Zebra, got eaten by rats in Willard, got shot down with the rest of The Wild Bunch, got blown up in Escape from New York, fell victim to panic (and a far too form-fitting uniform) and crashed a spaceship in The Black Hole, and got mauled by something as the Celebrity Dad on the Junior Campers father-son rubber-rafting trip on The Simpsons. The former Navy man reached a new audience as Quinton McHale, commander of the PT-73, a lovable band of wacky misfits who happened to be very good at killing Nips, back before that was a racist term – so good that they took the incomprehensible reverse trip from the South Pacific to Italy for the unsuccessful last season of McHale’s Navy. He later rejoined Tim Conway as Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy on SpongeBob SquarePants. In 2009, he helped close out the last 2 episodes of ER as a husband saying goodbye to his dying wife, earning an Emmy nomination more than 50 years after his TV career began with him trying to kill Captain Video and his Video Rangers.

Plop-plop. Fizz-fizz. Oh what a genetic freak he is.

Dick Beals, who took the genetic lemons life handed him and made Alka-Seltzer, has died at the age of 85. Deprived of puberty by a glandular condition, Beals kept his child-like voice his entire life, beating out hundreds of children for the role of Norman Normanmeyer Jr. in the ABC cartoon series of “The Addams Family” – at the age of 65. When producers realized they could get a college graduate to voice any child – boy or girl, of any age – and not have to deal with stage mothers, Beals would never go hungry again. Among his many roles – 50 years as Speedy, the anthropomorphized Alka-Seltzer tablet, the first voice of Gumby and Goliath’s boy Davey, he was a Campbell’s Soup kid, proclaimed that he’d love to be an Oscar Meyer wiener, and was the voice of the Vaseline mascot, curiously named Sticky, which to me suggests you would be using the product incorrectly.

Danger, Danger Dick Tufeld

Dick Tufeld, voice of three decades of TV sci-fi, has died at the age of 86. Best known for verbal sparring matches with mincing evil stowaway Dr. Zachary Smith as the voice of Robot on Lost in Space, Tufeld also provided voiceover narration for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel and Fantastic Four. He served as announcer for radio’s Space Patrol, Zorro, The Julie Andrews Hour, Surfside 6 and offered up the best thing about the 1998 movie reboot of Lost in Space by reprising his voice role. He also did loads of commercial work, most notably advising against selling wine before its time on behalf of Ernest and Julio Gallo.

In a World Where Movie Trailers Just Got a Little Less Interesting

Or
In a World Where Don LaFontaine is Dead
(Props to Don)

Or
Voiceover and Out
(Additional Accolades for Don)
Don LaFontaine, the ominous Voice of God on more than 5,000 movie trailers, has died of complications from a collapsed lung at the age of 68. Often opening with his oft-parodied catchphrase, “In a world where…” he was one of the most recognizable voices in the movies, peppering many of his voice-overs with such sound bites as “a one-man army,” “one man, one destiny,” “from the bedroom to the boardroom,” and “nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and no way out.” LaFontaine’s ability to talk into a microphone made him a millionaire, and for the last few decades, he did all of his recordings at a studio in his palatial estate in the Hollywood Hills.

Butchered

(Honorifics for Monty)

Or
In the Deep Freeze
(Further praise for Monty)
Allan Melvin, best remembered as the guy who kept slipping Alice the meat but never slipping a ring on her finger, has died at the age of 84. In addition to his appearances as Sam the Butcher on The Brady Bunch, Melvin played Archie Bunker’s best friend Barney, Corporal Henshaw on The Phil Silvers Show, Rob Petrie’s Army buddy on the Dick Van Dyke Show and Sergeant Carter’s friend and rival Sergeant Charlie Hacker on Gomer Pyle: USMC. He lent his voice to Magilla Gorilla, Bluto, Drooper from The Banana Splits and played Al the Plumber in Liquid-Plumr commercials for 15 years.

Squeaked Out

(Kudos for Monty)
John Fiedler, the only voice of Piglet from 1968’s “Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day,” through this year’s “Pooh’s Heffalump Movie,” has died at the age of 80. While watching TV in the 1960s, Walt Disney heard Fiedler’s voice and announced, “That’s Piglet.” Fiedler had the meek, bald demeanor to go with the high voice, and put it to use as henpecked Mr. Peterson on “The Bob Newhart Show,” lawyer J. Noble Daggett in “True Grit,” oblivious medical examiner Gordy Spangler on “Kolchak: The Night Stalker,” mousy stage manager Woody on “Buffalo Bill,” put-upon Juror #2 in "Twelve Angry Men," just his second screen role, following Cadet Alfie Higgins on Tom Corbett, Space Cadet. Fiedler also appeared on Broadway in “A Raisin in the Sun” and “The Odd Couple.”

Drat and Double Drat

Or

TA-TA for now
(A shared epitaphany for Monty, Tammy and I)

Or

Down the Drain

(Plaudits for Monty)

Or

I’ll Get You Smurfs, If It’s the Last Thing I Ever … (THUD)
(Further laudatories for Monty)

Tragedy struck the Hundred Acre Wood again, as Paul Winchell, voice of Tigger for 30 years, has died at 82. A gifted ventriloquist, Winchell co-starred with dummies Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff on The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show in the 1950s. Among the other characters Winchell brought to sound included Gargamel in "The Smurfs," Dick Dastardly in Hanna Barbera cartoons, Zummi on “The Gummi Bears,” Fleegle on “The Banana Splits Adventure Hour,” Boomer in “The Fox and the Hound,” and the Dow Scrubbing Bubbles. Winchell also held more than 30 patents, including an artificial heart he invented in 1963. He donated it to the University of Utah, where it served as inspiration for Robert Jarvik, who developed the heart first implanted in patients in 1982. He also invented a disposable razor, a flameless cigarette lighter, an invisible garter belt and an indicator to show when frozen food had gone bad after a power outage.