Jesus Christ, it's been a bad week or two for voice people.
Thurl Ravenscroft, best known as the voice of Tony the Tiger in the Kellogg's Frosted Flakes commercials, has died at the age of 91, the cause being reported as prostate cancer. His rich, bass voice was also known to audiences from his many years as a singer, plus you could hear him all over Disneyland. (That's Thurl singing, "Grim, Grinning Ghosts" in the Haunted Mansion, and one of the busts along that ride was fashioned to look like him.) He also sang "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" on the animated TV special, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and appeared on hundreds of records and radio shows and other cartoons over the years.
Thurl was, in a way, the oldest working cartoon voice actor in the business. During the thirties, he was heard on radio as part of several different singing groups that eventually came to be known as The Sportsmen and later, he was in The Mellomen. One of his groups recorded voice tracks for a couple of Warner Brothers cartoons, such as the 1939 Sioux Me. Soon after, he began appearing in shorts for Mr. Disney, such as The Nifty Nineties (1941) and Springtime for Pluto (1944). Walt evidently liked the Ravenscroft sound because not only was he heard throughout the theme parks but he was also a voice in Dumbo, Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp, Alice in Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, Mary Poppins and many more.
All of this was in addition to Thurl's many, many credits as a studio singer. His most famous hit may have been backing up Rosemary Clooney on "This Old House," but he was also heard in many records for Spike Jones (like "Wyatt Earp Makes Me Burp," a Dr. Demento fave) and The Andrews Sisters and Bing Crosby and even Elvis. He was also called upon often to dub singing voices for other actors. All throughout the 1958 movie of South Pacific, there's a handsome sailor with a rich, deep singing voice. The voice is that of Thurl Ravenscroft. In the seventies, he did a lot of work for arranger Johnny Mann and was featured often as "Pappy" on the TV show, Stand Up and Cheer.
I never had the honor of working with Thurl, as he was semi-retired by the time I was in a position to cast him…but I sure tried. We spoke on the phone a few times and he always politely, and with some expressed regret, declined. He was living in Orange County and even though I offered to send a limo for him, he said that it would be too tiring, plus he was having too much trouble walking. The only times he went out to record, he said, were "doing the tiger" and his many spots for religious groups close to his home. I was disappointed, but it sure was amazing to hear That Voice over the phone, especially when I'd mention one of his old songs and he'd wistfully rattle off a few bars, a cappella.
You can learn a lot about Thurl and even hear some of his songs and commercials over at his website. And here's a link to an obit in The Orange County Register. True to their name, they make you register.