A brilliant voice performer named Greg Burson died July 22nd at the age of 59. A native of Anaheim, he was a protégé of the great Daws Butler and after Butler's death in 1988, Greg was the natural heir to the Daws-created roles of Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, Quick Draw McGraw and many others. He was also adept at imitating voices not created by Daws. At one point, he was the main replacement voice of Bugs Bunny, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepe LePew and many of the classic characters voiced by Mel Blanc, and whenever you heard Mr. Magoo in anything since the death of Jim Backus, it was probably Burson.
To give you some idea of how good Greg was: One time, I was directing a session which included not only him but the legendary Stan Freberg who, of course, was Daws Butler's old partner. Greg rattled off a medley of Butler simulations and Stan turned to me and said, "If I hadn't seen him do those, I would have sworn it was Daws." I can't think of a better compliment a voice actor could receive. (Well, yes I can: Back when he was studying with Daws, there came a day when Daws told him, "Don't bother coming back. There's nothing more I can teach you." Daws was a man of impeccable standards and total integrity. That he said that to Burson is the ultimate endorsement.)
Greg also created original voices for animation. I cast him in three cartoon shows I voice-directed — Mother Goose and Grimm, Channel Umptee-3 and Dennis the Menace (in the role of Mr. Wilson) — and I was hardly the only one. All of the animation work was in addition to Greg's prolific career as a "straight" announcer, doing hundreds (if not thousands) of commercials, movie trailers, promos, narration jobs, etc. One of his earliest jobs, which didn't pay well but got him lots of attention, was a "Dianetics" spot he did for the Scientology people. It ran on TV as often as any commercial ever made.
Now comes the hard part of this obit, the part I wish I could just ignore, but I can't write about Greg without mentioning a disease called Alcoholism. If I ever had the idea that drinking was something a person could just stop doing by choice, it was well-rebutted by watching him battle it. It was a vicious, self-perpetuating cycle: He lost work because he drank…and that depressed him so he drank more.
Family and friends, including his agents and employers, tried to help. There were interventions, doctors, hospitalization, twelve-step programs, everything. Nothing reversed the trajectory of his life for very long. Eventually, those agents and employers dropped him…and then it got worse. One morning in May of 2004, a police S.W.A.T. crew surrounded his home in Tujunga because, it was alleged, he was armed and threatening to shoot someone. It all turned out to be a colossal misunderstanding, exacerbated by alcohol, but it was a lead story on the local news that "the voice of Bugs Bunny" had been arrested. If you ever want to torpedo a successful career, something like this will do it.
The cause of death is being given as complications due to diabetes and arteriosclerosis but obviously, drinking had a lot to do with it. Which is all so sad because a lot of us really liked Greg, at least when he was reasonably sober. In that condition, he was the kind of guy everyone wanted to be around — bright, gifted and the owner of a heart of awesome size. He was always trying to help others. I just wish he'd been able to help himself.