It’s holiday season again, which means a glutton of Christmas-themed movies and TV shows assaulting our eyeballs with every change of the channel.  Most of it’s entertaining and leaves us with a comforting feeling of nostalgia and a heartwarming assurance that all really is right with the world. The rest of it features Melissa Joan Heart.

In the spirit of the season, and because I insist on torturing Kaleb by continually putting off my Transformers voice actors article, this month I’m featuring voice actors with a heavy bend toward the holly jolly. Much like my Halloween VA grab bag, this is a specially-wrapped present full of a few of my favorite voices to hear this time of year. So “pull up an ice block and lend an ear” to:

Alan Young

Alan Young  has a legacy similar to that of Mark Hamill in that he was successful as a live actor and remains so as a voice actor. Born in England in 1919, Young’s family moved him to Scotland and then on to Canada when he was six, before they finally settled. As a child he suffered from severe asthma and spent much of his time bedridden. Being confined to bed, radio was Young’s best connection with the outside world and he grew to adore the radio programs that kept him company. He eventually decided that radio was what he wanted to do when he grew up, and he stuck to that dream.

He became a radio broadcaster in Canada, beginning in radio at just 13 years old, and was writing and performing his own show for the CBC at 17. He had his own self-titled Emmy-winning show on NBC, and in 1946 he saw the genesis of a movie career, but he’s best known for starred in the hit television series Mister Ed in the 60’s. The show about a talking horse that talked to no one but his owner Wilbur (played by Young) was immediately a hit and he still finds himself signing autographs for the role today.

Arguable his main voice role is just as famous as, if not more so, than Wilbur, and yet he isn’t well known for it. Alan Young was not the original Scrooge McDuck (that title goes to Bill Thompson for the character’s premiere in 1960’s) but he picked the role up in 1983’s Mickey’s Christmas Carol and has been the one and only Scrooge ever since. It’s no small wonder, given the amazing job he does bouncing back and forth between a loving and kind old uncle to a greed-crazed mad-duck (It also doesn’t hurt to have a Scottish father to refer to when voicing a Scottish character). When Scrooge flies off into a rage it’s easy to see the family resemblance between him and Donald. Speaking of Donald, Mickey’s Christmas Carol was the last time Clarence Nash (original voice of Donald) performed his voice. He passed away shortly after it was filmed.

Those who have worked with him are impressed by his professional and charming manner. Fellow voice actor Corey Burton called him  “one of the finest gentlemen in the business”  and “a  consummate ego-free pro” . As for me, I just love to hear him voice Scrooge’s hilarious, crotchety and no-nonsense personality. He’s still going at it today at 91, which puts him right up there with June Foray in longevity. Future voice actors: Remember to grab yourself a good elderly character to voice. You’ll have a job for a lifetime!

 

He’s Also Made You Merry As:

• Haggis MacHaggis from Ren and Stimpy
• Jack Allen from the radio drama Adventures in Odyssey
• Various voices from Chip ‘n Dale, Talespin, and Batman: TAS
• Hiram Flaversham from The Great Mouse Detective (thanks, reader starwenn)

Boris Karloff

I usually focus on actual voice actors rather than live actors or other celebrities who voiced a couple of roles, but it’s Christmas and many of the voices from our favorite Christmas shows belong to celebrities. That being said, Boris Karloff is one of two famous voices on this list who did a memorable job voicing a favorite Christmas character. His reading of Dr. Seuss’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas and voicing of the title character, coupled with the animation of Chuck Jones, made the story a Christmas classic. When the story was released as a record Karloff was awarded a Grammy in the spoken word category for his performance.

Born William H. Pratt in England in 1887, “Boris” took on his stage name some time around 1912. In 1931 Karloff became a star with his role as Frankenstein’s monster in Frankenstein. His role as Imhotep in The Mummy solidified his role as a horror star. Though he’s well known for his creepy and sinister roles, he was known in real life as a kind and loving soul who adored children. In addition to giving generous donations to children’s charities he began a tradition in 1940 of dressing up as Santa and handing out presents every Christmas for disabled children in a hospital in Baltimore.

Though he never had a career in animation voicing, Boris did record the title role of Cymbeline for the Shakespeare Recording Society and recorded a very large number of beloved children’s stories.

 

He’s Also Made You Merry Reading:

• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle (Pickwick)
• The Three Little Pigs and Other Fairy Tales (Caedmon Records)
• Aesop’s Fables (Caedmon Records)

Thurl Ravenscroft

 

For those of you wondering why I failed to mention Boris Karloff’s glorious and mellifluous rendition of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”, I have news for you: He didn’t sing it. Boris couldn’t sing. Instead, Thurl Ravenscroft, best known as the voice of Tony the Tiger (he was grrrreat!) sang the classic ode to the nasty creature.

As with about half of the roles this talented bass voice performed, he went uncredited for the Grinchy tune. So many people attributed the song to Karloff that Theodore “Dr. Seuss” Giesel made a personal apology to Mr. Ravenscroft and wrote letters to columnists nationwide in order to fix the error.

Thurl completed over 500 commercials as Tony the Tiger and countless singing roles for Disney movie and theme park ride soundtracks (his voice can still be heard in many Disneyland rides). In an ironic twist he has been wrongly attributed to voicing Shere Khan’s singing voice at the end of “We’re Your Friends” in The Jungle Book. According to Richard Sherman, who composed the film score, it was done by Bill Lee of The Mellomen because of George Sanders (voice of Shere Khan) being unavailable.

He didn’t have many main voice roles in films, but he his voice was unforgettable and made a deep impact in the advertising and film community. When he passed away in 2005 our inner child shed a tear.

He Also Made You Merry As:

• Kirby in The Brave Little Toaster and its sequels
• Thing 1 in The Cat In The Hat TV short
• Billy Bass in Aristocats

Burl Ives

Mr. Ives is the second of our two Christmas voices done by people who weren’t normally voice actors. His jolly, soothing singing voice must have given him away as a great choice for a narrator of children’s stories, because he was cast perfectly as the joyful Sam the Snowman in Rankin-Bass’s Ruldolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. I can remember watching this as a very young child and almost enjoying the snowman’s talking more than I did anything else going on. The singing was wonderful as always, the narration was spot-on and that earns Burl a permanent spot in my favorite voices in Christmastime animation. It doesn’t hurt that he sang “Have A Holly Jolly Christmas”, either.

Sadly Burl Ives passed away in 1995, leaving behind a decent amount of film and television appearances, classic songs, and long list of credits using his vocal talents for narrating.

 

He Also Made You Merry As:

• Narrator/Old Stuff in The First Easter Rabbit
• Narrator of NBC’s Children’s Theater
• Narrator of The Ewok Adventure

I hope you’ve enjoyed this list. Maybe it even brought back some good ‘ole holiday nostalgia for you.  Have a merry one!