Voice of Mickey Mouse dies at 62

[edesignuk]

The American actor who was the voice of Mickey Mouse for 32 years has died at the age of 62.

Wayne Allwine had worked at The Walt Disney Co since 1966, starting in the mailroom before he became the voice of the famous cartoon mouse in 1977.

The Walt Disney Co said Allwine died of complications from diabetes, with his wife, an actress who was the voice of Minnie Mouse, by his side.

His voice can still be heard at Disney theme parks around the world.

Allwine also voiced Mickey in Mickey's Christmas Carol and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

BBC.

 

[Tomorrow]

BBC.

Very sad news.

I also think it's sad that so many voice actors remain pretty much unknown with the public, even though we know their characters very well.

 

[themoonisdown09]

That sucks. I was never a Mickey Mouse fan though.

 

[jmann]

Aww that's tragic. Was he still doing the voice at his age? Or was there a replacement? I never knew he was married to minnie mouse, haha.

 

[edesignuk]

Aww that's tragic. Was he still doing the voice at his age? Or was there a replacement? I never knew he was married to minnie mouse, haha.

Looks like he was still doing it.

 

[bradl]

Very sad news, indeed. I heard this on NPR this morning.

What's worse is that it's really starting to happen now.. those classic voices that we all grew up with; the people behind those voices are silently passing.. and honestly, none of those character voices really have been the same. Think about it.. Any non-Frank Oz muppet.. Bugs/Daffy/Foghorn/Fred/Barney/Heathcliff/etc.. Don Adams.. it started back in '89 with Mel Blanc, and slowly is coming to a head.

I think I'll have a glass tonight with a couple of old classic Disney 'toons, maybe a Steamboat Willie, and be thankful we still have some more modern day voices that are classic, like a Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell, Tress McNeille, Maurice LeMarche, Nancy Cartwright, BJ Ward, Alan Oppenheimer, Peter Cullen, and Frank Welker.

BL.

 

[jaw04005]

I wonder if Disney pre-taped a large audio library to use in the future. I guess it would be just as easy to get a sound-a-like.

R.I.P.

 

[Unspoken Demise]

I think its really sweet that his wife was/is the voice of Miney Mouse.
Tragic news of his death though.

 

[obeygiant]

I wonder what this means for "The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" on Disney Channel.

His wife was Minnie huh? That must have been hilarious in the bedroom. You know they tried it at least once.

 

[bbotte]

I wonder what this means for "The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" on Disney Channel.

Hot dog hot dog hot digity dog!

 

[Tomorrow]

His wife was Minnie huh? That must have been hilarious in the bedroom. You know they tried it at least once.

AAAUUUGHHH I didn't need that picture in my brain!

 

[Eanair]

His wife was Minnie huh? That must have been hilarious in the bedroom. You know they tried it at least once.

Noooooo!!!

I need brain bleach now!!!!

*scrub scrub scrub*

 

[instaxgirl]

His wife was Minnie huh? That must have been hilarious in the bedroom. You know they tried it at least once.

Hahahahaha! and also EEEWWW

You sir have been the sole bright spot in my day

 

[Unprocessed1]

Sad, but he had an interesting voice.

 

[MacHipster]

Did he take over when Walt died or were there other Mickey voices in between?

 

[MacNut]

Did he take over when Walt died or were there other Mickey voices in between?

There have been 3 Mickey voices.

Allwine was the third man behind Mickey's voice. The first was Disney himself, then Jimmy MacDonald, who became Allwine's mentor and passed him the reins after voicing the mouse for 30 years.

John James "Jimmy" MacDonald (May 19, 1906 - February 1, 1991) was a Scottish voice actor and the original head of the Disney sound effects department, and the voice of Mickey Mouse from 1947 to 1977.
In addition to directing sounds for animated shorts as aurally complicated as Mickey's Trailer (1938), he developed many original inventions and contraptions to achieve expressive sounds for characters like Casey Jr., the circus train engine from Dumbo (1941); Evinrude the dragonfly from The Rescuers (1977); the bees in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree; and Buzz-buzz (later called "Spike"), the bee who gets the best of Donald Duck in his 1950s short films.
MacDonald also added voice effects, like on-screen humming for Kirk Douglas in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), and chipmunk chatter from various Chip & Dale cartoons, starting with 1943's Private Pluto.
In 1947, Walt Disney was getting too busy and too hoarse from smoking to continue voicing Mickey Mouse, so he passed the torch to MacDonald, starting with the film Fun and Fancy Free. MacDonald voiced the mouse on a regular basis until 1953, and a recurring one until 1977, until passing the torch to young Disney sound effects man Wayne Allwine for Mickey's Christmas Carol.
MacDonald also provided the voice of Jaq and Gus and Bruno the dog in Cinderella. He also appeared in the feature film Toby Tyler as the Circus Band Drummer, but was uncredited.
MacDonald died of heart failure in 1991. He was buried in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
Some of his SFX can be heard in non-Disney cartoons like Rocko's Modern Life and Spongebob Squarepants.

Wayne Anthony Allwine (February 7, 1947 – May 18, 2009)[1] was an American voice actor, a sound effects editor and foley artist for Walt Disney Studios and the third voice of Mickey Mouse, a role he assumed from Jimmy MacDonald. Allwine was born in Glendale, California.
Allwine's first appearance as Mickey was voicing the animated lead-ins for The New Mickey Mouse Club in 1977. His first appearance as Mickey for a theatrical release was in the 1983 featurette Mickey's Christmas Carol and he provided the voice for Mickey Mouse ever since. In this featurette he also voiced the old man on the street at the start of the movie and the two weasels in the Christmas future scene.
He also starred in films such as The Prince and the Pauper (1990), and Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004), and the TV series Mickey Mouse Works (1999-2000), House of Mouse (2001-2003), and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (2006-2009). He provided Mickey's voice too for nearly every entry in the popular Kingdom Hearts series of video games. However, a new voice actor is very likely to portray Mickey in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. Wayne had already finished recording for the Nintendo DS game Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.
He had done the voice of Mickey Mouse longer than anyone else as of 2009. Walt Disney did it from 1928 to 1947 while Jimmy MacDonald did it on a regular basis from 1947 to 1953. In addition to his voice work, Allwine had also been a sound effects editor on Disney films and TV shows including Splash (1984) and Three Men and a Baby (1987); as well as Innerspace (1987), Alien Nation (1988) and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier for other studios.

 

[Ivan P]

I think its really sweet that his wife was/is the voice of Miney Mouse.

Yeah, I couldn't believe it when I found that out a few years ago. It seems very cute to me. Kids these days would probably know his wife (Russi Taylor) more from playing Martin, Sherri, Terri and Uter on The Simpsons.

RIP.