He Was Grrrrrreat

[filkertom]

Dammit dammit dammit. Two in just a few days.

Thurl Ravenscroft -- the lead singer in Disney's Haunted Mansion, the voice of Tony the Tiger, the man who sung "You're A Mean One, Mister Grinch", one of the most distinctive and talented vocal performers ever -- has passed away at the age of 91. Where Mel Blanc and Dale Messick and Daws Butler and June Foray had variety, Mr. Ravenscroft had pretty much one basic character... but what a character.

CNN story, IMDB listing, and a semi-official site, All Things Thurl.

Comments

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Very sad indeed.

Make it three. I forgot to note in my own entry that we also just lost Fred Corden, voice of Fred Flintstone since 1977. (Admittedly, not a whole lot of important Flintstones work came out since then. But still.)

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

Very sad.. I guess the Haunted Mansion has gained its 1000th happy haunt.

He was the only voice Tony ever had. A mainstay of classic Disney songs... Grim and Grimy Ghost, Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirates Life for Me...

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna go to Hell for this.

(sings) "You're a dead one, Mr. Thurl..."

[partiallyclips.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they can put that on his grrrRRRAVE!

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

You guys are so going to H-E-Double Hockey Sticks for that, but I still laffed out loud.

[jss]

Ditto.

[partiallyclips.livejournal.com]

A LOL is all the redemption I need.

"Hell" is nobody liking my jokes. :)

*sigh*

[rms-butterfly.livejournal.com]

Just the sort of news to hear first thing in the morning. He had a grrrrreat voice, from Tony the Tiger to what he did in the original Grinch. I have a tape of the "making of" for the Grinch, and Mr. Ravenscroft is in it, being very friendly and funny. Sigh.

[denali1.livejournal.com]

Howard Morris R.I.P. as well. Howard did a lot of backup voice work on cartoons from 1960-1990's. He was also Ernest T. Bass on the Andy Griffith show.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/05/24/obit.morris.ap/index.html

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

Sadness. I think I got my "thing" for men with bass voices because of him.

We need more of our generation to start excelling in voice work. Hey, I got the looks for radio, that's a start! [grin]

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

[Joe Besser]
Don't RUSH me, I'm TRYYYY-IIIIIN'!
[/Joe Besser]

Poor Thurl, he never was able to get that much work, being only able to perform one voice. But when you heard it, you never forgot it.

Ah, well, you can't ask much more from a guy than 91 years. Cheers, Thurl, and say hi to Paul Frees for me.

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

If there's a 'toon heaven, you know they got a helluva voice department. Sigh.

Mmmmm, speaking of Paul Frees, who reminds me of the Fantastic Four since he played Ben Grimm in the HB 60's 'toon... didja see the new FF feature's trailer? The Thing does indeed intone his battle cry, "It's Clobberin' Time!" I cheered, then had to explain to my friends why I was cheering. [sheepish grin.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he said it, but I don't think with near enough gusto. On the other hand, the Human Torch sold me completely with his "FLAME ON!" as he plunged off the building. That looked great.

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

I like the exchange from the trailer:

Sue: Don't think about it!
Johnny: I never do (and slips off the side of the building..)

That's a VERY Johnny Storm line.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I'm getting the vibe that it's gonna be agonizingly close to what we want an FF movie to be, but not... quite... there, y'know?

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

Where in the F-U-Q is Victor Von Doom's balkan accent?
He's the ruler of Latveria, not East Bloody Whinning!

[musicmutt.livejournal.com]

I reckon he voiced that old Mr. Bubble commercial, too.

[poltr1]

Y'know, I've been wondering who sang the Mr. Grinch song. I didn't see any name in the credits, other than Boris Karloff.

So long, Thurl Ravenscroft.