Voice Actor Vridays: Don Messick

Okay, I just realized that this blog could just be called "Voice Actor Vridays." I hadn't noticed that the last three posts are all Voice Actor Vridays posts. Meaning that I haven't posted anything else in weeks. I apologize. I know that you need your cartoon sage, and I feel I have let you down. So next week I promise a cool week-long theme once again, as people seem to like those.

But this week, we pay homage to another voice acting great, and this guy is truly one of the greats. Daws Butler did about half of the voices for Hanna-Barbera characters, and Daws gets a lot of credit. The other half were done by a fella who is often a little less credited: Don Messick.

Messick started out as a ventriloquist, and did pretty well at it for a while. Then one day, Bill Thompson became unavailable to do the voice of Droopy. Daws Butler, who did a lot of voices for MGM cartoons, suggested to Tex Avery that he try out his pal Don Messick. His work there led to his job with Daws on the Ruff and Reddy Show, and that was the beginning of a Messick and Butler's decades-long voice acting partnership.

Over the years Messick went on to voice some of the most memorable characters of all time like Scooby-Doo, Boo boo Bear, Ranger Smith, Mutley, Astro, and Papa Smurf.

In addition to being a great and talented voice actor, by all accounts he was also an all-around great guy. So here's to Don Messick on this Voice Actor Vriday.



CG