Allan Melvin has just died at the age of 84. My thanks to Craig Park for posting this link on the VO-BB.
Update: You’ll find some wonderful comments from writer Mark Evanier about Allan Melvin on Mark’s blog, too. My thanks to my good friend and fellow voiceover pro Charlie Glaize for sending me this link.
Allan was the voice of Magilla Gorilla.
He provided numerous voices for Hanna Barbera characters, including significant parts on The Banana Splits, Hong Kong Phooey and Wait Till Your Father Gets Home. He was also the voice of Bluto on HB’s All New Popeye Hour and Popeye and Son.
Sorry to lose the man and the voice.
– Peter
Peter,
Thank you for adding to the discussion.
Be well,
Bob
allan melvin was also featured within the “magilla gorilla” show with howard morris as “punkin puss and mushmouse”, two feuding ozark hillbilly characters.
melvin’s “punkin puss” was the source of two of my favorite down-home descriptions of feeling poorly. 1) “sicker than a boiled owl.” and 2) “i couldn’t feel worser, if’n i’d been drug through a knot hole.” (at which point, of course, that’s exactly what happened to him, which he followed up with, “i takes it all back. i feels lots worser now that i bin drug through a knot hole!”
seasoned actors like mr. melvin, morris, allan jenkins, allan reed, jean vander pyl, george o’hanlon, penny singleton, and so many others who worked along with daws butler, don messick, mel blanc, and paul frees during those years…helped lift the overall quality of these limited animation cartoons. say what you will about mssrs. hanna and barbera, they knew how to compensate with great voice actors, writers, and sound effects editors for the shortcuts they had to make in the animation process.
it wasn’t just about “doing funny voices”.
rg
Rowell,
Thank you for those insightful comments.
Be well,
Bob
Hello! Good site, good content