Movie Musings: Disney and More

A Non-Speaking, Non-Silent Voice

Have you ever wondered who provides the voices of cartoon characters that don’t speak? They might be animals, or sometimes even objects – but in any case, don’t use words. Most people probably think it is just some sort of sound effects in use. But, you would actually be mistaken. Frank Welker is an actor who is a legend in the field of voice-over artistry because he has done the voices of all of Disney’s animated animal characters who don’t talk but just make noises. 

Although he did act bit parts in live-action movies such as Universal’s How to Frame a Figg (1971), and Disney’s The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), his voice-over roles include Max the Dog in The Little Mermaid (1989), Joanna the Salamander in The Rescuers Down Under (1990), the Footstool in Beauty and the Beast (1991), Abu in Aladdin (1992), Flit the Hummingbird in Pocahontas (1995), Cri-Kee and Khan the Horse in Mulan (1998), Maximus the Horse and Pascal the Chameleon in Tangled (2010) – and for more recent fans, Sven the Reindeer and Sitron the Horse in Frozen (2013), and Mochi the Cat in Big Hero 6 (2014). 

For all of your Hanna-Barbara fans, Welker is also known throughout the world for providing the voices of Fred Jones in the original Scooby-Doo series and every additional series that followed it, with the exception of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.  In addition to voicing Fred, since 2002, he has taken over the main role, voicing Scooby-Doo. 

Frank Welker had practically as many voices up his sleeve as Mel Blanc did, who voiced all Bugs Bunny and all of his friends, as well as Barney Rubble in The Flintstones and Mr. Spacely in The Jetsons. It’s ironic to compare these two actors because Frank Welker would go on to succeed Mel Blanc in the role of Barney Rubble in when Blanc passed away in 1989.  Welker also voiced Hefty Smurf in The Smurfs and Santa’s Little Helper on The Simpsons and Dr. Claw in Inspector Gadget.

Frank Welker doesn’t have a voice that one could recognize instantly, like James Earl Jones, but he does have an extraordinary voice that can transform into just about any kind of tone or pitch.   For most of us, from a footstool to Scooby-Doo and Fred, he’s actually a voice we’ve all come to love!