Movie Musings: Disney and More

John Ratzenberger: The Man Behind the Pig

When you think of John Ratzenberger, you might, at first, think of him as Cliff Clavin from Cheers (1982-1993). You might also remember him as the voice of Hamm the Piggy Bank in Toy Story (1995). But would you also remember him as Rebel Force Major Derlin in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)? Or have you recognized his voice in any of Pixar’s other films? You might be surprised to know that John Ratzenberger has lent his voice to all 16 of Pixar’s feature-length films. With each of those, a bit part in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and 2 Emmy Nominations for his role of Cliff Clavin on Cheers (1982-1993), John Ratzenberger has undoubtedly had a quite remarkable career throughout Hollywood. His roles for Pixar include:

• “Hamm” in Toy Story (1995), Toy Story 2 (1999), and Toy Story 3 (2010). Ratzenberger also reprised this role for all of the recent Toy Story Toon Shorts including Hawaiian Vacation (2011), Small Fry (2011), and Partysaurus Rex (2012).
• “P.T. Flea” (the Bug Circus Ringmaster) in A Bug’s Life (1998).
• “The Abominable Snowman” in Monsters, Inc. (2001) and Monsters University (2013)
• “The Fish School” in Finding Nemo (2003)
• “The Underminer” in The Incredibles (2004)
• “Mack” in Cars (2006), Cars 2 (2011), and Cars 3 (2017). Ratzenberger also voiced the “Hamm truck” and the “Abominable Snow Plow” for the humorous credits sequence at the end of Cars (2006).
• “Mustafa” in Ratatouille (2007).
• “John” in Wall-E (2008).
• “Construction Foreman Tom” in Up (2009).
• “Gordon” in Brave (2012).
• “Fritz” in Inside Out (2015).
• “Earl” in The Good Dinosaur (2015). 
• "Husband Crab (Bill)" in Finding Dory (2016)
• "Juan Ortodoncia" in Coco (2017)

John Ratzenberger will be forever remembered as Cliff Clavin, but also as one of Pixar Animation Studio’s most favored voice-talents. His unmistakable, “wisenheimer-toned” voice never ceases to serve as an entertaining and humorous asset to each of Pixar’s films. If Walt Disney himself had lived to meet John Ratzenberger, I’m sure he would have seen the same potential that he saw in his other frequently used voice talent (i.e. Verna Felton, Sterling Holloway, Pinto Colvig, etc.).