Movie Musings: Disney and More

Some Disney Farewells

Throughout the history of the Walt Disney Studios, a number of talented people made their debut in a Disney movie, (Tommy Kirk in Old Yeller, Hayley Mills in Pollyanna, and Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins). But several amazing actors made their final film appearances in Disney movies tragically passing before release of the films. Some will be forever remembered for their contributions to Disney, while others are better known for their versatile work throughout the Golden Age of Hollywood.

• Don Ameche provided the voice of Shadow the Golden Retriever in Disney’s Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey which was released on February 12th, 1993. Ameche passed away ten months later on December 6th, 1993, shortly after filming New Line Cinema’s Corrina, Corrina (1994). Prior to “Homeward Bound,” he also appeared as Commander Taylor in Disney’s The Boatniks (1970) and starred in Touchstone Pictures’ Oscar (1991) with Sylvester Stallone. Ameche is also known for his performance as Art Selwyn in the film Cocoon (1985), which won him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and he reprised the role for the sequel in Cocoon: The Return (1988).  
• Mary Wickes was first hired by Disney in 1957 to play Katie in the Disney television serial Annette (1958), starring Annette Funicello and airing on The Mickey Mouse Club in its third season (1957-1958). Later, Wickes was hired to provide the live-action modeling for Cruella De Vil in 101 Dalmatians (1961), though the voice of the character was done by Betty Lou Gerson. She later appeared in the live action films Napoleon and Samantha (1972) and Snowball Express (1972). Mary Wickes is also known for portraying Sister Mary Lazarus in Touchstone’s Sister Act (1992) and it’s sequel Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993). She was hired by Disney a final time to prove the voice Laverne, Quasimodo’s gargoyle friend in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), but tragically died on October 22nd, 1995 before she had finished recording the part. Jane Withers, who is known for playing Vashti Snythe in Giant (1956) recorded the additional Laverne dialogue.
• Jim Varney is best known for creating the character of Ernest P. Worrell who first appeared in commercials, but had his own film series produced by Disney/Touchstone with Ernest Goes to Camp (1987), Ernest Saves Christmas (1988) Ernest Goes to Splash Mountain (1989) and many other sequels. Varney is also known for originating the role of Slinky Dog in Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story (1995) and Toy Story 2 (1999). He was diagnosed with lung cancer before production on “Toy Story 2,” officially began, and he tragically passed away at the age of 50, having recorded his part as “Cookie” Farnsworth in Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001). Blake Clark, a friend of Varney’s and who is known for having played Shawn Hunter’s Dad, Chet Hunter, on Disney/ABC’s Boy Meets World (1993-2000), took over the role of Slinky Dog.
• John Fiedler is a legend at Disney for having been the original voice of Piglet in “Winnie the Pooh,” from 1968 until his death on 2005. At that point he had started to record his lines for the direct-to-video film Pooh’s Halloween Heffalump Movie but he died on June 25th, 2005 before recording his lines. (Ironically, his death occurred just the day after his good friend, Paul Winchell, the original voice of Tigger, passed away.) Simultaneously with that, Fiedler had also been reprising his role as the old man named Rudy in Kronk’s New Groove (2005) the direct-to-video sequel to The Emperor’s New Groove (2000). Besides “Piglet,” and “Rudy,” John Fielder is also known at Disney for having been the voice of the Deacon Mouse in Robin Hood (1973), the Owl in The Rescuers (1977) and the Porcupine in The Fox and the Hound (1981). He also appeared in two live-action Disney films: The Shaggy D.A. (1976) (The sequel to The Shaggy Dog (1959)) and Midnight Madness (1980). Fiedler is also known for having played Juror #2 in 12 Angry Men (1957) and Vinnie the poker buddy in The Odd Couple (1968). 
• Don Knotts is best remembered for his roles as Deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968) and as Ralph Furley on Three’s Company (1979-1984).He made his Disney debut as Theodore Ogelvie in The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975), and reprised it for The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again in 1979. In between, he appeared in Gus (1976), Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977), the second sequel to The Love Bug (1968), and Hot Lead and Cold Feet (1978). Don Knotts passed away on February 24th, 2006 having voiced Sniffer in Air Buddies (2006). 
• Paul Newman made his animated feature film debut providing the voice Doc Hudson in Disney/Pixar’s Cars (2006). He died of lung cancer two years after that movie on September 26th, 2008 at the age of 83 after having also reprised the role of Doc Hudson for the short film Mater and the Ghostlight (2006). While he unfortunately passed away before having the chance to lend his voice to Cars 2 (2011), unused recordings of his voice that he originally recorded for the first “Cars,” film were used in Cars 3 (2017).
• Pat Buttram is known for having played the role of the greedy Mr. Haney on the sit-com Green Acres (1965-1971). Buttram made his Disney debut as Napoleon the bloodhound in The Aristocats (1970), and later voiced the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood (1973) and Luke the Swamp muskrat in The Rescuers (1977). “Aristocats,” and “Rescuers,” ironically both also featured the voice of Buttram’s co-star from “Green Acres,” Eva Gabor. Buttram also voiced Chief in The Fox and the Hound (1981), Bullet #1 in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), and just before he passed away on January 8th, 1994 due to a renal failure, he provided the voice of the Possum Park Emcee in A Goofy Movie (1995).
• Don Rickles will never be forgotten for his performance as the wisecracking Mr. Potato Head in the Toy Story trilogy (1995-2010). In addition to voicing the character in each of the theatrical “Toy Story,” films he has also voiced the character for each of the “Toy Story,” short films, and his most recent IMDB credit was voicing the character for the television short Toy Story That Time Forgot (2014). Besides Mr. Potato Head, Don Rickles also provided the voices of William the Bird in the Walt Disney World Attraction The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management) (1998-2011) and the Boss in the short film Redux Red Riding Hood (1997). Rickles passed away on April 6th, 2017, and as of now it remains to be determined whether or not Mr. Potato Head will have a new voice in Toy Story 4 (2019) or even if the character will be in the movie.

Each of these actors have left a unique legacy in the entertainment industry. Some of them will forever be remembered for the contributions to the Walt Disney Studios while others will be better remembered for characters they created in classic hollywood and television. It’s a shame that not all of them got to see the final cuts of their last films, but the movies truly wouldn’t be what they are today without their talents.