Thurl Ravenscroft: He’s More than good, he’s GRR-EEE-AAA-TTT!
You may not know his name, but Thurl Ravenscroft’s voice is very well known: he originated the voice-over role of Tony the Tiger in all the Frosted Flakes commercials and sang “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” in the classic Dr. Seuss holiday special How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966). Throughout his 65-year-career, he was rarely ever seen live on camera, but his distinctive deep voice was used in all kinds of films and television shows, including numerous Disney films, television shorts, and even theme park attractions.
Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft was born in Norfolk, Nebraska on February 6th, 1914. He served as a navigator in WW2 Air Transport Command before relocating to Hollywood. When he relocated Hollywood, he founded a singing quartet group, the Mellomen, with a guy named Max Smith. The quartet remained a group from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s. Walt Disney must have heard their voices on the radio-turned-television program The Jack Benny Show (1932-1965) because he often hired them to perform in his movies. Their first official film appearance singing the song “Honest John,” in Walt Disney’s Pinocchio (1940), but that song was deleted from the film. The studio did, however, hire Ravenscroft himself to provide the voice of Monstro, the whale in the film. Throughout the ‘40s, Ravenscroft continued singing in Disney films and shorts such as Dumbo (1941), The Nifty Nineties (1941), which is the short that played in front of Pollyanna (1960), in theatres, and Make Mine Music (1946).
When Alice in Wonderland (1951) was in production at Disney, Ravenscroft, along with the rest of the Mellomen, voiced the Card Painters for the “Painting the Rose’s Red,” sequence in the film. They also voiced the Pirates and the Indians in Peter Pan (1953) and the Dogs in the Pound in Lady and the Tramp (1955). Ravenscroft himself also voiced Al the Alligator in the film. The same year as Peter Pan, he made his official appearance as Tony the Tiger in the first Frosted Flakes commercial and he continued that voice for the rest of his life.
When Disneyland opened in 1955, he became the narrator for the Disneyland Railroad attraction, the voice of the singing bull frogs in the Splash Mountain attraction, the lead singing bust in The Haunted Mansion, and the singing voice of the pirates in Pirates of the Caribbean. Ravenscroft also voiced the character of Buff in Country Bear Jamboree and was the finale singer in It’s a Small World. In 1958, he lent his voice to the title character in Disney’s Oscar-nominated short, Paul Bunyan, and he also provided the singing voice of the character of “Stew Pot,” in Fox’s Oscar-winning film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical South Pacific. He also sang on several Disneyland Records and television serials including All About Dragons, Peter Cottontail and Other Funny Bunnies and Zorro (1960-1961), which also featured his group.
In 1961, Ravenscroft voiced Captain the Horse in 101 Dalmatians. In ’63, he voiced Sir Bart in The Sword in the Stone, and the very next year in Mary Poppins (1964) he was the voice of the pig in the “Jolly Holliday,” sequence (singing: “The daffodils are smiling at the dove, oink oink!” The year after, he and the Mellomen, were the voices of the Elephants on Colonel Hathai’s crew in The Jungle Book (1967) and Pooh’s honeypots in the short Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968). In 1970, Ravenscroft voiced the Russian Cat in The Aristocats and in 1978 he voiced the Potter in Disney’s Christmas-themed short The Small One. His final Disney character was Kirby the vacuum cleaner in The Brave Little Toaster (1987), and he reprised it for both of its direct-to-video sequels, The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars (1998) and The Brave Little Toaster To The Rescue (1999).
Thurl Ravenscroft died of prostate cancer at the age of 91 on May 22nd, 2005. He truly is an unsung legend in the history of the entertainment industry for having been a “familiar voice” to millions, and he will forever be remembered for voicing the exuberant, cereal-loving tiger and all of his Disney voice-overs. His career was more than good, it was great!
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