Mister Ed’s Jockey
On January 4th, 1958, the CBS Network began airing a new sit-com entitled Mister Ed (1958-1966). The show centered upon the misadventures of a talking horse named Mr. Ed and his human friend, Wilbur Post, portrayed by Alan Young. Young was chosen for the part of Wilbur Post by producer George Burns simply because according to Burns, Young “just seemed like the sort of guy a horse would talk to.” The show won a Golden Globe for Best TV Show: Comedy, in its 5th season.
Young was born on November 19th, 1919, in North Shields, England to Scottish parents. The family relocated to Edinburgh, Scotland when Young was a toddler and then to West Vancouver, Canada when he was 6 years old. As a high school student, he started his own Comedy radio show on the CBC. He was discovered on the show by an American agent who brought him to New York City where he appeared on the Philco Radio Hall of Fame. That led to his television debut, The Alan Young Show (1950-1953), which aired on NBC. Prior to that show, Young also appeared in the movies, Margie (1946), Chicken Every Sunday (1949).
Alan Young was hired in the 1970s by the Walt Disney Animation Studios to lend his Scottish-American accent to voice the character of Scrooge McDuck, one of Donald Duck’s uncles. His first performance as Scrooge McDuck was on the Disneyland Record: An Adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, performed by the Walt Disney Players in 1974. In that album, he also provided the voice of Mickey Mouse and Merlin the Wizard from The Sword in the Stone (1963). The album spawned the creation of the Oscar-nominated short, Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983). Young continued to voice the character of Scrooge McDuck for the animated series DuckTales (1987-1990), until his death on May 19th, 2016 at the age of 96. He also was the voice-acting mentor of Russi Taylor who provided the voices of Huey, Dewey, and Louie Duck on the show. (Russi Taylor is also the current voice of Minnie Mouse. Her late husband, Wayne Allwine, was the former voice of Mickey Mouse.)
In addition to Scrooge McDuck, Alan Young also starred in the live-action Disney film, The Cat from Outer Space (1978) and lended his voice to the animated film, The Great Mouse Detective (1986) as Hiram Flaversham. Young also lent his voice to one episode of the series TaleSpin (1990-1991) as the turtle, Dr. Cooper.
In between his roles as Wilbur Post and Scrooge McDuck, Alan Young also acted in the 1960 film adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine. He also did a cameo in a 2002 remake of The Time Machine, which starred Guy Pearce and was directed by Simon Wells, the great-grandson of H.G. Wells. Young also provided the voice of Jack Allen, one of John Avery Whitaker/“Whit’s” good friends on the Christian radio series, Adventures in Odyssey (1987-present). Doctor Who actor (2005-present), David Tennant will succeed Alan Young in the role of Scrooge McDuck for the upcoming Disney XD “sequel” series DuckTales scheduled to air in Summer 2017.
Alan Young will forever be remembered as Wilbur Post on “Mister Ed,” and the as the original voice of Scrooge McDuck. His distinctive voice defined those characters in the minds of audiences.
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