June Foray: From Granny to Grandmother Fa

June Lucille Forer/June Foray was born on September 18th, 1917 in Springfield, Massachusetts. She began to voice over work at just 12 years of age, lending her voice to a local radio drama. By the age of 15, she began doing voice-over work regularly. After graduating High School two years later, she moved to Los Angeles with her family in the hopes of continuing her acting career, and was fortunately was able to do so. In 1955, she took on one of the roles that garnered her immortality throughout the voice-over industry: Granny on Looney Tunes (1930-1969), succeeding Bea Benaderet in the role, who would go on to provide the voice of Betty Rubble on The Flintstones (1960-1966). Ironically Foray tried out for Betty Rubble as well. Did you also happen to know that June Foray has an intriguing history with the Walt Disney Studios as well?

Prior to voicing Granny, Foray was hired by Disney to voice Lucifer the Cat in Cinderella (1950). She voiced one of the Mermaids and Squaw the female Indian in Peter Pan (1953), and the characters of Wheezy and the Toon Hag in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). She also provided the speaking voice of Grandmother Fa in Mulan (1998) and the direct-to-video sequel Mulan 2 (2004). (Marni Nixon provided the singing voice of the part.) Foray also lent her voice to numerous shorts, television shows, and video games produced by Disney and her voice can also be heard in the Pirates of the Caribbean Attraction at Walt Disney World and Disneyland.

In addition to each of her Disney roles and “Granny,” June Foray is also known for voicing Rocky on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (1959-1964), Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966), and Jokey Smurf and Mrs. Sourberry on The Smurfs (1981-1990). (“The Smurfs,” reunited her with “Cinderella/Peter Pan,” co-star/friend Lucille Bliss who voiced Smurfette on “The Smurfs.” Bliss voiced Anastasia the stepsister in “Cinderella,” and another one of the Mermaids in “Peter Pan.”) Foray was also a voice-acting mentor/close friend of frequent Disney voice-over artist, Corey Burton (who has voiced characters like Mole in Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and Captain Hook in the theatrical sequel, Return to Neverland (2002)).

June Foray is a true icon in the voice-over industry. She will forever be remembered as the voices of Granny and Rocky the Squirrel, but her Disney roles will help keep her legacy alive as well.

The Wizard Who Really Is Oz

Frank Richard Oznowicz was born in Hereford, England on May 25th, 1944. He relocated from England to Belgium when he was six months old and then he moved again with his family to the United States at the age of seven ultimately settling in Oakland, California. Around that time, he adopted the name Frank Oz because people struggled to pronounce Oznowicz. Frank was interested in taking up puppeteering, coming from parents who were both puppeteers. While attending Oakland High School, Oznowics met a young, 23-year-old man also interested in puppeteering: Jim Henson. Befriending one other instantly, Henson asked Oznowics to join him in developing a group of characters who, when combined together, would be an amalgam of the words “marionettes” and “puppets” or “The Muppets.” “The Muppets,” made their television debut on a show called Sam and Friends (1955-1961) and then on Sesame Street (1969-present). The finally got their own show, The Muppet Show in 1976. Oz voiced several of the characters on both shows for many years, but expanded to voice characters for and even direct Disney films!

Frank Oz originated the voices of Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, and Sam the Eagle on “The Muppet Show,” and Bert, Grover, and Cookie Monster on “Sesame Street.” (Jim Henson voiced Kermit the Frog, Ernie, Dr. Teeth, and Rowlf the Dog. Each of whom were paired on-screen with Oz’s characters thanks to both the minds of Henson and Oz.) He reprised those characters and others for each film and television spin-off: The Muppet Movie (1979), The Great Muppet Caper (1981), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), Big Bird’s Birthday or Let Me Eat Cake (1991), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), Sesame Street Jam: A Musical Celebration (1993), Muppet Treasures Island (1996), The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999), Cinderelmo (1999), etc. 

Frank Oz also directed “Muppets Take Manhattan,” was one of the producers for “Great Muppet Caper,” and one of the executive producers for “Christmas Carol,” and “Treasure Island.” He and the other Muppet performers each received Primetime Emmys for their contributions to “The Muppet Show,” in the show’s second season in 1978.

When George Lucas was in production for Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), he originally offered the voice-over role of Jedi Master Yoda to Jim Henson. Henson was preoccupied with “The Muppet Show,” however, and suggested Oz instead. Oz accepted and reprised the role for Return of the Jedi (1983), and The Phantom Menace (1999). Yoda was converted from a puppet to CGI for Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005), and that conversion received criticism from some Star Wars Fans, but Oz-still the voice of the CGI version-agreed saying: “that’s exactly what Lucas should have done.” 

Oz retired from voicing his Muppet characters after Muppets From Space (1999), but he continues to portray Yoda for Disney in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) the Disney XD Series Star Wars Rebels (2014-present), and in the Disney Park Attraction Star Tours: The Adventures Continue (2011). (Eric Jacobson has succeeded as voice talent for each of Oz’s Muppet characters.) 

Oz has also lent his voice to Disney/Pixar movies. He voiced Fungus, Randall’s dim-witted sidekick in Monsters, Inc. (2001) and he and fellow Muppet performer Dave Goelz reunited to voice Subconscious Guards Dave and Frank in Inside Out (2015). Frank Oz also directed the Touchstone-produced film What About Bob? (1991) with Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss.

Though not in front of a camera, Frank Oz is a multi-talented Hollywood star. Throughout his career, he has juggled the talents of puppeteer, voice-over artist, producer, executive producer, and director. He will forever be remembered as the man who gave life to Miss Piggy, and Fozzie Bear, and as the voice of Yoda. Together, with Jim Henson, Oz helped make puppetry “cool” for adults and children alike.

Hans Conried: The “Hookiest” of all Captain Hooks

Hans Conried was an actor born in Baltimore, Maryland on April 15th, 1917. He was raised in both Baltimore and later New York City where he studied acting at Columbia University. He made his film debut at the age of 21 in MGM’s Dramatic School (1938), and enlisted in the United States Army in 1944, though he continued to appear on radio in the 1940s. In the 1950s, he continued to act in radio, and the “Broadway” and “Disney” Chapters of his career began.

In 1953, Hans Conried was cast in the dual voice-over role of Captain Hook and Mr. George Darling in Walt Disney’s Peter Pan (1953). That same year he made his Broadway debut in the musical Can-Can, and also starred in the films Siren of Bagdad, The Twonky, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, The Affairs of Dobie Gillis, the short-lived TV series I’ll Buy That, the Columbia Pictures short The Emperor’s New Clothes and the Disney short, Ben & Me.

In 1955, Conried portrayed Thimblerig in Disney’s Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier. He lent his voice to the Magic Mirror for a few episodes of the Disney Television Show, Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color (1954-1991), one of which was the very first show Disney made for television called One Hour in Wonderland, airing on Christmas Day, 1950. In “One Hour in Wonderland,” he was reunited with “Peter Pan,” co-stars Bobby Driscoll and Kathryn Beaumont. Conreid also voiced the prosecutor for a short called The Story of Anyburg, U.S.A., in 1957. He originally was chosen to voice Princess Aurora’s/Sleeping Beauty’s father King Stefan in Sleeping Beauty (1959) and had even recorded some lines before being replaced by Taylor Holmes. In the 1970s, he acted in the live-action films The Shaggy D.A. (1976) (the sequel to The Shaggy Dog (1959)) and The Cat from Outer Space (1978)

Outside of Disney, Conried acted with the legendary Lucille Ball in various episodes of each of her best known sit-coms, I Love Lucy (1951-1957), The Lucy Show (1962-1968), and Here’s Lucy (1968-1974). He came back to Broadway in the 1970s starring in the musicals 70, Girls, 70 and a revival of the musical Irene opposite Debbie Reynolds. He reunited with Columbia to narrate/voice Horton the Elephant in Horton Hears a Who (1970) and succeed Boris Karloff as the Grinch in the special Halloween is Grinch Night (1977). He passed away on January 5th, 1982 in Burbank, California due to an unfortunate heart ailment at 64 years of age. 

Hans Conried was an incredibly versatile and hardworking actor, but he will forever be remembered as the voice of Captain Hook in “Peter Pan.” He brilliantly paved the way for other actors to portray the character since the 1953 original: Academy-Award-Winner Dustin Hoffman portrayed Captain Hook in Steven Spielberg’s Hook (1991), Corey Burton voiced Captain Hook in Disney’s theatrical sequel Return to Neverland (2002), Jason Isaacs from “Harry Potter,” portrayed Captain Hook in Universal’s Peter Pan (2003), Academy-Award-Winner Christopher Walken played the role of Captain Hook in NBC’s Peter Pan Live! (2014), and Colin O’Donoghue has played Captain Hook in ABC’s Once Upon a Time (2011-present).   

Ward Kimball: Walt Disney’s Protege

Ward Kimball was an animator at Walt Disney Studios from 1934-1972 and was also a member of Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men.” Throughout his employment at the studio, Kimball was always looking to do things differently, much like Walt Disney himself. He animated a wonderful variety of non-human characters, preferring those to human characters. In 1953, Kimball was promoted to director and he created the short Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Bloom which won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Cartoons. Kimball has a very intriguing history at Disney, and I thought we would explore that in this blog.

When Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was in production, Walt assigned Ward Kimball to do some animation for the Seven Dwarfs. Kimball began work on a “soup” sequence for the film, which was to take place right after the scene where the little people wash up for dinner. Kimball spent eight months working on the sequence and it finally got to the point of being to be “inked and painted,” and edited into the film. Unfortunately, not long after it reached that point, Walt called Ward into his office and explain that-as well as the sequence worked-it delayed the timing of the film’s storytelling and sadly, would have to be cut for the film. Ward was devastated beyond belief, but Walt said, “Don’t fret. I have a great new character I want you to be in charge of animating.” The character was Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio (1940).

In addition to Jiminy Cricket, Ward Kimball was also responsible for animating the Crows in Dumbo (1941), Ichabod Crane in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949), Lucifer the Cat, and Gus and Jaq and the Mice in Cinderella (1950), The White Rabbit, and Tweedledee and Tweedledum in Alice in Wonderland (1951), The Lost Boys and the Darling Children in Peter Pan (1953) and the Pearly Band in Mary Poppins (1964). When he was promoted to director, he also directed shorts called Melody (1953), Cosmic Capers (1957), and The Mickey Mouse Anniversary Show (1968). He received an Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Cartoons for directing the short It’s Tough to Be a Bird (1969), which made him the only one of Walt’s “Nine Old Men” to win an Oscar.

Besides being a highly regarded animator at the studio, Ward Kimball also founded and led the Dixieland band Firehouse Five Plus Two in which he played the trombone, having been a jazz trombonist before becoming an animator. (Frank Thomas, another one of Walt’s “Nine Old Men” was also in the band as the piano player.) Ward Kimball also shared Walt Disney’s love of railroads/trains and he even helped Walt create the “Disneyland Railroad” attraction at Disneyland. Because his help, Walt reciprocated with his own assistance to help Ward Kimball build a railroad in his own backyard in which he nicknamed “Grizzly Flats Railroad.” (Ollie Johnston, another one of Walt’s “Nine Old Men,” and a close friend of Ward Kimball, also worked on “Grizzly Flats Railroad.”) Kimball also created the EPCOT attraction known as “World of Motion” which was at EPCOT from 1982-1996. It was replaced by the attraction “Test Track” in 1998. 

Ward Kimball’s last projects to work on for Disney before his retirement in 1972 were directing the animation in Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), and designing the titles for The Million Dollar Duck (1971). He also produced and directed the Disney television show The Mouse Factory (1971-1973).

Ward Kimball is truly one of the most unique Disney artists of all time. Throughout his career, he worked his way up from being an animator, to a director, to theme park attraction designer. And he even found time to form a band at the studio along with other animators! Having shared many things in common with Walt Disney, Ward Kimball helped keep the Disney legacy of magical storytelling alive, but he also has a legacy of his own: his humorous characters and the “Disneyland Railroad” attraction. Through his wonderful artistry, Ward Kimball inspired the whole world to hold on to special things about your childhood, or as Peter Pan might say, to “never grow up.”