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Donald "Don" Messick (September 7 1926 – October 24 1997) was an American voice actor, one of the most prolific voice actors of the second half of the 20th century.
Messick, a native of Buffalo, New York, was most famous as the voice of several Hanna-Barbera characters, including Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, Boo-Boo Bear, Muttley from Wacky Races and Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines, The Jetsonsâ??s dog Astro, and Jonny Questâ??s father Dr. Benton Quest.
Messick first wanted to be a ventriloquist, and even for a time supported himself as one. His big break came in the mid-1940s. At MGM, Tex Avery was doing the Droopy Dog cartoons. The regular voice actor, radio actor Bill Thompson, was not available. Daws Butler, who voiced characters for MGM, suggested that Avery seek out Messick. And so, Messick was called on to voice Droopy. Later, in the mid-1950s, when Bill Thompson parted ways with MGM, Messick took over the role of Droopy.
Messick and Butler became a voice acting team for the Hanna-Barbera unit in 1957 with the arrival of Ruff and Reddy. Don was Ruff the cat and the Droopy-sounding Professor Gizmo. Butler was the southern-speaking dog, Reddy. Messick also narrated the show, which played out like an animated soap opera.
From 1957 to 1965, Butler and Messick gave voice to a staggering number of characters. Always the side-kick, Messickâ??s characters werenâ??t headliners. His notable roles in this era were â??Boo-Booâ??, â??Ranger Smithâ??, â??Major Minorâ??,
â??Pixie Mouseâ??, â??Astroâ??, and â??Uniblabâ??.
Messick was used primarily for his narration skills, which were heard on all of those cartoons that Daws Butler starred in. The off-camera voice telling us about the latest fiasco Quick Draw McGraw got himself into was Don Messick. Butler was Quick Draw and his Mexican side-kick, Baba Looey. Messick would eventually star in a cartoon series: Ricochet Rabbit. This character was paired with the slow-poke Deputy Droop-a-Long (Mel Blanc voiced the deputy).
The outer space cartoons were where Messick really shone. His unique gift at creating noises and sounds for weird space creatures and aliens really helped the space cartoons in a big way. His â??Ranger Smithâ?? voice was often heard as space villains. His narrator voice was given to â??Vapor Man,â?? â??Dr. Benton Quest,â?? and â??Multi Man.â??
In 1969, he was cast as the cowardly canine â??Scooby-Dooâ?? on Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!. This role would remain Messickâ??s biggest and best-known. He voiced the Great Dane through all of the various versions of Scooby-Doo: on TV in numerous formats from 1969 to 1985, four telefilms, and a number of commercials as well. Messick was still voicing the role when A Pup Named Scooby-Doo came along from 1988 to 1991.
In the mid-1980s, new episodes of The Jetsons were produced. Messick was back as Astro, RUDI, and new voice Uniblab, a pesky robot that worked for Mr. Spacely (voice of Mel Blanc). His narrating voice was heard on Hong Kong Phooey (1974) and Laff-a-Lympics (1977).
In the 1980s his biggest role was Ratchet, the Autobot doctor, Gears, and Constructicon Scavenger on The Transformers. He also voiced Papa Smurf on the Smurfs series from 1981 to 1990.
In the 1990s, he voiced Hamton J. Pig in FOXâ??s Tiny Toon Adventures and its spin-offs from 1991 to 1995. FOX also had Messick return to his Droopy character for Droopy: Master Detective in 1993.
In 1996, at the age of 70, Messick suffered a stroke while inside a cartoon studio recording voices. It has been said that Messick turned pale, looked over at the director and said: â??I canâ??t do this anymoreâ??, then stumbled out to his car and drove home. A week later, Messickâ??s agent sent word that he had retired.
On October 24 1997, at age 71, Messick suffered a second stroke and died of complications shortly afterward.
Trivia
At a speaking engagement in London, shortly before his first stroke, Messick performed "as" many of his characters... except Scooby Doo. He claimed that giving up smoking had robbed him of the rasp in the voice that he needed. The opening words to his speech were "I'm so happy to be here", voiced as Droopy, the intonation therefore giving the exact opposite message to the words. He brought the house down.
External links
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