The Walt Disney Family Album - Voice Artists (1985)

The Walt Disney Family Album was a monthly series on the recently launched Disney Channel that showcased the people Walt Disney collaborated with on many of his creations. The development of this series was a perfect storm. The brand new Disney Channel needed new content, there were a bunch of young people recently starting out at the studio learning from these masters, and many of these people were working on the lot or retiring and wanted to share their stories with the world. At the time people had their entire careers at Walt Disney Productions. Not so today.

The series was produced on a shoestring budget. Pretty much the crew was sent out with cameras to interview various people and put these shows together. It was a pet project of former Disney CEO Card Walker who'd been at the studio since the 1938 when he started as a mail clerk and personally knew all of these people and their important contributions to the studio. Walker cared very much about history and understood the importance of the Walt Disney legacy being preserved.

Walt's friend and Disney Legend Buddy Ebsen narrates the series. He starred in several Walt Disney films including Davy Crockett and The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band. He was also the first live action reference model for what became audioanimatronics. The theme song was written by future film score composer John Debney. His father had been a producer on the lot for decades and John started out his music career with Disney. The opening title was put together by John Lasseter in one of his final projects for Walt Disney Feature Animation. He was trying to get computer animation in at Walt Disney Productions and was eventually fired for he. He would eventually become one of the driving forces behind Pixar and would return to head Walt Disney Feature Animation in 2006.

In the long run, the Walt Disney Family Album proved to be a tremendous historical record as many of these people passed away shortly after being interviewed. There were plans to continue this series but when the Eisner regime took over, they shut it down because it was a Card Walker project. It's a great tragedy because who's stories never got to be told because they were robbed of this opportunity...There needs to be a revival of this series to chronicle the careers of the people at Disney in the 80's and 90's as they're retiring and could be gone in the coming decades.

The Walt Disney Family Album aired on the Disney Channel in reruns off and on up through the early 2000's when it aired on Vault Disney. It hasn't been seen since but sometimes interviews have been excerpted in other documentaries.

This twelfth episode focuses on many of the Disney voice artists behind our favorite Walt Disney characters.

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Clarence "Ducky" Nash the voice of Donald Duck who had recently passed away and was the subject of the very first episode. He was named a Disney legend in 1993.

Here are who we meet and what characters they voiced.

- Pearl Bailey was Big Mama in The Fox & the Hound. This footage can be seen in full on The illusion of life episode hosted by Hayley Mills in this archive. Bailey had been a popular jazz artist and Broadway actress in the golden and silver age of both areas of the performing arts.

- Walt Disney was the original voice of Mickey Mouse. People never think of him as being the original cartoon voice actor but he was.

- Jimmy MacDonald was the voice of Mickey Mouse after Walt couldn't do it anymore. He also voiced numerous rodents and animals in various animated films. He was named a Disney Legend in 1993.

- Wayne Allwine took over as the voice of Mickey Mouse and remained Mickey until his death in 2009. In the early 1980's he also provided other voices in such films as Mickey's Christmas Carol and The Great Mouse Detective before being Mickey full time. He was named a Disney Legend in 2008.

- Phil Harris was Baloo in The Jungle Book, Little John in Robin Hood, and Thomas O'Mally in The Aristocats. He was a friend of Walt's who brought him in on The Jungle Book and whom the animators kept around on the next two animated features as a voice. While not a Disney Legend, he should be.
- Eva Gabor was both Duchess in The Aristocats and Miss Bianca in The Rescuers. While not a Disney Legend, she should be.

- Paul Winchell was the original voice of Tigger and he also voiced Zummi Gummi in the first few seasons for The Adventures of the Gummi Bears. For Hanna-Barbera he was also Dick Dastardly and Gargamel. He was the vantriloquist of Jerry Mahony and is co-inventor of the artificial heart. While not a Disney Legend, he should be.

- Sterling Holloway is perhaps most famous for being the original voice of Winnie the Pooh but he was also Mr Stork in Dumbo, the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland, Kaa in the Jungle Book, Amos the Mouse in Ben & Me, Roquefort the Mouse in The Aristocats, and narrated several Disney animated short cartoons and LP records. He was named a Disney Legend in 1991.

- Will Ryan started with Disney in the early 1980's and he was the voice of Willie the Giant, Black/Pegleg Pete, Tigger, and Rabbit during this period. He was also part of the voice cast on several of the very first Disney Afternoon shows. While not a Disney Legend, he should be.

- Hal Smith was the voice of Goofy during this period as well as a few other characters including the original Owl in Winnie the Pooh. He was also part of the voice cast on several of the very first Disney Afternoon shows. While not a Disney Legend, he should be.

- Alan Young, starting with Mickey's Christmas Carol, was the main voice for Uncle Scrooge McDuck for decades. He was also the voice of Hiram Flaversham in The Great mouse Detective. While not a Disney Legend, he should be.

- Adriana Caselotti was the voice of Snow White. She also sang in the Wizard of Oz and It's a Wonderful Life. She was named a Disney Legend in 1994.

- Dickie Jones was the voice of Pinocchio. He'd been a child actor of the time in everything from the Yearling to Mr Smith Goes to Washington. People today don't realize he was one of the major child actors of the time. He was named a Disney Legend in 2000.

- Kathryn Beaumont was the voice of both Alice in Alice in Wonderland and Wendy in Peter Pan. She was named a Disney Legend in 1998.

- John Byner was Gurgi in The Black Cauldron. He was a well known comedian and voice impressionist.

- John Hurt was the Horned King in The Black Cauldron. He was a well know stage actor who's done everything from Shakespeare to Hellboy.

Frank Thomas of the Nine Old Men also makes an appearance to add context to what a good voice actor for animation is. He was named a Disney Legend in 1989 along with the other Nine Old Men.

Original air date May 2, 1985

Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.