Thurl Ravenscroft

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Thurl Ravenscroft
Crystal Cathedral Memorial Gardens, Garden Grove, California
Alma materOtis College of Art and Design
Occupations
  • Actor
  • singer
Years active1939–2005
Spouse
June Seamans
(m. 1946; died 1999)
Children2

Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft (

Christmas television special, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas![1]

Ravenscroft did voice-over work and singing for

.

His voice acting career began in 1939 and lasted until his death in 2005 at age 91.[2]

Early life and career

Ravenscroft left his native

Big Band Era, including backup for Bing Crosby, Frankie Laine, Spike Jones, Jo Stafford, and Rosemary Clooney. Their earliest contribution to a Disney film was for Pinocchio (1940), to which they contributed the song "Honest John". This was deleted from the film, but can still be heard in the supplements on the 2009 DVD. Ravenscroft also voiced Monstro the Whale in Pinocchio. The Mellomen contributed to other Disney films, such as Alice in Wonderland and Lady and the Tramp. The group appeared on camera in a few episodes of the Disney anthology television series; in one instance recording a canine chorus for Lady and the Tramp and in another as a barbershop quartet that reminds Walt Disney
of the name of the young newspaper reporter Gallegher.

Ravenscroft is also heard with the quartet on some of the Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes with Mel Blanc at Warner Bros. as well as on radio "driving Jack Benny crazy" on The Jack Benny Program as part of The Sportsmen Quartet.

During World War II, Ravenscroft served as a keeper

U.S. Air Transport Command, spending five years flying courier missions across the north and south Atlantic. Among the notables carried on board his flights were Winston Churchill and Bob Hope. As he told an interviewer: "I flew Winston Churchill to a conference in Algiers and flew Bob Hope to the troops a couple of times. So it was fun."[3]

Ravenscroft sang bass on Rosemary Clooney's "This Ole House", which went to No. 1 in both the United States and Britain in 1954, as well as Stuart Hamblen's original version of that same song. He sang on the soundtrack for Ken Clark as "Stewpot" in South Pacific, one of the top-selling albums of the 1950s. He also backed The DeCastro Sisters on their 1955 top 20 hit, "Boom Boom Boomerang."[4] Singing with the Johnny Mann Singers,[5] his distinctive bass can also be heard as part of the chorus on 28 of their albums that were released during the 1960s and 1970s. He was also the bass singer on Bobby Vee's 1960 Liberty hit record "Devil or Angel". Andy Williams' recording of "The 12 Days of Christmas" features him as well. His work with Spike Jones included singing "I Was a Teenaged Brain Surgeon" for the 1959 album Spike Jones in Stereo.

He sang the opening songs for the two Disney serials used on The Mickey Mouse Club, Boys of the Western Sea and The Hardy Boys: Mystery of the Applegate Treasure.

He sang the "Twitterpatter Song" and "Thumper's Song" on the Disneyland record Peter Cottontail and other Funny Bunnies.

On the Disneyland record All About Dragons, he both provided the narration and sang the songs "The Reluctant Dragon" and "The Loch Ness Monster".[6]

His voice was heard during the

Enchanted Tiki Room as the voice of Fritz the Animatronics parrot, as well as the tree-like Tangaroa tiki god in the pre-show outside the attraction. He was also the voice of the Disneyland Railroad in the 1990s. Further roles include that of The First Mate on The Mark Twain Riverboat, a spokesalien for Tokyo Disneyland's Pan Galactic Pizza Port restaurant, and the American bison head named Buff at The Country Bear Jamboree.[8]

Later career

One of Ravenscroft's best-known uncredited works is as the vocalist for the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch." His name was accidentally omitted from the credits, leading many to believe that the cartoon's narrator, Boris Karloff, sang the song, while others cited Tennessee Ernie Ford as the song's signature voice.[1] The song, now credited to Ravenscroft, peaked on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart at number 32 for the week ending January 2, 2021. Thanks to "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch", Thurl Ravenscroft has officially hit the Top 40 as a solo artist.[9]

Ravenscroft also sang "

Snoopy, Come Home and I Was a Teenaged Brain Surgeon for Spike Jones
.

For more than 50 years, he was the uncredited voice of

Kellogg's Frosted Flakes. His booming bass gave the cereal's tiger mascot a voice with the catchphrase "They're g-r-r-r-eat!!!!".[10]

Various record companies, such as Abbott, Coral, Brunswick, and "X" (a division of

Mr. Bass Man". The Mellomen released some doo-wop records under the name Big John & the Buzzards, a name apparently given to them by the rock-and-roll-hating Mitch Miller
.

A devoted Christian, he appeared on many religious television shows such as

The Hour of Power. In 1970, he recorded an album called Great Hymns in Story and Song, which featured him singing 10 hymns, each prefaced with the stories of how each hymn came to be, with the background vocals and instrumentals arranged and conducted by Ralph Carmichael
.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Ravenscroft was narrator for the annual Pageant of the Masters art show at the Laguna Beach, California, Festival of the Arts.

Later life and death

Ravenscroft married June Seamans in 1946 and they had two children. June died in 1999.

Ravenscroft died at his home on May 22, 2005, from

Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California.[2]

In the June 6, 2005, issue of the advertising industry journal

Advertising Age, Kellogg's ran an advertisement commemorating Ravenscroft, the headline
reading: "Behind every great character is an even greater man."

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1940 Pinocchio Monstro the Whale Voice
Isle of Destiny Sportsman Quartet Member
Little Blabbermouse
Bad Tobacco Face Voice
Prehistoric Porky
Bass Lizard
1941 Dumbo Singer of "Look Out For Mr. Stork" and "Pink Elephants on Parade"
The Nifty Nineties Singer
1942 Wacky Blackout Carrier Pigeon singing
Saludos Amigos Singer of the main title theme
1944 Springtime for Pluto Singing Caterpillar Short, Voice
1948 Melody Time Singer Voice
1951 Alice in Wonderland Card Painter
Rooty Toot Toot Jonathan Bailey a.k.a. "Honest John the Crook"
1952 Jack and the Beanstalk Singing voices of two villagers
1953 Peter Pan Singer / Pirates Voice
Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom Singer
1954 Rose Marie Medicine Man
1955 Daddy Long Legs Daydream Sequence Song Short, Voice
Lady and the Tramp Al the Alligator / Singing Pound Dogs Voice
1956 Design for Dreaming (singer)
Hardy Boys Theme Song
1958 Paul Bunyan Paul Bunyan Short, Voice
1959 Sleeping Beauty Singer
1961 One Hundred and One Dalmatians Captain the Horse Voice
1962 Gay Purr-ee Hench Cat
1963 The Sword in the Stone Sir Bart
1964 Mary Poppins Banker / Pig
1965 The Man from Button Willow Singer / Reverend / Saloon Man
1966 How the Grinch Stole Christmas Singer of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch"
1967 The Jungle Book Colonel Hathi's crew
The War Wagon Backup singer on main theme
1968/1977 Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day/The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh Singer/Black Honeypot
1969 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Singing Voice performed "South American Getaway"
The Trouble with Girls Bass Singer with the Bible Singers Quartet (The Mellomen)
1970 Horton Hears a Who! Wickersham Brother
The Phantom Tollbooth Lethargians
The Aristocats Billy Bass - Russian Cat Voice
1971 The Cat in the Hat Thing One Voice
Bedknobs and Broomsticks Singing voice of Russian vendor / Various cartoon animal voices
1972
Snoopy, Come Home
Singer of "No Dogs Allowed" Voice
The Lorax Singer Voice
1977 The Hobbit Goblins/Chorus Voice
Halloween Is Grinch Night Singer / Monsters Voice
Donny & Marie Darth Vader / Narrator Star Wars Segment
1987
The Brave Little Toaster
Kirby Voice
1990 Disney Sing Along Songs: Disneyland Fun – It's a Small World Singer of "Grim Grinning Ghosts"
1996 Superior Duck The Narrator Voice
1997 The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue Kirby Voice
1998 The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1995 The Baby Huey Show General Does-Little Voice; ep. "Target...Huey!"

Commercials

Year Title Role
late 1970s-early 1980s
Toys R Us
Geoffrey the Giraffe
1953–2005
Kellogg's Frosted Flakes
Tony the Tiger

Partial solo discography

  • Mad, Baby, Mad – 1955 (Fabor)
  • I Ain't Afraid – 1956 (Bally)
  • You Wanna Talk About Texas – 1956
  • Wing Ding Ding – 1956
  • Big Paul Bunyan – 1962 (Globe)
  • Gold Dubloons and Pieces of Eight – 1962 (The Hardy Boys: Mystery of the Applegate Treasure)
  • The Headless Horseman – 1965 (Disney)
  • Great Hymns In Story And Song – 1970 (Light)
  • Nathaniel the Grublet (In Direwood) – 1979 (Birdwing)
  • Psalms and Selahs – 2002

References

  1. ^ a b McCracken, Elizabeth (December 25, 2003). "Our Cereal Hero". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 4, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Thurl Ravenscroft, Voice of Tony the Tiger, Dies at 89". The New York Times. Associated Press. May 25, 2003. Retrieved March 23, 2012.
  3. ^ Heintjes, Tom (November 14, 2012). "He's Grrrrreat! The Thurl Ravenscroft Interview". Hogan's Alley. Archived from the original on April 5, 2013. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  4. ^ "1955 HITS ARCHIVE: Boom Boom Boomerang - De Castro Sisters". YouTube.
  5. ^ "560 KSFO Radio - the Sound of the City". Archived from the original on January 17, 2014. Retrieved December 17, 2013.
  6. ^ Disneyland Record "All About Dragons", DQ-1301.
  7. ^ "Listen to the Unmistakable Voice of Thurl Ravenscroft". 365 Days of Magic. June 6, 2013. Archived from the original on November 4, 2013. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  8. ^ "Insider - Oh My Disney". Oh My Disney.
  9. ^ "The Hot 100 Chart". Billboard.
  10. ^ Breton, Marcos (May 3, 1987). "He's 'G-r-r-r-eat!!!' : Tony the Tiger Voices Pleasure". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 23, 2012.

External links