June Foray
Encyclopedia
June Foray is an American voice actress
, best known as the voice of many animated
characters (particularly Lucifer from Cinderella
, Rocky the Flying Squirrel
, Cindy Lou Who
, Jokey Smurf, Witch Hazel, Granny
, Natasha Fatale
and Nell Fenwick). Her career has encompassed radio, theatrical shorts, feature films, television, record albums (particularly with Stan Freberg
), video games, talking toys and other media. Foray was also one of the founding members of ASIFA-Hollywood
, the society devoted to promoting and encouraging animation.
, on September 18, 1917 (but some sources have incorrectly cited 1918, 1919 and 1920 as her year of birth). There her voice was first broadcast in a local radio
drama when she was 12 years old; by age 15, she was doing regular radio voice work. Two years later, she moved to Los Angeles, California
, and soon became a popular voice actress on radio, with regular appearances on coast-to-coast broadcasts starring Jimmy Durante
, Bob Hope
and Danny Thomas
.
For Walt Disney
, she played Lucifer the Cat in the feature film
Cinderella
, a mermaid in Peter Pan
and her Witch Hazel character; Foray would later be the voice of Grandmother Fa in Mulan in 1998; she also did a variety of voices in Walter Lantz
's Woody Woodpecker
cartoons. For Warner Brothers Cartoons, she was Granny
(whom she has played, on and off, since 1955, taking over for Bea Benaderet
), owner of Tweety
and Sylvester, and, memorably, a series of witches, including Witch Hazel
, for Chuck Jones
.
She voice acted on The Smurfs
as Jokey Smurf and Mother Nature, Ursula in George of the Jungle
, and on How the Grinch Stole Christmas
as Cindy Lou Who, asking "Santa" why he's taking their tree. She was the voice of the original "Chatty Cathy
" doll.
She voiced evil characters as well, such as the "Talky Tina" doll in the iconic The Twilight Zone
episode ("Living Doll
") as well as all of the female roles in Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
(1975), including the villainous cobra Nagaina. (Legendary actor and director Orson Welles
voiced her husband, the cobra "Nag".)
Foray worked for Hanna-Barbera
, including The Flintstones
, Tom and Jerry
, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
, The Jetsons
and many others. She has done extensive voice acting for Stan Freberg
's commercials, albums and 1957 radio series, memorably as secretary to the werewolf advertising executive. Foray has also appeared in several Rankin/Bass
TV specials in the 1960s and 1970s, most notably as the original voice of the young girl, Karen, in the TV special, Frosty the Snowman (although only her singing parts remain in current airings, after Rankin-Bass re-edited the special a few years after it debuted, with Foray's speaking parts re-dubbed with an uncredited voice).
Most recognizable, though, is her work for Jay Ward
: she played nearly every female on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
, including Natasha Fatale
and Nell Fenwick, as well as male lead character Rocket J. Squirrel (a.k.a. Rocky Squirrel). Foray also voiced Magica De Spell
and Ma Beagle in the televised cartoon DuckTales
. Most significantly in the later part of her career, she had a leading role voicing Grammi Gummi on the television series, Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears
, Walt Disney Pictures' first major animated television series, where she worked with her Rocky & Bullwinkle co-star Bill Scott for the final time until his death in 1985.
Foray and Stan Freberg are among the few surviving voice artists from the Golden Age of theatrical cartoons. She remains active to this day, with roles in recent animated
film
s, such as Mulan
(as Grandmother Fa) and Looney Tunes: Back in Action
. Around 2003, she was a special guest star in an episode of the Powerpuff Girls. She is also known for voicing Wheezy, one of the toon patrol weasels in Who Framed Roger Rabbit
. In October 2006, she portrayed Susan B. Anthony
on three episodes of the podcast The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd
.
Renowned animator/director Chuck Jones
is reported to have said, "June Foray is not the female Mel Blanc
, Mel Blanc was the male June Foray."
In 1995, ASIFA-Hollywood
, a chapter of the Association Internationale du Film d'Animation (the International Animated Film Association
), established the June Foray Award, which is awarded to "individuals who have made a significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation." Foray was the first recipient of the award. In 2007, Foray became a contributor to ASIFA-Hollywood's Animation Archive Project.
In 2007, Britt Irvin
became the first person ever to voice a character in a cartoon remake that had been previously voiced by Foray in the original series (and so far is the only person ever to have done so), when she started voicing the character Ursula (Foray's former character) in the new George of the Jungle cartoon series on the Cartoon Network
. Foray was also the voice of Queen Tabitha in the Don Bluth film, Thumbelina
.
Foray guest-voiced only once on The Simpsons
, in the Season 1 episode "Some Enchanted Evening
" as the receptionist for the Rubber Baby Buggy Bumper Babysitting Service. This was a play on a Rocky & Bullwinkle gag years earlier in which none of the cartoon's characters, including narrator William Conrad
, was able to pronounce "rubber baby buggy bumpers" unerringly. Foray was later homage
d in The Simpsons, in the season 8 episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show
" in which a character named June Bellamy is introduced as the voice behind both Itchy & Scratchy
. She was voiced by series regular Tress MacNeille
, though her "Itchy" and "Scratchy" voices were performed by Dan Castellaneta
and Harry Shearer
, respectively.
Foray appeared on camera in a major role only once, in Sabaka
as a high priestess of a fire cult. She also appeared on camera in an episode of Green Acres
as a Mexican telephone operator.
She was often called for ADR voice work for television and feature films some notable works include dubbing the voice for Mary Badham
in the Twilight Zone
episode "The Bewitchin' Pool" and the voices for Sean and Michael Brody in some scenes of Jaws (film)
, it was mostly because the children's voices were difficult to distinguish during windy day filming.
In 1991, she provided her voice as the sock-puppet talk-show-host Scary Mary on the television show Married With Children. She played gag cameos in both 1992's Boris & Natasha
and 2000's The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
. Another on-camera appearance was in the 1984 TV sitcom The Duck Factory
, which starred Jim Carrey
.
In 2000, Foray reprised her role as Rocky the Flying Squirrel in Universal Pictures
' live-action/CGI animated film The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
, co-starring and produced by Robert DeNiro. On Season Three, Episode One ("The Thin White Line
") of Family Guy
, Foray reprised her role as Rocky the Flying Squirrel in a visual gag with a single line ("And now, here's something we hope you'll really like!"). She also voices Kamek the evil Magikoopa in the Mario Series.
June Foray was also a regular on my grandfather's raido program and also on his television show "Smilin' Ed's Gang. She contnued there after my grandfathers death in 1954 with Andy Devine when he took over the show.
. In November 2009, Foray appeared twice on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack
: in one episode as Ruth, a pie-maker trapped in Bubbie's stomach, and in another episode as Kelly, a young boy having a birthday party and as Kelly's Mom and Captain K'Nuckles' kindergarten teacher.
In 2011, Foray reprised her role as Granny in Cartoon Network
's new series, The Looney Tunes Show
. That year, she received the Comic-Con Icon Award at the 2011 Scream Awards
.
Voice acting
Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...
, best known as the voice of many animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
characters (particularly Lucifer from Cinderella
Cinderella (1950 film)
Cinderella is a 1950 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the fairy tale "Cendrillon" by Charles Perrault. Twelfth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film had a limited release on February 15, 1950 by RKO Radio Pictures. Directing credits go to Clyde Geronimi,...
, Rocky the Flying Squirrel
Rocky the Flying Squirrel
Rocket J. Squirrel, usually called by the nickname "Rocky", is the name of the flying squirrel protagonist of the 1959-1964 animated television series Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show , produced by Jay Ward. Rocky's sidekick is the cartoon moose, Bullwinkle...
, Cindy Lou Who
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a children's story by Dr. Seuss written in rhymed verse with illustrations by the author. It was published as a book by Random House in 1957, and at approximately the same time in an issue of Redbook...
, Jokey Smurf, Witch Hazel, Granny
Granny (Looney Tunes)
Granny is a co-star of many Sylvester the Cat and Tweety Bird animated shorts throughout the 1950s and 1960s, is a Looney Tunes character that was created by Tex Avery. She is the owner of Tweety . Granny's voice was first provided by Bea Benaderet from 1937 through 1953...
, Natasha Fatale
Natasha Fatale
Natasha Fatale is a fictional character in the 1960s animated cartoons Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show, collectively referred to as Rocky and Bullwinkle for short...
and Nell Fenwick). Her career has encompassed radio, theatrical shorts, feature films, television, record albums (particularly with Stan Freberg
Stan Freberg
Stanley Victor "Stan" Freberg is an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer, and advertising creative director whose career began in 1944...
), video games, talking toys and other media. Foray was also one of the founding members of ASIFA-Hollywood
ASIFA-Hollywood
ASIFA-Hollywood, a non-profit organization in Los Angeles, California, USA, which is a branch member of the "Association Internationale du Film d'Animation" or "ASIFA"...
, the society devoted to promoting and encouraging animation.
Early life
Foray was born as June Lucille Forer, the second of three children (the other two were her elder brother Bertram and younger sister Geraldine) of Maurice Forer and Ida E. Robinson in Springfield, MassachusettsSpringfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
, on September 18, 1917 (but some sources have incorrectly cited 1918, 1919 and 1920 as her year of birth). There her voice was first broadcast in a local radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
drama when she was 12 years old; by age 15, she was doing regular radio voice work. Two years later, she moved to Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, and soon became a popular voice actress on radio, with regular appearances on coast-to-coast broadcasts starring Jimmy Durante
Jimmy Durante
James Francis "Jimmy" Durante was an American singer, pianist, comedian and actor. His distinctive clipped gravelly speech, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and large nose helped make him one of America's most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s...
, Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
and Danny Thomas
Danny Thomas
Danny Thomas was an American nightclub comedian and television and film actor, best known for starring in the television sitcom Make Room for Daddy . He was also the founder of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital...
.
Acting career
In the 1940s, she also began film work, including a few appearances acting in live-action movies, but mostly doing voiceovers for animated cartoons. At 4 in 11 in (1.5 m), Foray's diminutive stature somewhat limited her stage and on-camera acting career.For Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
, she played Lucifer the Cat in the feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
Cinderella
Cinderella (1950 film)
Cinderella is a 1950 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the fairy tale "Cendrillon" by Charles Perrault. Twelfth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film had a limited release on February 15, 1950 by RKO Radio Pictures. Directing credits go to Clyde Geronimi,...
, a mermaid in Peter Pan
Peter Pan (1953 film)
Peter Pan is a 1953 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by J. M. Barrie. It is the fourteenth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and was originally released on February 5, 1953 by RKO Pictures...
and her Witch Hazel character; Foray would later be the voice of Grandmother Fa in Mulan in 1998; she also did a variety of voices in Walter Lantz
Walter Lantz
Walter Benjamin Lantz was an American cartoonist, animator, film producer, and director, best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker.-Early years and start in animation:...
's Woody Woodpecker
Woody Woodpecker
Woody Woodpecker is an animated cartoon character, an anthropomorphic acorn woodpecker who appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz animation studio and distributed by Universal Pictures...
cartoons. For Warner Brothers Cartoons, she was Granny
Granny (Looney Tunes)
Granny is a co-star of many Sylvester the Cat and Tweety Bird animated shorts throughout the 1950s and 1960s, is a Looney Tunes character that was created by Tex Avery. She is the owner of Tweety . Granny's voice was first provided by Bea Benaderet from 1937 through 1953...
(whom she has played, on and off, since 1955, taking over for Bea Benaderet
Bea Benaderet
Bea Benaderet was an American actress born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, California. She is best remembered for her wide variety of television work, which included a starring role in the 1960s television series Petticoat Junction and Green Acres as Shady Rest Hotel owner Kate...
), owner of Tweety
Tweety
Tweety Bird is a fictional Yellow Canary in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated cartoons. The name "Tweety" is a play on words, as it originally meant "sweetie", along with "tweet" being a typical English onomatopoeia for the sounds of birds...
and Sylvester, and, memorably, a series of witches, including Witch Hazel
Witch Hazel (Looney Tunes)
Witch Hazel is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. Disney, MGM, Famous Studios, and the Little Lulu comic book also had characters named Witch Hazel, and Rembrandt Films had one named Hazel Witch. This article is chiefly concerned...
, for Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
.
She voice acted on The Smurfs
The Smurfs (1981 TV series)
The Smurfs is an American animated television series that aired on NBC from September 12, 1981 to August 25, 1990...
as Jokey Smurf and Mother Nature, Ursula in George of the Jungle
George of the Jungle
George of the Jungle was an American animated series produced by Jay Ward and Bill Scott, who created The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. The character George was inspired by the legend of Tarzan. It ran for 17 episodes on Saturday mornings from September 9 to December 30, 1967, on the American TV...
, and on How the Grinch Stole Christmas
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a children's story by Dr. Seuss written in rhymed verse with illustrations by the author. It was published as a book by Random House in 1957, and at approximately the same time in an issue of Redbook...
as Cindy Lou Who, asking "Santa" why he's taking their tree. She was the voice of the original "Chatty Cathy
Chatty Cathy
Chatty Cathy is a doll manufactured by the Mattel toy company from 1959 to 1965. The doll was first released in stores and appeared in television commercials beginning in 1960. Chatty Cathy celebrated her 50th birthday in 2010....
" doll.
She voiced evil characters as well, such as the "Talky Tina" doll in the iconic The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
episode ("Living Doll
Living Doll (The Twilight Zone)
"Living Doll" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:Little Christie's mother, Annabelle, buys her a new doll, trying to make up for her new stepfather's indifference. As they pull into the driveway, Annabelle instructs Christie to run upstairs with...
") as well as all of the female roles in Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is a short story in The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling about the adventures of a valiant young mongoose.The story is notable for its frightening and serious tone. It has often been anthologised and has also been published more than once as a short book in its own right...
(1975), including the villainous cobra Nagaina. (Legendary actor and director Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
voiced her husband, the cobra "Nag".)
Foray worked for Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
, including The Flintstones
The Flintstones
The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that screened from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. It...
, Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...
, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
Scooby-Doo, Where are You!
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is the first incarnation of the long-running Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon Scooby-Doo. It premiered on September 13, 1969 at 10:30 a.m. EST and ran for two seasons on CBS as a half-hour long show. Twenty-five episodes were produced...
, The Jetsons
The Jetsons
The Jetsons is a animated American sitcom that was produced by Hanna-Barbera, originally airing in prime-time from 1962–1963 and again from 1985–1987...
and many others. She has done extensive voice acting for Stan Freberg
Stan Freberg
Stanley Victor "Stan" Freberg is an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer, and advertising creative director whose career began in 1944...
's commercials, albums and 1957 radio series, memorably as secretary to the werewolf advertising executive. Foray has also appeared in several Rankin/Bass
Rankin/Bass
Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. , also known as Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment, was an American production company, known for its seasonal television specials, particularly its work in stop-motion animation. The pre-1974 library is currently owned by Classic Media,while the post-1974 library is...
TV specials in the 1960s and 1970s, most notably as the original voice of the young girl, Karen, in the TV special, Frosty the Snowman (although only her singing parts remain in current airings, after Rankin-Bass re-edited the special a few years after it debuted, with Foray's speaking parts re-dubbed with an uncredited voice).
Most recognizable, though, is her work for Jay Ward
Jay Ward
J Troplong "Jay" Ward was an American creator and producer of animated television cartoons. He produced animated series based on such characters as Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right, Peabody and Sherman, Hoppity Hooper, George of the Jungle, Tom Slick, and Super Chicken...
: she played nearly every female on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959 to June 28, 1964 on the ABC and NBC television networks...
, including Natasha Fatale
Natasha Fatale
Natasha Fatale is a fictional character in the 1960s animated cartoons Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show, collectively referred to as Rocky and Bullwinkle for short...
and Nell Fenwick, as well as male lead character Rocket J. Squirrel (a.k.a. Rocky Squirrel). Foray also voiced Magica De Spell
Magica De Spell
Magica De Spell is a fictional character of the Scrooge McDuck universe, a sorceress created by Carl Barks. She constantly steals or attempts to steal Scrooge McDuck's Number One Dime, which she believes will play a vital role in magically obtaining the same fabulous wealth of its...
and Ma Beagle in the televised cartoon DuckTales
DuckTales
DuckTales is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. Based on Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge comic book series, it premiered on September 18, 1987 and ended on November 28, 1990 with a total of four seasons and 100 episodes...
. Most significantly in the later part of her career, she had a leading role voicing Grammi Gummi on the television series, Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears is an American animated television series that aired in the United States in the mid-1980s through the early 1990s...
, Walt Disney Pictures' first major animated television series, where she worked with her Rocky & Bullwinkle co-star Bill Scott for the final time until his death in 1985.
Foray and Stan Freberg are among the few surviving voice artists from the Golden Age of theatrical cartoons. She remains active to this day, with roles in recent animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s, such as Mulan
Mulan
Mulan is a 1998 American animated film directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook, with story by Robert D. San Souci and screenplay by Rita Hsiao, Philip LaZebnik, Chris Sanders, Eugenia Bostwick-Singer, and Raymond Singer. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney...
(as Grandmother Fa) and Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Looney Tunes: Back in Action is a 2003 American live action/animated adventure comedy film directed by Joe Dante and starring Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Timothy Dalton, and Steve Martin. The film is essentially a feature-length Looney Tunes cartoon, with all the wackiness and surrealism typical...
. Around 2003, she was a special guest star in an episode of the Powerpuff Girls. She is also known for voicing Wheezy, one of the toon patrol weasels in Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters...
. In October 2006, she portrayed Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony
Susan Brownell Anthony was a prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States. She was co-founder of the first Women's Temperance Movement with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as President...
on three episodes of the podcast The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd
The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd
The Radio Adventures Of Dr. Floyd is a short audio and video series distributed via podcasting. Created by Grant Baciocco and Doug Price, it is a family friendly show in the style of old-time radio. The show also draws much inspiration from The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show. The show first began in April...
.
Renowned animator/director Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
is reported to have said, "June Foray is not the female Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
, Mel Blanc was the male June Foray."
In 1995, ASIFA-Hollywood
ASIFA-Hollywood
ASIFA-Hollywood, a non-profit organization in Los Angeles, California, USA, which is a branch member of the "Association Internationale du Film d'Animation" or "ASIFA"...
, a chapter of the Association Internationale du Film d'Animation (the International Animated Film Association
International Animated Film Association
The International Animated Film Association or ASIFA is an international non-profit organization founded in 1960 in Annecy, France by the best known animation artists of the time such as the Canadian animator, Norman McLaren...
), established the June Foray Award, which is awarded to "individuals who have made a significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation." Foray was the first recipient of the award. In 2007, Foray became a contributor to ASIFA-Hollywood's Animation Archive Project.
In 2007, Britt Irvin
Britt Irvin
Brittney Elizabeth "Britt" Irvin is a Leo Award-nominated Canadian actress and singer, as well as a regular voice actor for Ocean Productions. She is typically credited as Britt Irvin in works since 2003, and as Brittney Irvin in works prior to 2003, though exceptions exist both ways...
became the first person ever to voice a character in a cartoon remake that had been previously voiced by Foray in the original series (and so far is the only person ever to have done so), when she started voicing the character Ursula (Foray's former character) in the new George of the Jungle cartoon series on the Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....
. Foray was also the voice of Queen Tabitha in the Don Bluth film, Thumbelina
Thumbelina (1994 film)
Thumbelina is a 1994 American animated film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman from a screenplay by Bluth based on Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina. The film was produced by Don Bluth Entertainment and was released to movie theaters by Warner Bros...
.
Foray guest-voiced only once on The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, in the Season 1 episode "Some Enchanted Evening
Some Enchanted Evening (The Simpsons)
"Some Enchanted Evening" is the thirteenth, final aired, and first produced episode of The Simpsons first season and originally aired on the Fox network on May 13, 1990. Although it was the first episode produced, it aired as the season finale due to significant animation problems. The episode...
" as the receptionist for the Rubber Baby Buggy Bumper Babysitting Service. This was a play on a Rocky & Bullwinkle gag years earlier in which none of the cartoon's characters, including narrator William Conrad
William Conrad
William Conrad was an American actor, producer and director whose career spanned five decades in radio, film and television....
, was able to pronounce "rubber baby buggy bumpers" unerringly. Foray was later homage
Homage
Homage is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic....
d in The Simpsons, in the season 8 episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show
The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show
"The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" is the fourteenth episode of the eighth season of The Simpsons, which originally aired February 9, 1997. In the episode, The Itchy & Scratchy Show attempts to regain viewers by introducing a hip new character named Poochie, who will be voiced by Homer...
" in which a character named June Bellamy is introduced as the voice behind both Itchy & Scratchy
The Itchy & Scratchy Show
The Itchy & Scratchy Show is a show within a show in the animated television series The Simpsons. It usually appears as a part of The Krusty the Clown Show, watched regularly by Bart and Lisa Simpson...
. She was voiced by series regular Tress MacNeille
Tress MacNeille
Tress MacNeille is an American voice actress best known for providing various voices on the animated series The Simpsons, Futurama, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Disney's House of Mouse, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Rugrats, All Grown Up!, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, and Dave the...
, though her "Itchy" and "Scratchy" voices were performed by Dan Castellaneta
Dan Castellaneta
Daniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Noted for his long-running role as Homer Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, he voices many other characters on The Simpsons, including Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble,...
and Harry Shearer
Harry Shearer
Harry Julius Shearer is an American actor, comedian, writer, voice artist, musician, author, radio host and director. He is known for his long-running role on The Simpsons, his work on Saturday Night Live, the comedy band Spinal Tap and his radio program Le Show...
, respectively.
Foray appeared on camera in a major role only once, in Sabaka
Sabaka
- Cast :*Nino Marcel as Gunga Ram*Boris Karloff as Gen. Pollegar*Lou Krugman as Maharajah of Bakore*Reginald Denny as Sir Cedric*June Foray as Marku Ponjoy, High Priestess of Sabaka*Victor Jory as Ashok*Jay Novello as Damji*Lisa Howard as Indria...
as a high priestess of a fire cult. She also appeared on camera in an episode of Green Acres
Green Acres
Green Acres is an American television series starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm...
as a Mexican telephone operator.
She was often called for ADR voice work for television and feature films some notable works include dubbing the voice for Mary Badham
Mary Badham
Mary Badham is an American actress, known for her portrayal of Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird , for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. At the time, Badham was the youngest actress ever nominated in this category...
in the Twilight Zone
Twilight zone
-Television series and spinoffs:*The Twilight Zone, the anthology television series and its franchise:**The Twilight Zone , the 1959–1964 original television series***Twilight Zone: The Movie, a 1983 film based on the original series...
episode "The Bewitchin' Pool" and the voices for Sean and Michael Brody in some scenes of Jaws (film)
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
, it was mostly because the children's voices were difficult to distinguish during windy day filming.
In 1991, she provided her voice as the sock-puppet talk-show-host Scary Mary on the television show Married With Children. She played gag cameos in both 1992's Boris & Natasha
Boris and Natasha: The Movie
Boris and Natasha is a 1992 comedy film that was loosely based on the animated television series The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. It was shot in New York City. The actors did not attempt to copy the accents of their animated counterparts, and although Rocky and Bullwinkle do not appear in this film,...
and 2000's The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle is a 2000 comedy film based on the television cartoon The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show by Jay Ward. The animated characters Rocky and Bullwinkle shared the screen with live actors portraying Fearless Leader , Boris Badenov , Natasha Fatale , and FBI agent Karen...
. Another on-camera appearance was in the 1984 TV sitcom The Duck Factory
The Duck Factory
The Duck Factory is a 1984 NBC television series produced by MTM Enterprises that is perhaps most notable for being Jim Carrey's first lead role in a Hollywood production....
, which starred Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey
James Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
.
In 2000, Foray reprised her role as Rocky the Flying Squirrel in Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
' live-action/CGI animated film The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle is a 2000 comedy film based on the television cartoon The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show by Jay Ward. The animated characters Rocky and Bullwinkle shared the screen with live actors portraying Fearless Leader , Boris Badenov , Natasha Fatale , and FBI agent Karen...
, co-starring and produced by Robert DeNiro. On Season Three, Episode One ("The Thin White Line
The Thin White Line
"The Thin White Line" is the first episode of the third season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on July 11, 2001...
") of Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
, Foray reprised her role as Rocky the Flying Squirrel in a visual gag with a single line ("And now, here's something we hope you'll really like!"). She also voices Kamek the evil Magikoopa in the Mario Series.
June Foray was also a regular on my grandfather's raido program and also on his television show "Smilin' Ed's Gang. She contnued there after my grandfathers death in 1954 with Andy Devine when he took over the show.
Most recently
Foray voiced the wife of the man getting dunked ("Don't tell him, Carlos!") in Pirates of the CaribbeanPirates of the Caribbean
Pirates of the Caribbean is a multi-billion dollar Walt Disney franchise encompassing a series of films, a theme park ride, and spinoff novels as well as numerous video games and other publications. The franchise originates with the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, which opened at Disneyland in...
. In November 2009, Foray appeared twice on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack
The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack
The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack is an American animated television series produced for Cartoon Network that premiered on June 5, 2008 and ended on August 31, 2010...
: in one episode as Ruth, a pie-maker trapped in Bubbie's stomach, and in another episode as Kelly, a young boy having a birthday party and as Kelly's Mom and Captain K'Nuckles' kindergarten teacher.
In 2011, Foray reprised her role as Granny in Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....
's new series, The Looney Tunes Show
The Looney Tunes Show
The Looney Tunes Show is a packaged show, created for Cartoon Network, and broadcast from 2002 to 2005. It was produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The show featured cartoon shorts from the original Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon series produced from 1930 to 1969.-External links:...
. That year, she received the Comic-Con Icon Award at the 2011 Scream Awards
2011 Scream Awards
The 2011 Scream Awards was the name of the sixth annual Scream Awards, an award show dedicated to the horror, sci-fi, and fantasy genres of feature films, television and comic books...
.
Further reading
- Foray, June (2006). Perverse, Adverse and Rottenverse. Albany, New York: BearManor Media (ISBN 1-59393-020-8)
- Foray, June (2009). Did You Grow Up With Me, Too? The Autobiography of June Foray. Albany, New York: BearManor Media (ISBN 1-59393-461-0) (ISBN 978-1-59393-461-3)