Len Carlson
Encyclopedia
Len Carlson was a Canadian
voice actor on many animated television series from the 1960s onward, an occasional live-action TV actor, and a Kraft Canada
TV
pitchman during the 1970s and 1980s. He was a native of Edmonton
and a former professional athlete.
, Ganon on The Legend of Zelda
, Senator Kelly
on X-Men
(1992), Bert Raccoon in The Raccoons
(and a voice director for the show from 1990 onwards), Professor Coldheart in the early Care Bears
series by DiC Entertainment
, and Rocket Robin Hood
in some of the third-season episodes. He was also the voice of Allo and Quackpot on the TV series, Dinosaucers
and he was the original voice of The Green Goblin in The Amazing Spider-Man
(1967).
He also voiced all the male characters in two animated 1970s series (The Undersea Adventures of Captain Nemo
and The Toothbrush Family
), was the voice of Ace the Seagull in the children’s TV series The Waterville Gang and did voices for movies including The Nutcracker Prince
, Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot
, both Rolie Polie Olie
movies (The Baby Bot Chase and The Great Defender of Fun), and reindeer voices in the live-action feature Blizzard
.
In his last years, Carlson was a regular on Nelvana
-produced shows such as Rolie Polie Olie
, Cyberchase
, Pecola
, Donkey Kong Country
, Medabots
, and Beyblade
as the main antagonist Gideon (season two). Most recently, he appeared in the French
-Canadian
co-production Atomic Betty
, voiced the characters Hugo and Q in the video game Street Fighter III 3rd Strike
and narrated the animated bible TV series Friends and Heroes
.
, Ontario after suffering a heart attack on January 26, 2006.
episode 504 and the season two finale of Atomic Betty
, they incorporated “In Memory of Len Carlson.”
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
voice actor on many animated television series from the 1960s onward, an occasional live-action TV actor, and a Kraft Canada
Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods Inc. is an American confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It markets many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earn more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, Tang...
TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
pitchman during the 1970s and 1980s. He was a native of Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
and a former professional athlete.
Career
He was the voice of Big Boss on C.O.P.S.C.O.P.S.
C.O.P.S. is an American animated television series released by DIC Entertainment and Celebrity Home Entertainment...
, Ganon on The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda (TV series)
The Legend of Zelda is an American animated series based on the The Legend of Zelda video game series for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The plot follows the adventures of Link and Princess Zelda as they defend the kingdom of Hyrule from an evil wizard named Ganon...
, Senator Kelly
Robert Kelly (comics)
Robert Edward Kelly is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. He most often appears in Marvel's X-Men and X-Men-related comic books. He is a prominent United States Senator who began his career on an anti-mutant platform, and as the X-Men team is made up entirely of mutants, his role...
on X-Men
X-Men (TV series)
X-Men, also known as X-Men: The Animated Series, is an American animated television series which debuted on October 31, 1992, in the United States on the Fox Network as part of its Fox Kids Saturday morning lineup...
(1992), Bert Raccoon in The Raccoons
The Raccoons
The Raccoons is a Canadian animated television series which was originally broadcast from 1985 to 1991 with four preceding television specials beginning in 1980. The series was created by Kevin Gillis, and produced at Atkinson Film-Arts first-hand from 1984 to 1985, then at Hinton Animation Studios...
(and a voice director for the show from 1990 onwards), Professor Coldheart in the early Care Bears
Care Bears
The Care Bears are characters created by American Greetings in 1981 for use on greeting cards. The original artwork for the cards was painted by artist Elena Kucharik. In 1983, Kenner turned the Care Bears into plush teddy bears...
series by DiC Entertainment
DiC Entertainment
DIC Entertainment was an international film and television production company. In addition to animated television shows such as Ulysses 31 , Inspector Gadget , The Littles , The Real Ghostbusters , Captain Planet and the Planeteers , and the first two seasons of the English adaptation of...
, and Rocket Robin Hood
Rocket Robin Hood
Rocket Robin Hood is a Canadian animated television series, placing the characters and conflicts of the classic Robin Hood legend in a futuristic, outer space setting, produced by Krantz Films, Inc...
in some of the third-season episodes. He was also the voice of Allo and Quackpot on the TV series, Dinosaucers
Dinosaucers
Dinosaucers Dinosaucers Dinosaucers (known in Japan as: is an animated television series co-produced in the United States, Canada and Japan. It was created by DIC Entertainment and Madhouse which has done the overseas animation and in association with Ellipse Programmé and Nelvana. This animated...
and he was the original voice of The Green Goblin in The Amazing Spider-Man
Spider-Man (1967 TV series)
Spider-Man is an animated television series that ran from September 9, 1967 to June 14, 1970. It was jointly produced in Canada and the United States and was the first animated adaptation of the Spider-Man comic book series, created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko...
(1967).
He also voiced all the male characters in two animated 1970s series (The Undersea Adventures of Captain Nemo
The Undersea Adventures of Captain Nemo
The Undersea Adventures of Captain Nemo was a series of five minute cartoons produced in Canada in the mid-1970s. They told the story of Captain Mark Nemo and his young assistants, Christine and Robbie, in their nuclear powered submarine, the Nautilus....
and The Toothbrush Family
The Toothbrush Family
The Toothbrush Family is a 1977 Australian animated television series featuring a group of anthropomorphic toiletry products.Originally conceived by Marcia Hatfield of Australia as her son refused to brush his teeth, the Toothbrush Family expanded to include two international television shows,...
), was the voice of Ace the Seagull in the children’s TV series The Waterville Gang and did voices for movies including The Nutcracker Prince
The Nutcracker Prince
The Nutcracker Prince is a 1990 animated romantic fantasy film made by Lacewood Productions and released by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film was directed by Paul Schibli and based on the story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A...
, Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot
Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot
Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot is a 2004 children's animated feature, produced by Nelvana Limited and released by Lions Gate Home Entertainment. Directed by Mike Fallows and written by Jeffrey Alan Schecter, this was the fourth film to star the Care Bears, and their first in over 15 years...
, both Rolie Polie Olie
Rolie Polie Olie
Rolie Polie Olie is a children's television series produced by Nelvana and created by William Joyce. The show centers on a little boy who is composed of several spheres and other three-dimensional geometric shapes...
movies (The Baby Bot Chase and The Great Defender of Fun), and reindeer voices in the live-action feature Blizzard
Blizzard
A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong winds. By definition, the difference between blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have winds in excess of with blowing or drifting snow which reduces visibility to 400 meters or ¼ mile or...
.
In his last years, Carlson was a regular on Nelvana
Nelvana
Nelvana Limited is a Canadian entertainment company founded in 1971 known for its work in children's animation. It was named by founders Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert and Clive A. Smith after a Canadian comic book superheroine created by Adrian Dingle in the 1940s...
-produced shows such as Rolie Polie Olie
Rolie Polie Olie
Rolie Polie Olie is a children's television series produced by Nelvana and created by William Joyce. The show centers on a little boy who is composed of several spheres and other three-dimensional geometric shapes...
, Cyberchase
Cyberchase
Cyberchase is an American educational television series for children age 6-12, that teaches children discrete mathematics. The show airs on Public Broadcasting Service and PBS Kids GO! in the United States. Seasons one through five were produced by Thirteen/WNET New York and Nelvana...
, Pecola
Pecola
Pecola is a Japanese 3-D Anime series that was computer-generated in Canada, with cube-shaped anthropomorphic animals in a place called Cube Town. It is based on a series of children's picture books by Naomi Iwata. The show stars Pecola, a curious and hyperactive penguin that tries to help the...
, Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Country (TV series)
Donkey Kong Country is a French/Canadian computer-generated animated television series. It is based on the Nintendo franchise Donkey Kong as portrayed in the Donkey Kong Country video game series by Rare. Created by France 2 and Nelvana, it was originally titled La Planète de Donkey Kong...
, Medabots
Medabots
Medabots, known in Japan as , is a role-playing video game franchise developed by Natsume and published by Imagineer in Japan in 1997. The video game franchise was later adapted into a Japanese anime television series produced by Bee Train. Spanning 52 episodes, the series originally aired on TV...
, and Beyblade
Beyblade
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takao Aoki. Originally serialized in CoroCoro Comic from 2000 to 2002, the individual chapters were collected and published in 14 tankōbon by Shogakukan...
as the main antagonist Gideon (season two). Most recently, he appeared in the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
-Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
co-production Atomic Betty
Atomic Betty
Atomic Betty is a Canadian animated television series produced by Atomic Cartoons, Breakthrough Films & Television, and Tele Images Kids. Additional funding for production is provided by Teletoon in Canada and M6 and Télétoon in France. It currently airs on CITV. The series has once again begun...
, voiced the characters Hugo and Q in the video game Street Fighter III 3rd Strike
Street Fighter III
is a fighting game in Capcom's Street Fighter series, originally released as coin-operated arcade game in . Street Fighter III was produced for the CD-ROM-based CP System III hardware, which allowed for more elaborate 2D graphics than the CPS II-based Street Fighter Alpha games , while revamping...
and narrated the animated bible TV series Friends and Heroes
Friends and Heroes
Friends and Heroes is a Christian children's program that currently airs on TBN, Smile of a Child, and was also shown on BBC TV. The show is both traditionally animated and computer animated . It takes place from 69 AD - 71 AD...
.
Death
Carlson died in KeswickKeswick, Ontario
Keswick is a community in the south central portion of the Canadian province of Ontario. Located north of Toronto on Cook's Bay , Keswick is part of the Town of Georgina...
, Ontario after suffering a heart attack on January 26, 2006.
Memoriams
At the end of the credits on CyberchaseCyberchase
Cyberchase is an American educational television series for children age 6-12, that teaches children discrete mathematics. The show airs on Public Broadcasting Service and PBS Kids GO! in the United States. Seasons one through five were produced by Thirteen/WNET New York and Nelvana...
episode 504 and the season two finale of Atomic Betty
Atomic Betty
Atomic Betty is a Canadian animated television series produced by Atomic Cartoons, Breakthrough Films & Television, and Tele Images Kids. Additional funding for production is provided by Teletoon in Canada and M6 and Télétoon in France. It currently airs on CITV. The series has once again begun...
, they incorporated “In Memory of Len Carlson.”