- Thurl Ravenscroft
Infobox actor
bgcolour = silver
name = Thurl Ravenscroft
caption= Ravenscroft's 1970 gospel album "Great Hymns in Story and Song"
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birthdate = birth date|1914|2|6|mf=y
location =Norfolk, Nebraska , U.S.
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deathdate = death date and age|2005|5|22|1914|2|6
deathplace =Fullerton, California , U.S.
yearsactive =
birthname = Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft
othername =
homepage =
academyawards =Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft (
February 6 ,1914 –May 22 ,2005 ) was an Americanvoice actor andsinger with a deep, booming voice. For 53 years, he was best-known as the voice ofTony the Tiger in more than 500television commercial s forKellogg's Frosted Flakes (also known as "Frosties"). After his death, Lee Marshall replaced him as the voice of Tony the Tiger in the Kellogg's commercials.Ravenscroft was the vocalist of the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" in the
Christmas television special based on theDr. Seuss classic "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!". His name was accidentally left off of the credits, however, leading many to believe (erroneously) that the cartoon's narrator,Boris Karloff , sang the song. Ravenscroft also sang "No Dogs Allowed " in thePeanuts animated motion picture "Snoopy, Come Home ".Disney work
Ravenscroft's voice has been heard in many
Disneyland andWalt Disney World attractions, past and present. He is the voice of "Buff," the buffalo head in theCountry Bear Jamboree ; lead vocalist on the theme song "Grim Grinning Ghosts" in theHaunted Mansion andPhantom Manor (his face is on the singing bust that many people have mistaken forWalt Disney ); both "Fritz," the German-accented parrot, and one of the Polynesian god totems in theEnchanted Tiki Room ; Narrator on theDisneyland Railroad (not the voice that announces the train boarding or departing); the original voice of the First Mate on theMark Twain Riverboat ; several singing (and drunk) pirates in the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction; the singing frogs inSplash Mountain and one of the bass voices in the chorus of"it's a small world" . He is sometimes mistaken forPaul Frees , who provides the 'Ghost Host' narration for theHaunted Mansion attraction, due to the fact that Ravenscroft was the narrator on Disney's "The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion"vinyl record . He also provided narration on the original Pirates of the Caribbean vinyl recording, as well as singing severalpirate -themed songs.One of the computer-animated singing busts in the 2003 film The Haunted Mansion was modeled after his features; another was made to resemble
Paul Frees .Ravenscroft also provided the voice of Kirby in "The Brave Little Toaster", the voice of
Paul Bunyan in the animated short of the same name, and voiced the animated pig in the "Jolly Holiday" sequence of "Mary Poppins". He can be heard in many Disney features, including "One Hundred and One Dalmatians ", "The Sword in the Stone", and "The Aristocats ", and sang on the soundtracks for "Dumbo ", "Peter Pan", "Sleeping Beauty", "The Jungle Book" (singing in "Colonel Hathi's March", but does not provide the singing voice for Shere Khan at the end of "That's What Friends Are For"). While many people make the mistake of crediting Thurl for singing this line,George Sanders , who was an accomplished singer, did both the speaking and singing for the character of Shere Khan.Ravenscroft was inducted as a
Disney Legend in 1995 for his work in Disney animation.Music career and personal history
Ravenscroft left his native
Norfolk, Nebraska , forCalifornia in 1933. He achieved early success as part of a singing group calledThe Mellomen . The Mellomen can be heard on many popular recordings of theBig Band Era, including backup forBing Crosby ,Frankie Laine ,Spike Jones ,Jo Stafford andRosemary Clooney . They also contributed to several Disney films, such as "Alice in Wonderland" and "Lady and the Tramp ". The group appeared on camera in a few episodes theDisney anthology television series , in one instance recording a canine chorus for "Lady and the Tramp", and on another occasion playing abarbershop quartet that remindsWalt Disney of the name of the young newspaper reporter "Gallegher ".During
World War II , Ravenscroft served as a civilian navigator contracted to the U.S. Air Transport Command, spending five years flyingcourier missions across the north and south Atlantic. Among the notables carried on board his flights wereWinston Churchill andBob Hope .Ravenscroft sang on the soundtrack for "South Pacific", one of the top-selling albums of the 1950s. His distinctive bass can also be heard as part of the chorus on 28 albums of The
Johnny Mann Singers that were released during the 1960s and 1970s.Andy Williams ' recording of "The 12 Days of Christmas" features him as well. In the 1980s and 1990s, Ravenscroft was narrator for the annualPageant of the Masters art show at theLaguna Beach, California Festival of the Arts.Various record companies also released singles by Ravenscroft, often in duets with little-known female vocalists, in an attempt to turn the bass-voiced veteran into a pop singer. These efforts were commercially unsuccessful, if often quite interesting. 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 .He died in his home on
May 22 ,2005 fromprostate cancer . He was buried at the Memorial Gardens at theCrystal Cathedral inGarden Grove, California .In the
June 6 ,2005 , issue of the ad-industry journal "Advertising Age ", Kellogg's ran an ad commemorating Ravenscroft. Theheadline read: "Behind every great character is an even greater man."External links
*imdb name|id=0712391|name=Thurl Ravenscroft
* [http://members.aol.com/allthurl/thurl2.htm All Things Thurl] (authorized fan site, to which Ravenscroft contributed)
*findagrave|11015444
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