Hal Smith (actor)

Harold John "Hal" Smith (August 24, 1916 - January 28, 1994) was an American character actor and voice-over artist.

Life and work

Smith was best known as Otis Campbell, the town drunk on "The Andy Griffith Show" and as the voice of many characters from animated shorts.He voiced the Disney cartoon character Goofy after Pinto Colvig died and also provided the voice of Owl in many of the Winnie the Pooh shorts and features. In the 1960s he provided the voices for many characters in Davey and Goliath. From 1960 to 1961 he was the voice of Elmer Fudd after Arthur Q. Bryan died. In 1983, he reprised his role as Owl and also voiced Winnie The Pooh in "Welcome to Pooh Corner". It was the first and only time he provided the voice of Pooh. In 1988's "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" TV series, Jim Cummings took over as Pooh while Smith again played Owl. In 1991, Smith provided the voice of Philippe the horse in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast".

The most famous character he was seen and not only heard as was Otis Campbell on "The Andy Griffith Show" during most of the show's run in the 1960s. He was Mayberry's lovable town drunk. Often he would comically let himself into his regular cell using the key which was stored within reach of the 2 comfortable jail rooms. Ironically, Hal Smith was the opposite of his character, and didn't do any drinking in real life. Otis Campbell stopped appearing in the show towards the end due to concerns over the portrayal of excessive drinking. Hal Smith did play Otis Campbell one more time in the 1980s for the movie "Return to Mayberry".

He did much work in Hanna-Barbera cartoons in the 1970s, and in the early 1960s, he voiced Taurus, the Scots-accented mechanic of the spaceship "Starduster" for the series "Space Angel". In 1977, he was the voice of Grandpa Josiah in the cartoon TV special, "Halloween is Grinch Night". For Disney's "DuckTales" he was the voice of Scrooge McDuck's rival Flintheart Glomgold and absent-minded scientist Gyro Gearloose.

Starting in 1987 and continuing through 1994, he was the voice of the main character John Avery Whittaker on the Focus on the Family radio drama "Adventures in Odyssey". He was responsible for much of the cast joining the show after he signed on, and he continued recording episodes until a few weeks before his death, even while his health deteriorated. Additionally, he voiced dozens of other characters during the over 250 episodes he participated in.

He was born in Petoskey, Michigan. Smith spent a significant part of his early years in Massena, New Yorkcite book |editor=Michaud, John D. III| title=More than Otis: No Bull! A Salute to Hollywood Actor Hal J. Smith |origyear=2004 |edition= 1st edition |year= 2004|publisher= Stubbs Printing |location= Massena, New York|language= ]

He died in Woodland Hills, California of a heart attack.

References

External links

*imdb name|name=Hal Smith|id=0808401
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1866 Find-A-Grave profile for Hal Smith]