“King Leonardo and His Short Subjects”
Odie O. Cologne was Ronald Coleman
Biggie Rat was Edward G. Robinson
Lorenz Music did the voices of Garfield on Garfield and Friends and Venkman on The Real Ghostbusters. They both sounded so much like Bill Murray, many assumed it was. Music died in 2001, and in 2004 Bill Murray voiced Garfield in the CGI/live action film.
Also another minor Animaniacs character known as Mr. Director is voiced as an imitation of Jerry Lewis.
Bogey from the 80s toon Shirt-tails…Humphrey Bogart.
A new Garfield show was produced a few years ago in CGI with Frank Welker taking over Garfield’s voice. He did a pretty good imitation of Music’s voice.
Yes, and Chris is Jame Gumb AKA Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs.
I was thinking that, too. Turns out it was Edward Selzer, who took over when Leon sold the studio. He also inspired Bully for Bugs by coming in an announcing that bullfighting wasn’t funny and they were not to make any cartoons about it. He also nearly drove Friz Freleng to quit because he didn’t think pairing Sylvester and Tweety was a good idea. He also forbade using the Tasmanian Devil until Jack Warner told him what a hit he was with audiences. Dude accepted 5 Oscars for the cartoons, including Sylvester & Tweetie and a Pepe cartoon.
Oops, forgot it was originally British.
Another weird one, in the cartoon movie Scooby Doo: The Mask of the Blue Falcon the guy doing the voice of the Blue Falcon impersonator sounds so much like Adam West that I thought it was him. Turns out it wasn’t.
Jorgen Von Strangle (Fairly OddParents) is clearly channeling Ahnold
Ren Hoëk is based on Peter Lorre, Stimpy on Larry Fine.
Krusty the Klown was basically Bob Bell, the Chicago-area Bozo the Clown that Dan Castellaneta watched as a kid.
That’s not a nice thing to say about Bozo.
I guess direct Simpsons parody characters are OK, since you listed Wolfcastle. In that case, I submit Birch Barlow, Springfield’s version of Rush Limbaugh. And the Parson is Dean Martin all over again.
There’s also a character they call Raphael or the “Wise Guy” who pops up a lot here and there. He has the voice of Charles Bronson.
I don’t have any voices to add to the list…but every single mention in this thread has brought back wonderful memories, and I thank y’all for that.
Cram it, clown.
“Hi, I’m Troy McClure! You may remember me from such films as…”
In the unaired George of the Jungle pilot cartoon, the poachers Rosie and Charlie, voiced by June Foray and Paul Frees, are obviously based on Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart from The African Queen. Note that Ursula was originally called “Jane” in the pilot.
I can’t help but notice that the vast (vast vast vast) majority of these characters are male. What about some more females? I know Edna Mode from the Incredibles was based on Dame Edith Head, though more in appearance than voice.
In old Warner Bros cartoons, some period actresses were parodied … Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Greta Garbo, f’rinstance.
I think in general, there are just fewer well-known female characters, and not many of them are modeled after celebrities. Jessica Rabbit (Veronica Lake) comes to mind, but I can’t think of any others off the top of my head.
There was a Humphrey Bogart character in “Slick Hare” but that character was voiced by Dave Barry. Funny when he ordered stewed rabbit from Bugs who was waiting on him.
I think another reason for the preponderance of male cartoon characters is that women simply don’t lend themselves as well to physical comedy (slapstick). Possum Pearl is clearly an exception, but I can’t think of any others right offhand:
I think Pearl was probably the inspiration for Jethrine Bodine on The Beverly Hillbillies.
