When a voice actor passes on...

T

Tshain

New member
does the character essentially die?

Notable examples can be used such as Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo and so forth. Technically the characters themselves still exist, but its like a part of them have been taken away. I don't know I guess it depends on the character.

What's your take?
 
No, Noel Blanc didn't actually take over most of his father's roles. That was mostly people like Jeff Bergman, Joe Alaskey, Greg Burson Billy West, etc.

I remeber hearing that a major chcaracter on Sealab 2021 was put into mothballs after his voice actor died. And THEN there's Phil Hartman.....
 
Well, each voice actor has their own special take on the character. When that voice actor moves on or dies, and then gets replaced, a new take on the character is formed. The character is basically the same, but the voice actor makes a certain essence in the character's sprit that can't be replicated. Get it? :sweat:
 
That's a good question. While those characters that you mentioned, as well as other characters whose original voice actors sadly pass on, they're usually replaced. It depends on the circumstances. I do agree with you that a part of them has been taken away. Characters' voices are a part of their personality and when that is gone and replaced with someone else's voice, it feels like a different character. While the character remains the same, usually, in terms of design, the changes the new voice actor makes changes what the original voice actor established before them. That's pretty much how I feel whenever a voice actor is replaced, whether they sadly pass away, are some how unable to do the job anymore, or simply just replaced.
 
That would be the late Henry Corden (who was also a character actor in his own right. Corden played the landlord on The Monkees). I don't know who's doing Fred's voice now.
 
I believe James Arnold Taylor currently voices Fred Flintstone. Though Maurice LaMarche played him in the Harvey Birdman episode "The Dabba Don".
 
Yeah. I wonder about that. Someone mentioned that it was LaMarche who voiced Fred in the Midas ad. I don't know who voices him now in the Fruity/Cocoa Pebbles ads.
 
I guess it's a case-by-case situation. When Phil Hartman died, Lionel Hutz (The Simpsons) just kind of disappeared from the show, but when Mako died, the Avatar crew replaced him and went on.
 
je was a fan favorite and a important in the plot


now aku in this "samurai jack" movie rumor is something different I don't know if they will replace him or not
 
IMO, there has yet to be a voice actor who can do a good Bugs Bunny. The voice in Space Jam was awful. Back In Action wasn't much better. And don't even get me started on Porky :p. Seriously, Porky is a character for whom good voice work is imperative if he's to be funny. And so far all the voice(s) I've heard have totally missed the point. Porky's stutter is not a hindrance to him; it has a rhythm that enhances his comedy. So far all the new voices for him have failed IMO. On the other hand, the new Daffy voice is superb. It's on a par with Mel Blanc's best work IMO.
 
Don't forget Troy McClure. Both Hutz and McClure were rightfully written out of the Simpsons after Hartman's death. Giving the characters new voices just wouldn't work, not to mention it would piss off the hardcore fans of Hartman.

Agreed. In my opinion, nobody and I mean nobody to this day has ever captured the true essence of Bugs Bunny the way Mel Blanc had. Billy West was okay as Bugs but he sounded way too much like Fry from Futurama trying to do a Bugs Bunny impression. I still have yet to see an actor who can nail the casual attitude of Bugs in the near flair that Blanc had.
 
Billy West (voice of Stimpson J. Cat and Philip J. Fry) voiced both Bugs and Elmer in Space Jam. While I didn't think West was terrible in the role of Bugs, I personally thought Jeff Bergman would have been better; of the 'replacement rabbits', I prefer Bergman's Bugs.

Daffy in Space Jam was voiced by Dee Bradley Baker, who indeed does a credible job, although Joe Alaskey voiced Daffy on Duck Dodgers.
 
I can understand writing out the character(s) when the voice actor in question is a big name with a hardcore fanbase (as previously stated, Hutz and McClure were basically patterned after Phil Hartman anyway), but killing off a minor character like Maude Flanders just because her voice actress quit the show makes no sense to me at all. It's not like Maude made so great an impact on The Simpsons that anyone would mind or even notice that someone else was voicing her. Who the heck was she anyway?
 
I usually love Billy West's voices, but his Bugs just doesn't work. It's especially poor in "Hare and Loathing in Las Vegas"; Bugs sounds like he has a cold.

Jeff Bergman did a respectable job of voicing Bugs after Mel Blanc, although he was mostly channeling "mid '50s and after" Bugs, who was more calm, cool, and collected than some of his earlier offerings like "Tortoise Beats Hare".
 
I think Bergman is the closest in replication to Mel Blanc with Alaskey a close second. Though I don't think Alaskey has quite gotten the full grasp of Bugs I think he did a great job in 'Back in Action'.
 
They killed off Maud because her actress quit? I thought they were just trying to do something similar to the divorce of Milhouse's parents where you think it'll be undone by the end but ended up permanent, or to develop Flanders somewhat.
 
Someone told me that Maude was killed off because her voice actress quit the show. I'm not sure how reliable that info was, though, as I said before, they could have easily had just replaced her with another Maude. The producers probably just wanted to have someone die and stay dead for the rest of the series. In any case, to me, the stunt served little purpose other than being an attention getting device.
 
No not in Mel's case, but in the case of Jim Henson yes. His son took over some of his Muppet roles. As as Ross Bagdasaian's son took over the role of Alvin and the Chipmunks.
 
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