Don Messick
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Autographed photo of Don Messick. |
Donald "Don" Messick (
September 7 1926–
October 24 1997) was an
American voice actor, one of the most prolific voice actors of the second half of the 20th century. Messick, a native of
Buffalo, New York, was most famous as the voice of several
Hanna-Barbera characters, including
Scooby-Doo and
Scrappy-Doo,
Boo-Boo Bear,
Muttley from
Wacky Races and
Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines,
The Jetsons’s dog Astro, and
Jonny Quest’s father Dr.
Benton Quest.
He first wanted to be a
ventriloquist, and even for a time supported himself as one.
His big break came in the mid-
1940s. At
MGM,
Tex Avery was doing the
Droopy Dog cartoons. The regular voice actor, radio actor
Bill Thompson, wasn’t available.
Daws Butler, who voiced characters for MGM, suggested that Avery seek out Don Messick. And so, Messick was called on to voice Droopy. Later, in the mid-
1950s, when Bill Thompson parted ways with MGM, Messick took over the role of Droopy.
Messick and Butler became a voice acting team for the Hanna-Barbera unit in 1957 with the arrival of
Ruff and Reddy. Don was Ruff the cat and the Droopy-sounding Professor Gizmo. Butler was the southern-speaking dog, Reddy. Messick also narrated the show, which played out like an animated soap opera.
From
1957 to
1965, Butler and Messick gave voice to a staggering number of characters. Always the side-kick, Messick’s characters weren’t headliners. His notable roles in this era were “
Boo-Boo,” “
Ranger Smith,” “
Major Minor,” “
Pixie Mouse,” “
Astro,” and “
Uniblab.” Messick was used primarily for his narration skills, which were heard on
all of those cartoons that Daws Butler starred in. The off-camera voice telling us about the latest fiasco
Quick Draw McGraw got himself into was Don Messick. Butler was Quick Draw and his Mexican side-kick, Baba Looey.
Messick would eventually star in a cartoon series:
Ricochet Rabbit. This character was paired with the slow-poke Deputy Droop-a-Long.
Mel Blanc was the voice of the deputy.
The outer space cartoons were where Messick really shone. His unique gift at creating noises and sounds for weird space creatures and aliens really helped the space cartoons in a big way. His “Ranger Smith” voice was often heard as space villains. His narrator voice was given to “Vapor Man,” “
Dr. Benton Quest,” and “
Multi Man.”
In
1969, he was cast as the cowardly “
Scooby-Doo” on
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!. This role would remain Messick’s biggest and best-known. He voiced the
Great Dane through all of the various versions of
Scooby-Doo: on TV in numerous formats from
1969 to
1985, four telefilms, and a number of commercials as well. Messick was still voicing the role when
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo came along from
1988 to
1991.
In the mid-
'80s, new episodes of
The Jetsons were produced. Messick was back as Astro, RUDI, and new voice Uniblab, a pesky robot that worked for
Mr. Spacely (voice of Mel Blanc).
His narrating voice was heard on the
Laff-a-Lympics program in
1977 and on
Hong Kong Phooey in
1974. In the ’80s his biggest role was Ratchet the Autobot doctor on
The Transformers. He also voiced
Papa Smurf on the
Smurfs series from
1981 to
1990. In the
1990s, he voiced
Hamton J. Pig in
FOX’s
Tiny Toon Adventures and its spin-offs from
1991 to
1995. FOX also had Messick return to his Droopy character for
Droopy: Master Detective in
1993.
In
1996, at the age of 70, Messick suffered a
stroke while inside a cartoon studio recording voices. It has been said that Messick turned pale, looked over at the director and said: “I can’t do this anymore,” then stumbled out to his car and drove home. A week later, Messick’s agent sent word that he had retired.
On
October 24 1997, at age 71, Messick suffered a second stroke and died of complications shortly afterward.
At a speaking engagement in London, shortly before his first stroke, Messick performed "as" many of his characters... except Scooby Doo. He claimed that giving up smoking had robbed him of the rasp in the voice that he needed.The opening words to his speech were "I'm so happy to be here", voiced as Droopy, the intonation therefore giving the exact opposite message to the words. He brought the house down.
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Don Messick Tribute Short biography of Don Messick
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Brett Rogers's article on Don Messick
