June Foray ( born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017 ) was an American voice actress that voiced every female character when Chuck Jones produced Doctor Seuss Adaptations.
Biography[]
June was best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Lucifer from Disney's Cinderella, Cindy Lou Who, Jokey Smurf, Granny and Witch Hazel from the Warner Bros. cartoons directed by Friz Freleng, Grammi Gummi from Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears series, and Magica De Spell, among many others.
Her career encompassed radio, theatrical shorts, feature films, television, record albums (particularly with Stan Freberg), video games, talking toys, and other media. Foray was also one of the early members of ASIFA-Hollywood, the society devoted to promoting and encouraging animation, and is credited with the establishment of the Annie Awards, as well as instrumental to the creation of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2001. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame honoring her voice work in television.[1]
Chuck Jones was quoted as saying: "June Foray is not the female Mel Blanc. Mel Blanc was the male June Foray."[2]
Career[]
She began in radio. In the 1960s, she was hired as the voice for Granny and Witch Hazel. Bea Benaderet ( April 04, 1906 – October 13, 1968 moved to Television. June Foray worked on the Chuck Jones version of Tom & Jerry, usually as the voice of Jerry. She provided the voices for every female character for the Chuck Jones adaptations of Doctor Seuss stories that were completed by Metro Goldwyn Mayer. She was the main voice actress for Jay Ward And Bill Scott, which includes Rocky, Natasha, Nell, Ursula, and Marigold. She provided voice work for several Rankin - Bass films, and continued to work with Chuck Jones. She was Jokey Smurf, as well as several other characters.
Towards the end of her career, she was going to be hired for both Granny and Witch Hazel. The Witch Hazel character was replaced by Witch Lezah and a different voice actress.
Books[]
June Foray was extensively interviewed for a book "Did You Grow Up With Me Too?" which for a while she autographed. In this book she says words to the effect of "One day I received a check for back when I worked on 'I Don't Know What.'.".
Filmography[]
- Kracy Kat:
- Felix The Cat:
- Merrie Melodies:
- Looney Tunes: Mostly Granny And Witch Hazel
- Numerous Jay Ward And Bill Scott Productions: Roughly One Third Of The Total Characters, plus a live action appearance in Boris & Natasha
- Numerous Chuck Jones Projects: Nearly Half Of The Characters
- Several Pink Panther Entries
- Numerous Commercials
- Numerous Specials For American Broadcasting Company
- Numerous Specials For Columbia Broadcasting System
- The Alvin Show:
- The Flintstones:
- The Jetsons:
- Off To See The Wizard: Dorothy Gale
- Heathcliff: Grandma
- Alvin And The Chipmunks:
- Dennis The Menace: Martha Wilson
- You Can't Teach An Old Tog New Tricks: Writer, Producer
- The Smurfs: Jokey, Mother Nature
- Spider Man: Aunt May Parker
- The Incredible Hulk:
- Saturday Supercade:
- Garfield:
- Mother Goose And Grimm:
- Gummi Bears: Grammi Gummi
- Duck Tales:
- Teen Wolf: Grandma
- Tiny Toon Adventures:
- Animaniacs:
- Sonic The Hedgehog:
- Numerous Looney Tunes And Merrie Melodies Video Games:
- Lego Island:
- Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries: Granny, Witch Hazel, Russian Lady
- Judge Granny:
- Baby Looney Tunes: Granny
- The New Looney Tunes Show: Granny, Girl
- Duck Tales Remastered: Narrator