Gilbert Mack's voice was heard in many TV and theatrical cartoons.
He appeared in the following 55 episodes of Radio Mystery Theater
Date Episode Title Plot
01/09/1974 0004 Lost Dog A husband cannot appreciate his wife's phobia of dogs. Once he gets one home, his wife sets it against him.
01/15/1974 0010 The Resident A move from the countryside to town leaves a retired lady prey to a cat named Evil and a young girl who forcefully moves in with her!
01/17/1974 0012 You Can Die Again A husband believes himself culpable for the murder of his wife. He is also convinced of his affair with another woman. But he simply can't persuade a police officer to believe either.
01/31/1974 0026 The Man Who Asked for Yesterday A man is murdered by his wife. After death, he wishes to be granted the chance to live the finale of his life over again
02/02/1974 0028 A Ghostly Game of Death A prospective buyer for an ancient dwelling recruits the services of a ghost hunter to get rid of the spirit of the wife of a sea captain.
02/08/1974 0033 Conspiracy to Defraud The hero is a federal detective sent to France in order to track down heroin supplies. The villain is a Greek drug dealer who is not ready to even spare his girlfriend.
03/04/1974 0050 This Will Kill You Negative reviews can get you into trouble - especially if the book under review is written by a demon-worshipper! A journalist finds this out to his own cost as the inflamed writer puts a death curse on him. He can only be rid of the curse if he passes it on to another.
04/11/1974 0073 Strange Company A wealthy aged woman is terrorized by invisible visitors. Her hard-hearted nephew and his wife can't care less and slowly decide to take advantage of her apparent hallucinations to steal from her.
05/16/1974 0093 The Trouble with Ruth Despite her best attempts, a kleptomaniac falls back into her old ways and is found out by some thieves. They blackmail her to rob a diamond pin or they will reveal her true nature to her husband.
05/21/1974 0095 The Longest Knife A mother makes a promise to avenge her son who has been murdered by a third world dictator.
06/03/1974 0100 To Kill with Confidence While traveling across the country, a couple of newlyweds are forced to stop at a nearby town due to engine trouble. The wife makes a quick visit to the local stores to grab lunch and comes back to find that both her husband and the repair shop have mysteriously vanished.
06/10/1974 0103 A Bargain in Blood When a strange turn of events allows a young man to switch illnesses with the diseased, a young man uses his gift to win the approval of his sweetheart's father.
07/03/1974 0113 The Secret Life of Bobby Deland A couple suffering from the death of their only child take in a young waif to fill the void in their lives. At first the orphan helps alleviate the woman's migraines however, he later repays their kindness by robbing them blind.
07/29/1974 0124 Ghost at High Noon While on a road trip, two women experience car trouble in the middle of the desert. A strange old man driving an outdated wagon assists them and takes them to the nearest town. The women become suspicious and disturbed when they realize that the townsfolk do not seem to hear them.
09/02/1974 0142 The Return of Anatole Chevenic A young man named Hans tries to convince his uncle Anatole to give him a portion of his inheritance earlier. His uncle denies his request and mentions that he has hidden the fortune away as a precaution against attempts on his life. Hans leaves in a fume and starts fantasizing about his uncle's death.
11/04/1974 0169 Bury Me Again A seasoned charlatan somehow survives a massive train accident. He then plots to claim the insurance money belonging to a widow.
12/19/1974 0189 The House of the Voodoo Queen A husband and wife gain possession of a house in New Orleans known to be inhabited by a malicious ghost. Another woman works her charm on the husband in order to get her hands on the house.
01/24/1975 0211 The Flowers of Death Dionysus, a god in Greek mythology appears in modern times and charms a young lady living in a suburb. Her husband brings his boss home so he can evaluate them for a promotion. Apart from this, the neighborhood is buzzing about her special talent with flowers.
02/14/1975 0223 The Shadow of the Past A doctor and his wife escape the clutches of the Nazi death camps and illegitimately migrate to the US. Later, the doctor recognizes one of the camp guards among his patients and kills him to exact his revenge. But he must cover up the act as an intelligent investigator probes the case.
03/27/1975 0246 The Velvet Claws A man talks to his counsellor and recounts the tale of his escape from a mysterious town full of people obsessed with cats.
04/07/1975 0252 The Benjamin Franklin Murder Case Ben Franklin is the hero in this case of an assassination in a Philadelphia mansion in 1750.
05/05/1975 0268 The Paradise of the Devil A night guard is killed and his daughter promises her small inheritance to the person who finds the killer. But the inheritance isn't as meagre an amount as she imagined.
05/30/1975 0283 Someday I'll Find You Ann Markle's husband is presumed dead in a cave-in. But just as she recovers from the trauma, she finds a recent painting by him in a flea market in Mexico. She decides to undertake a cross-country hike to get back her amnesiac husband.
06/12/1975 0290 A Case of Negligence A greedy son sues the hospital and the attending M.D. when his father expires while undergoing a supposedly routine surgery. Trouble and all sorts of problem arise from the lawsuit.
07/03/1975 0302 Murder Will Out In order to exact revenge on the man who murdered his father, a police officer from New York travels to Maine in search of the killer. He is forced to examine his values and beliefs when he finally finds him.
07/18/1975 0311 The Spots of the Leopard After exposing a ring of organized crime within the company he was employed with, a dock worker and his wife are placed under the witness protection program to safeguard their lives. Unable to adapt to her new circumstances, his wife vainly tries to return to the life she left behind.
08/19/1975 0329 Welcome for a Dead Man After serving a 21-year prison sentence, a criminal convicted for the murder of a payroll assistant is finally set free. He learns something more important during a journey to recover his ill-gotten wealth.
08/25/1975 0332 Person to Be Notified After landing a position at the remote island home of an eccentric author, a woman begins to suspect his manservant's actions and sets out to expose him. Concerned for welfare, the man who sent her to the island goes after her.
09/02/1975 0337 Portrait of Death A woman fell in love with a rare painting while studying art in Venice years before. Now on her honeymoon, she travels together with her new husband to see the painting once again. When they find that the artwork was substituted by a counterfeit. They come across the woman's old mentor in their search for the original masterpiece.
10/15/1975 0362 The Kiss of Death In spite of the warnings of his advisers, an ambitious young doctor pursues the daughter of the town's local crack-pot after falling madly in love with her.
10/30/1975 0371 Triptych for a Witch Masquerading as an elderly and widowed distant relative, a witch moves in with a young couple who recently married together with her strange pets.
11/13/1975 0378 Home Is Where the Ghost Is In the midst of aiding a colleague in his desire to abandon his post, a scientist is haunted by the ghost of his dead wife.
01/05/1976 0408 Tom Sawyer, Detective All grown up and a successful lawyer, Tom Sawyer is now faced with his most difficult case. He must get an acquittal for his Uncle Silas who has been charged with homicide.
02/09/1976 0428 The Horror of Dead Lake Upon hearing of their inheritance, Claude and Polly Baxter are thrilled to be the proud new owners of Captain Doubloon's castle and its mysterious lake. Their pleasure turns to fear when they learn that the castle is home to Professor Micah, a demented embryologist crossing giant Venus flytraps with birds and their terror reaches fever pitch when they discover the creature that lives in Dead Lake.
02/26/1976 0438 The Providential Ghost When a young girl experiences the loss of her grandfather soon after losing her parents in a tragic accident finds herself in the care of two old aunts who terrify her. Her faith is bolstered when she realizes her grandpa's spirit is still hanging around.
03/22/1976 0452 Stampede With her husband murdered by Comanches and their farm razed to the ground, Ellie Tate Gottenschalk makes her way to Cheyenne as part of a cattle drive.
05/20/1976 0484 The Walking Dead In the future, all androids are mindless robots with one exception-- Rex, who is the most advanced of his kind. Society is threatened when he acquires a macabre obsession-- murdering women.
09/23/1976 0523 Don't Play with Matches Fire Chief Delbert Cassarole is the toast of the town because fires are almost non-existent because of his prevention methods. But the citizens of his sleepy little town don't know his dark secret about how he spends Friday nights. Delbert Casserole is a man with strange hobbies: Lying, murder, arson -- and on Friday nights, he goes to town.
11/11/1976 0550 Strike Force Dr. Orville Sanderson Jr. was brought up by his step-father Bob Watson. His mother, Andrea, was married to Bob after Orville's father went missing during the war. When a man possibly having know Orville Sr. turns up in the morgue, Orville Jr. begins to question everything he believes about his real father.
01/04/1977 0577 This Breed Is Doomed
A professional swindler bamboozles the residents of a small town and ends up absconding with an unwanted and unexpected piece of baggage.
01/12/1977 0582 Tobin's Palm
In order to discover the whereabouts of his absent-minded and missing girlfriend, Tobin visits an eccentric occultist to have his palm read. What he learns from the fortune-teller soon sends him on a wild goose chase, much to the amusement of his friend.
03/29/1977 0625 The Coldest Killer Completely enamored with her husband\'s business partner, a faithless wife and her lover scheme to dispatch the two hindrances to their affair: her nosy mother-in-law and her husband himself.
07/01/1977 0675 Revenge Set in an 1880's western town, a wealthy man comes to town bent on revenge on three men who wronged him many years prior. His reasons for revenge are startling.
09/13/1977 0708 The Way to Dusty Death A strange story of hatred set in the back woods, where a baron would rather let a dead man's body get decomposed in the open, unattended by any ritual or funeral. When the deceased man's daughters fail to reason with him, the baron's son steps in to plead with him.
10/27/1977 0730 The House by the Seine A French underground movement member becomes a legendary actress. One day, she receives a parcel of a recently used pistol and is quickly framed the assassination of her boyfriend. She must use her unique talents and presence of mind to discover the identity of the real murderer.
01/16/1978 0765 In Another Place A rich young couple believe they they have gotten away with a crime executed faultlessly, but the police chief knows better although he doesn't have evidence.
01/26/1978 0771 The Safety Match A young but gifted detective and a seasoned but pompous one come together to solve a mysterious murder. The only clue is a burnt safety match found at the scene of the crime. But even with that sparing bit of evidence they achieve an astonishing progress - until everything stops making sense all of a sudden.
03/17/1978 0800 Identified Flying Objects Bizarre comedy where a broke alien is picked up for breaking traffic rules and his space vehicle is confiscated. But luck favours him finally as a young woman from Earth falls for him and lends him the required paltry fine amount. They then set off an a journey to his homeland in the stars to live happily ever after.
05/19/1978 0836 The Hundred Dollar Difference A down-on-his-luck gambler enlists the help of his girlfriend to kill his wealthy aunt and get hold of her fortunes. Unfortunately, when he appears at the scene, he finds that the job has already been carried out for him.
08/07/1978 0876 The Sixth Commandment An older brother lusts after the younger brother's wife even as they all try to survive on a decrepit farm. He also hides a dark past.
03/07/1979 0960 Watcher of the Living A high school principal and teacher are sent to an alternate world during a failed lab experiment. In this strange dimension, they encounter a race of floating faces that are cursed to forever witness the wrongdoings of others but are incapable of correcting them.
06/27/1979 0992 The Giuseppe Verdi Autobus While on vacation in Italy, a widow falls for a vacationing widower from L.A. Problems arise when she discovers that he has not been honest with her as she packs his belongings in preparation for their trip back to the U.S.
11/19/1979 1031 The God That Failed On the way home after visiting a third world country on a diplomatic mission, a U.S. senator is knocked unconscious during a plane crash. He wakes up in the midst of a primitive tribe willing to hail him as a god once he fulfills two requirements: to marry a local woman and perform a miracle.
07/07/1980 1100 Silent Partners On a business trip, a wealthy industrialist and his secretary are kidnapped. Their adventure begins when they escape their captors and make their way through the jungles of South America.
03/09/1981 1169 Murder on the Space Shuttle In this outer space murder mystery, the legendary Sherlock Holmes meets the equally famous Buck Rogers.
2 Responses to Mack Gilbert
I think he's the one who was called upon to make the caveman* noises in "Yesterday's giant". God bless him. *With their much more than 1,000 shows, this may have been the only one with that theme.
kurt Reply
Gilbert Mack was born on November 3, 1912 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Billy Bounce (1963), Sorry, Wrong Number (1946) and Johnny Jupiter (1953) Mack was the U.S. voice of “Mr. Pompus” on the original Astro Boy (1963) and was a member of the New York troup of voice actors who dubbed everything from Gigantor to Godzilla in the 1960s. Mack was also heard as Hawkman on the original 1960s Filmation Superman/Aquaman Hour and recorded numerous Little Golden Records as various Hanna Barbera characters. Prior to his cartoon work, Mack was a vaudevillian and a character actor on radio and early televsion – with numerous appearances on such classic shows as Dick Tracy and The Inner Sanctum
Martha Raye (August 27, 1916 – October 19, 1994) was an American comic actress and singer who performed in movies, and later on television. She also acted in plays, including Broadway.[1] She was honored in 1969 at the Academy Awards as the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient for her volunteer efforts and services to the troops.
Contents
1 Early years
2 Career
2.1 Television career
2.2 Later career
3 Personal life
3.1 Death
4 Archive
5 Filmography
5.1 Film
5.2 Television
5.3 Stage Work
6 References
7 External links
Early years
Raye's life as a singer and comedic performer began in very early childhood. She was born at St. James Hospital in Butte, Montana, as Margy Reed;[2][3] some sources give her real name as Maggie O'Reed.[4][5]
Her father, Peter F. Reed Jr., was an Irish immigrant; her mother, Maybelle Hazel (Hooper) Reed, was raised in Milwaukee and Montana.[6] Her parents were performing in a local vaudeville theatre as "Reed and Hooper" when their daughter was born.[7] Two days later, her mother was performing again. Martha first appeared in their act when she was three years old. She later performed with her brother "Bud", and the children became so popular that their parents' act was renamed "Margie and Bud."
Career
In the early 1930s, Raye was a band vocalist with the Paul Ash and Boris Morros orchestras. She made her first film appearance in 1934 in a band short titled A Nite in the Nite Club. In 1936, she was signed for comic roles by Paramount Pictures, and made her first picture for Paramount. Her first feature film was Rhythm on the Range with crooner Bing Crosby.
From 1936–39, she was a featured cast member in 39 episodes of Al Jolson's weekly CBS radio show, The Lifebuoy Program, also called Cafe Trocadero. In addition to comedy, Martha sang both solos and duets with Jolson. Over the next quarter century, she would appear with many of the leading comics of her day, including Joe E. Brown, Bob Hope, W. C. Fields, Abbott and Costello (in Keep 'Em Flying), Charlie Chaplin (in Monsieur Verdoux), and Jimmy Durante. She joined the USO in 1942, soon after the US entered World War II.[8]
She was known for the size of her mouth, which was large in proportion to her face, earning her the nickname The Big Mouth. She later referred to this in a series of television commercials for Polident denture cleaner in the 1980s: "So take it from The Big Mouth: new Polident Green gets tough stains clean!" Her large mouth would relegate her motion picture work to supporting comic parts, and was often made up so it appeared even larger. In the Disney cartoon Mother Goose Goes Hollywood, she is caricatured while dancing alongside Joe E. Brown, another actor known for a big mouth. In the Warner Bros. cartoon The Woods Are Full Of Cuckoos (1937), she was caricatured as a jazzy scat-singing donkey named 'Moutha Bray'.[9]
In 1968, she was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in the form of an Oscar. On November 2, 1993, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton for her service to her country.[8] The citation reads:
A talented performer whose career spans the better part of a century, Martha Raye has delighted audiences and uplifted spirits around the globe. She brought her tremendous comedic and musical skills to her work in film, stage, and television, helping to shape American entertainment. The great courage, kindness, and patriotism she showed in her many tours during World War II, the Korean conflict, and the Vietnam conflict earned her the nickname 'Colonel Maggie'. The American people honor Martha Raye, a woman who has tirelessly used her gifts to benefit the lives of her fellow Americans.[10]
Television career
She was a television star very early in its history. For a time she starred in the eponymous The Martha Raye Show (1954–1956), opposite retired middleweight boxer Rocky Graziano, who played her boyfriend. (Raye was known to call Graziano "goombah", Sicilian slang for the Italian 'compare' [best friend][citation needed]). (The writer and producer was future The Phil Silvers Show creator Nat Hiken.)
Some of the guest stars on the show were Zsa Zsa Gabor, Cesar Romero, and Broadway dancer Wayne Lamb. She also appeared on other TV shows in the 1950s, such as What's My Line?.
Following the demise of her TV variety show, the breakup of her fifth marriage, and a series of other personal and health problems, she attempted suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills on August 14, 1956. Well-wishers gave her a St. Christopher's medal, a St. Genesius medal, and a Star of David. After her recovery, she wore these amulets faithfully, although she was neither Roman Catholic nor Jewish. At the conclusion of each episode of her TV shows, she would thank the nuns at the Sisters of St. Francis Hospital in Miami, Florida, where she had recovered. She would always say, "Goodnight, Sisters" as a sign of appreciation and gratitude.
Later in her career, she made television commercials for Polident denture cleanser, principally during the 1970s and 1980s.
Later career
In 1970, she portrayed Boss Witch, the "Queen of all Witchdom", in the feature film Pufnstuf for Sid and Marty Krofft. This led to her being cast as villainess Benita Bizarre in The Bugaloos (1970), which the Kroffts produced the same year.
She often appeared as a guest on other programs, particularly those which often featured older performers as guest stars, such as ABC's The Love Boat, and also on variety programs, including the short-lived The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show. She appeared from the third to the ninth seasons as Carrie Sharples on Alice, making two or three appearances a season. She made guest appearances or did cameo roles in such series as Murder, She Wrote on CBS and The Andy Williams Show and McMillan & Wife, both on NBC. She appeared again as Agatha for the six-episode run of the retooled McMillan, taking over for Nancy Walker, who had left the series. Her last film appearance was as an incontinent airline passenger in the disaster film The Concorde ... Airport '79 (1979).
Personal life
Raye's personal life was complex and emotionally tumultuous.[11] She was married seven times.
Raye was a devout Methodist who regularly attended church, read the Bible daily, and even taught Sunday school classes.[12] Because her religious views were often misconstrued throughout her life, she was noted for having said, "One paper says I'm Catholic and the other says I'm Jewish. I guess that's fitting because as a Methodist I'm meant to be undetermined some of the time".[13]
Her engagement to orchestra leader Johnny Torrence was announced in June 1936.[14] Less than two months later she commented, "They tell me I've gone Hollywood already because I got engaged to Johnny Torrence one day and broke it off the next."[15]
She was married to make-up artist Hamilton "Buddy" Westmore from May 30, 1937, until September 1937, filing for divorce on the basis of extreme cruelty; to composer-conductor David Rose from October 8, 1938 to May 19, 1941; to Neal Lang from May 25, 1941 to February 3, 1944; to Nick Condos from February 22, 1944 to June 17, 1953; to Edward T. Begley from April 21, 1954 to October 6, 1956; to Robert O'Shea from November 7, 1956 to December 1, 1960; and to Mark Harris from September 25, 1991 until her death in 1994. She had one child, a daughter, Melodye Condos (born July 26, 1944), with fourth husband Condos.
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Politically, Raye was conservative, affirming her political views by informing an interviewer in 1984, "I am a Republican because I believe in the constitution, strength in national defense, limited government, individual freedom, and personal responsibility as the concrete foundation for American government. They reinforce the resolve that the United States is the greatest country in the world and we can all be eternally grateful to our founding fathers for the beautiful legacy they left us today."[16][17] Martha Raye was the fifth person to be awarded Honorary Green Beret. While in Vietnam she would assist those in combat hospitals instead of performing because she was a LPN.
Death
Her final years were plagued by ill health. She suffered from Alzheimer's disease and had lost both legs in 1993 from poor circulation. While in poor health and resting in the hospital bed that had to be placed in her home, Martha and husband Mark Harris (who, because of their controversial May/December relationship, became frequent guests on the popular Howard Stern radio program) moved into a hotel after their home was completely destroyed by the 1994 earthquake.
Raye died in Los Angeles at 78 of pneumonia on October 19, 1994, after a long history of cardiovascular disease.
In appreciation of her work with the USO during World War II and subsequent wars, special consideration was given to bury her in Arlington National Cemetery on her death. However, based upon her request, she was buried with full military honors in the Fort Bragg, North Carolina, post cemetery as an honorary colonel in the U.S. Marines and an honorary lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army.[8] She is the only civilian buried at this location who receives military honors each Veterans Day.[citation needed]
Raye has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—one for motion pictures at 6251 Hollywood Boulevard and the other for television at 6547 Hollywood Blvd.
Archive
The moving image collection of Martha Raye is held at the Academy Film Archive. The collection consists of an audio tape and home movies.[18]
Filmography
Film
A Nite in a Nite Club (1934)
Rhythm on the Range (1936)
The Big Broadcast of 1937 (1936)
Hideaway Girl (1936)
College Holiday (1936)
Cinema Circus (1937)
Waikiki Wedding (1937)
Mountain Music (1937)
Artists & Models (1937)
Double or Nothing (1937)
The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
College Swing (1938)
Tropic Holiday (1938)
Give Me a Sailor (1938)
Never Say Die (1939)
$1,000 a Touchdown (1939)
The Farmer's Daughter (1940)
The Boys from Syracuse (1940)
Navy Blues (1941)
Keep 'Em Flying (1941)
Hellzapoppin' (1941)
Four Jills in a Jeep (1944)
Pin Up Girl (1944)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947) as Annabella Bonheur
Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962)
No Substitute for Victory (1970) (documentary)
The Phynx (1970)
Pufnstuf (1970)
The Concorde ... Airport '79 (1979)
Television
What's My Line? (mystery guest December 11, 1955)[19]
Four Star Revue (host from 1951–1953)
The Martha Raye Show (1954–1956)
Club Oasis (1957–1958)
The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show (episode "Circus", December 8, 1962)
The Red Skelton Show (1963)
The Judy Garland Show (1964)
The Hollywood Palace (April 2, 1966)
The Carol Burnett Show (1969)
The Bugaloos (1970–1972)
McMillan and Wife (1976)
Twas the Night Before Christmas (1977)
Skinflint: A Country Christmas Carol (1979)
The Gossip Columnist (1980)
Pippin: His Life and Times (1981)
Alice (12 episodes, 1979-1984)
Murder, She Wrote, episode "Armed Response" (1985)
Alice in Wonderland (1985)
Stage Work
Calling All Stars (1934)
Hold On to Your Hats (1940)
Annie Get Your Gun (1951)
Anything Goes (1958)
Wildcat (1962)
Call Me Madam (1963)
The Solid Gold Cadillac (1964)
Hello Dolly! (1967)
Goodbye Charlie (1968)
Hello, Sucker! (1969) (closed on the road)
Everybody Loves Opal (1970; 1988)
No, No, Nanette (1972) (replacement for Patsy Kelly)
4 Girls 4 (1982)
Annie (1983)
The Prince of Central Park (1989) (replaced by Jo Anne Worley prior to opening)
Arnold Stang (September 28, 1918 – December 20, 2009)[1] was an American comic actor and voice actor, whose comic persona was a small and bespectacled, yet brash and knowing big-city type.
Contents
1 Career
1.1 Later career
2 Personal life
3 Death
4 Filmography
5 References
6 External links
Career
Stang once claimed he gained his break in radio by sending a postcard to a New York station requesting an audition, was accepted, and then bought his own ticket to New York from Chelsea, Massachusetts, with the money set aside for his mother's anniversary gift.[2] True or not, Stang worked on New York-based network radio shows as a boy, appearing on children's programs such as The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour and Let's Pretend.[3] By 1940, he had graduated to teenaged roles, appearing as Seymour[4] on The Goldbergs. Director Don Bernard hired him in October 1941 to do the commercials on the CBS program Meet Mr. Meek but decided his constantly cracking voice would hurt the commercial so he ordered scriptwriters to come up with a role for him.[5] He next appeared on the summer replacement show The Remarkable Miss Tuttle with Edna May Oliver in 1942[6] and replaced Eddie Firestone Jr. in the title role of That Brewster Boy when Firestone joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1943.[7]
Comedian Henry Morgan made him a sidekick on his program in fall of 1946 and Stang appeared in similar roles the following year on radio shows with Eddie Cantor[8] and Milton Berle.[2] He also did the voice of Jughead for a short while on Archie Andrews radio show when it was broadcast by NBC.
At this time Stang had appeared in a number of movies, including Seven Days Leave, My Sister Eileen, So This Is New York with Henry Morgan, and They Got Me Covered. He had also appeared on the Broadway stage in Sailor Beware, All In Favor and Same Time Next Week, where he first worked with Berle.[9]
Stang moved to television at the start of the Golden Age. He had a recurring role in the TV show The School House on the DuMont Television Network in 1949. He was a regular on Eddie Mayehoff's short-lived situation comedy Doc Corkle in fall of 1952[10] as well as comedy relief on Captain Video and His Video Rangers as Clumsy McGee. Then he made a guest appearance on Milton Berle's Texaco Star Theater on May 12, 1953[11] and joined him as a regular as Francis the Stagehand the following September, often berating or heckling the big-egoed star for big laughs. Stang also had guest roles on several variety shows of the day including The Colgate Comedy Hour. In early 1951, Stang appeared on Henry Morgan's Great Talent Hunt, a take-off of The Original Amateur Hour, as "Gerard", supposedly recruiting "talent" for Morgan.
In films, he played Sparrow in The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) with Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak. In It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) he played Ray, who, along with his partner Irwin (Marvin Kaplan), owns a gas station that Jonathan Winters destroys. He appeared in Hello Down There (1969). In one of the oddest movie pairings, he partnered with Arnold Schwarzenegger (billed as "Arnold Strong 'Mr. Universe'") in the latter's first film, Hercules in New York (1969).
Stang worked often as a voice actor for animated cartoons.[12] He is perhaps best remembered in this field as the voice of "T.C.," the sly alley cat in the Hanna-Barbera series Top Cat (modeled explicitly after Sgt. Bilko in The Phil Silvers Show). The show lasted one season in prime time, 1961–62, before going into reruns. Stang also provided the voice for Popeye's pal Shorty (a caricature of Stang), Herman the mouse in a number of Famous Studios cartoons, Tubby Tompkins in a few Little Lulu shorts, and Catfish on Misterjaw. He also voiced the character Nurtle the Twurtle in the 1965 animated feature Pinocchio in Outer Space.
On television he appeared in commercials for the Chunky candy bar, where he would list many of its ingredients, smile and say, "Chunky, what a chunk of chocolate!" He provided the voice of the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee in the 1980s and was also a spokesman for Vicks Vapo-Rub. As a pitchman for Alcoa aluminum window screens in the late 1960s, he was known for the tag line "Arnold Stang says don't get stung". Stang also appeared in "The Grave Robber," an episode of the popular horror anthology series Tales from the Darkside, playing Tapok, an ancient Egyptian mummy who encounters some unscrupulous archaeologists that lure him into a game of strip poker.
Stang once described himself as "a frightened chipmunk who's been out in the rain too long."[2] As for his distinctive squawky, nasal Brooklyn voice, he said "I'm kind of attached to it ... [it's] a personal logo. It's like your Jell-O or Xerox.[13]
Later career
Arnold Stang reprised Top Cat in Yogi's Treasure Hunt and Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats. Stang also appeared on an episode of The Cosby Show with guest star Sammy Davis, Jr. (He also made a cameo appearance in Cosby's 1990 film Ghost Dad.) In one TV advertisement he played Luther Burbank, proudly showing off his newly invented "square tomato" to fit neatly in typical square slices of commercial bread, then being informed that the advertising bakery had beat him to it by producing round loaves of bread. He played the photographer in the 1993 film Dennis the Menace with Walter Matthau. He also provided many voices for the Cartoon Network series Courage the Cowardly Dog and The Turner Program Services's original series, Captain Planet and the Planeteers. He had a small role as Queasy the Parrot in the 1970s film Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure.
In 1994, he guest starred as the voice of Irwin the Mouse in Garfield and Friends episode, "Thoroughly Mixed-Up Mouse".
In 2000, writers Kurt Seligmann, Jr. and Martin Olson asked Stang to use his voice to talk to Pikachu in Hey You, Pikachu!.
In 2004, Arnold Stang made his last appearance in an interview with animator Earl Kress about the making of Top Cat. It is featured on the Top Cat DVD boxset.
Personal life
Stang and his wife, the former JoAnne Taggart, lived in New Rochelle, New York and in his later years Greenwich, Connecticut, moving toward the end of his life to Needham, Massachusetts. The couple had two children, David and Deborah.[1]
Death
Wikinews has related news: American actor Arnold Stang dies at age 91
Stang died of pneumonia in Newton, Massachusetts, on December 20, 2009.[1] Although Stang was born in New York City in 1918, he often claimed Chelsea, Massachusetts as his birthplace and 1925 as his birthdate.[1] His ashes were buried in Newton's cemetery.
Filmography
1942: My Sister Eileen as Jimmy (uncredited)
1942: Seven Days' Leave as Bitsy Slater
1943: They Got Me Covered as Drugstore Boy (uncredited)
1945: Let's Go Steady as Chet Carson
1948: So This Is New York as Westrn Union Clerk
1951: Two Gals and a Guy as Bernard
1955: The Man with the Golden Arm as Sparrow
1960: Saiyûki as Lulipopo (English version, voice)
1961: Dondi as Peewee
1962: The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm as Rumpelstiltskin
1962: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World as Ray, service station co-owner
1965: Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar as Jubal A. Bristol
1965: Pinocchio in Outer Space as Nurtle the Turtle (voice)
1968: Skidoo as Harry
1969: Hello Down There as Jonah
1970: Hercules in New York as Pretzie
1972: Marco Polo Junior Versus the Red Dragon as The Delicate Dinosaur (voice)
1977: Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure as Queasy (voice)
1980: I Go Pogo as Churchy LaFemme (voice)
1990: Ghost Dad as Mr. Cohen, elderly patient
1993: Dennis the Menace as Photographer
1994: Garfield and Friends as Irwin the Mouse (voice)
1999–2001: Courage the Cowardly Dog as Rat, Monk, Small Toes, Additional voices