February 6

February 6, 1914 – Voice Actor and Disney Legend Thurl Ravenscroft is Born

“Little did I know back then that the basso voice singing about gold doubloons and pieces of eight belonged to the same man who provided the voice for Tony the Tiger, and so many characters in Disney films, and the Disneyland park.” – Leonard Maltin

On February 6, 1914, Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft was born in Norfolk, Nebraska. In 1933, he headed for California to attend the Otis Art Institute, and joined a barbershop quartet known as The Sportsmen Quartet, who went on to perform on the Jack Benny radio program. Ravenscroft would soon find success with a new quartet known as the Mellomen, who performed in The Glenn Miller Story  and later a film with Elvis Presley.  The Disney Studios hired the Mellomen often; they sang in animated films Alice in Wonderland and Lady and the Tramp, and television serials Cavalcade of Songs and The Legend of Elfego Baca. Ravenscroft leant his voice to the theme songs of two Disney serials: “Boys of the Western Sea” and “The Hardy Boys: Mystery of the Applegate Treasure.”

Ravenscroft’s voice is used extensively in Disneyland, most famously in the Haunted Mansion attraction as one of the singing busts in the end of the ride (surprisingly, Ravenscroft’s bust is often mistaken as that of Walt Disney). His voice can also be heard in Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, and in the Enchanted Tiki Room as Fritz, the German parrot. Ravenscroft also had many famous non-Disney roles, including the song “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” in the famous television Christmas special, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and his most famous role, Tony the Tiger of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes. He was inducted as a Disney Legend in 1995, and passed away in 2005.