March 12

March 12, 1946 – Voice Actor Frank Welker is Born

“I started doing voices and imitations from about as early as I can remember. I was making noises and I could pick up sounds I could hear pretty easily. And then I found out that you could make people laugh by distorting what you hear.”

On March 12, 1946, Franklin Wendell Welker was born in Denver, Colorado. He attended Santa Monica City College in Santa Monica, California, majoring in theater. After college, his first voice acting job was for a commercial for Friskies dog food. Afterward, he auditioned for the title character in Scooby Doo, but won the role of Fred, which he still voices to this day. He has done many voices for Hanna Barbera cartoons, including Dynomutt, The New Fred and Barney Show, and The Flintstones Comedy Show. Welker’s has had a prolific career at Disney, providing several voices in the films Oliver and Company, The Rescuers Down Under, Aladdin (Abu and the Cave of Wonders), A Goofy Movie (Bigfoot), and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, among others. Welker has also provided voices in other Disney projects, including Disney’s Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Bonkers (Fall-Apart Rabbit), Chip ‘n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers, and Ducktales; he has also appeared onscreen in The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes as Henry and in Now You See Him and Now You Don’t as Myles. Thanks to his large body of voice work, he was considered the highest grossing actor in Hollywood, until he was surpassed by Samuel L. Jackson in 2011.