Difference between revisions of "Frank Welker (actor)"

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** Scooby-Doo
** Scooby-Doo
** Fred Jones
** Fred Jones
* ''[[Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins]]'' (2009)
* ''[[Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins]]'' (2009) - Scooby-Doo
** Scooby-Doo
* ''[[Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster]]'' (2010) - Scooby-Doo
* ''[[Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster]]'' (2010)
** Scooby-Doo
* ''[[Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated]]'' (2010-2013)
* ''[[Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated]]'' (2010-2013)
** Scooby-Doo
** Scooby-Doo

Revision as of 21:26, 11 May 2020

File:Frank Welker.png
Welker in the "My Life with Scooby-Doo! Frank Welker's Animated Journey" featurette.

Franklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American voice actor and former stand-up comedian. His most prolific roles for Hanna-Barbera (H-B) are Fred Jones and Scooby-Doo since 1969 and 2002, respectively. He has also been Wonder Dog, Marvin White, Dynomutt, Jabberjaw, the Shmoo, Orbitty, Barney Rubble, Tom Cat, Jerry Mouse, and McWolf. He was also Fangface on Ruby-Spears' Fangface.

History with Hanna-Barbera

Welker was doing a Friskies dog food commercial when he was informed by the casting agent's fiancé that she was casting for Scooby-Doo, Where Are You![1] He initially went into read for Scooby-Doo, but was told not to worry,[1] as that went to H-B veteran Don Messick. He also wanted to audition for Shaggy Rogers, who he found more appealing than the "guy in an ascot." Casey Kasem also came into audition for Fred, but Hanna-Barbera preferred the actors in the opposite roles.[1]

He was also one of many to audition for Scrappy-Doo, and although he didn't get the part, his ad-libs of the catchphrase, "Puppy power," were approved by Joseph Barbera and added to the script.[2]

Roles

20th century

21st century

Other roles

Welker has done a multitude of voice roles for cult Saturday morning cartoons (or just any day of the week) of the '80s and '90s, which include Megatron/Galvatron and Soundwave on The Transformers, Doctor Claw on Inspector Gadget, Slimer on The Real Ghostbusters, Fall Apart Rabbit on Bonkers, and Abu on Aladdin, and Mr. Plotz, Runt, Ralph the Guard, Buttons on Animaniacs. Tom Ruegger, the creator of Animaniacs, influenced the casting of Welker for Ralph, in particular, because of Welker playing Dimwittie in The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries.[3] He also acted as Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II and Nibbler in prime-time animated sitcoms, The Simpsons and Futurama, respectively. He is also the voice of Garfield the Cat and Curious George in TV shows and movies since the 2000s.

He has also had on-camera roles largely from the '60s to the '80s, playing opposite Elvis Presley in The Trouble with Girls, and Don Knotts in How to Frame a Figg, and played Don Messick's rival in an episode of The Duck Factory.

He also did the voice of Megatron in the live-action films Transformers: Age of Extinction and Transformers: The Last Knight.

Tributes

File:Frank Welker animated.png
Frank Welker cameo.

References

  1. ^ a b c Alter, Ethan (September 13, 2019). "'Scooby-Doo' at 50: Original cartoon voice talks spinoffs, pot jokes and who's the gang's stealth MVP". Yahoo. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  2. ^ Scrappy Days: The Birth of Scrappy Doo and What I Had to Do with It: Chapter Four. News From ME. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  3. ^ Ruegger, Tom (October 29, 2017). "63a Animanicast #63a with Animaniacs Creator Tom Ruegger". Animanicast. Retrieved April 27, 2020.