Don Messick

He first wanted to be a ventriloquist, and even for a time supported himself as one.

His big break came in the mid-'40s. At MGM, Tex Avery was doing the "Droopy Dog" cartoons. The regular voice actor, radio actor Bill Thompson, wasn't available. Daws Butler, who voiced characters for MGM , suggested that Avery seek out Don Messick. And so, Messick was called on to voice Droopy. Much later, in the mid-'60s, when Bill Thompson parted ways with Hanna-Barbera, Messick took over the role of Droopy.

Messick and Butler became a voice acting team for the Hanna-Barbera unit in 1957 with the arrival of Ruff and Reddy. Don was Ruff the cat and the Droopy-sounding Professor Gizmo. Butler was the southern-speaking dog, Reddy. Messick also narrated the show, which played out like an animated soap opera.

Throughout 1957-1965 Butler and Messick gave voice to a staggering amount of characters. Always the side-kick, Messick's characters weren't headliners. His notable roles in this era were "Boo-Boo", "Ranger Smith", "Major Minor", "Pixie Mouse", "Astro", and "RUDI". Messick was used primarily for his narration skills, which were heard on ALL of those cartoons that Daws Butler starred in. The off-camera voice telling us about the latest fiasco Quickdraw McGraw got himelf into was Don Messick. Butler was Quickdraw and his spanish side-kick, Baba Louie.

Messick would eventually star in a cartoon series: Richochet Rabbit. This character, paired with the slow-poke Deputy Droop-a-Long, were a riot together in the mid '60s. Mel Blanc was the voice of the deputy.

The outer space cartoons were where Messick really shone. His unique gift at creating noises and sounds for weird space creatures and aliens really helped the space cartoons in a big way. His "Ranger Smith" voice was often heard as space villains. His narrator voice was given to "Vapor Man", "Dr. Benton Quest", and "Multi-Man".

In 1969 he was cast as the cowardly canine "Scooby-Doo". This role would remain Messick's biggest and best-known. He voiced the dog through all of its versions: on TV in numerous formats from 1969-1985, appeared in direct-to-video cartoon adventures, animated films, commercials, etc. Messick was still voicing the role when A Pup Named Scooby-Doo came along in 1988. This ran until 1990.

In the mid-'80s The Jetsons cartoon was brought back. Messick was back as Astro, RUDI, and new voice Uniblab, a pesky robot that worked for Mr. Spacely (voice of Mel Blanc).

His narrating voice was heard on Scooby's Laff-a-Lympics program in 1977 as well as on Hong Kong Phooey. In the '80s his biggest role was "Papa Smurf", from 1981-1990. In the '90s he took on "Hamton Pig" on Tiny Toon Adventures on FOX and its sequels, all running during 1991-1995. FOX also had Messick return to his Droopy character for Droopy: Master Detective in 1992-1994.

However, by 1996, at the age of 70, Messick suffered a stroke - of all places, while inside a cartoon studio recording voices. It's been said that Messick turned pale, looked over at the director and said: "I can't do this anymore" and he stumbled out to his car and drove home... a week later Messick's people sent word that he was retired. In 1997, Messick, now 71, apparently had another stroke resulting from Alzheimer's disease. He died shortly afterward.