Bill Thompson (July 8, 1913 – July 15, 1971) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
radioRadio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
actor and voice actor whose career stretched from the 1930s until his death.
Born to vaudevillian parents, Thompson began his career in Chicago radio, where his early appearances included appearances as a regular on
Don McNeillDon McNeill was an American radio personality, best known as the creator and host of The Breakfast Club, which ran for more than 30 years.-Early career:...
's morning variety series
The Breakfast ClubThe Breakfast Club was a long-run morning variety show on NBC Blue Network/ABC radio originating in Chicago, Illinois. Hosted by Don McNeill, the radio program ran from June 23, 1933 through December 27, 1968...
in 1934 and a stint as a choir member on the musical variety series
The Sinclair Weiner Minstrels around 1937.
Bill Thompson (July 8, 1913 – July 15, 1971) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
radioRadio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
actor and voice actor whose career stretched from the 1930s until his death.
Early career
Born to vaudevillian parents, Thompson began his career in Chicago radio, where his early appearances included appearances as a regular on
Don McNeillDon McNeill was an American radio personality, best known as the creator and host of The Breakfast Club, which ran for more than 30 years.-Early career:...
's morning variety series
The Breakfast ClubThe Breakfast Club was a long-run morning variety show on NBC Blue Network/ABC radio originating in Chicago, Illinois. Hosted by Don McNeill, the radio program ran from June 23, 1933 through December 27, 1968...
in 1934 and a stint as a choir member on the musical variety series
The Sinclair Weiner Minstrels around 1937. While on the former series, Thompson originated a meek, mush-mouthed character occasionally referred to in publicity as Mr. Wimple. Thompson soon achieved his greatest fame after he joined the cast of the
radio comedyRadio comedy, or comedic radio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve sitcom elements, sketches, and many other forms of comedy found on other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic elements, as these can be conveyed on a small budget with just a few sound effects or some...
Fibber McGee and MollyFibber McGee and Molly was a radio show that played a major role in determining the full form of what became classic, old-time radio. The series was a pinnacle of American popular culture from its 1935 premiere until its demise in 1959...
around 1936 and brought back the Wimple voice in 1941.
On
Fibber McGee and Molly, Thompson essayed a variety of roles, including a boisterous conman with a
W. C. FieldsW. C. Fields was an American comedian, actor and juggler. Fields created one of the great American comic personas of the first half of the 20th century: a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist who remained a sympathetic character despite his snarling contempt for dogs, children, and women.The...
voice, originally named Widdicomb Blotto but soon re-christened Horatio K. Boomer, and Nick Depopulis, the
GreekThe Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in diaspora communities around the world....
restaurant owner. His two most famous roles on the series, however, were as the Old Timer and Wallace Wimple. The Old Timer, introduced in 1937 was a garrulous old gent who would drop in and listen to McGee's rambling stories and jokes. He inexplicably referred to McGee as "Johnny," as in: "That's pretty good, Johnny, but that ain't the way I heerd it!" This soon became a national
catch phraseA catch phrase is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through a variety of mass media , as well as word of mouth...
and surfaced in
Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. (also known as Warner Bros. Pictures, or simply Warner Bros.—the shortened form of the former official, sometimes still used, formal corporate name: Warner Brothers
cartoon shorts, notably Tortoise Wins by a HareCecil Turtle is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of films. Though he made only three theatrical appearances, Cecil is remarkable in that he is one of the very few characters who was actually able to consistently best the Warners rabbit....
in which Bugs BunnyBugs Bunny is a fictional character who appears in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated films produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, which became Warner Bros. Cartoons in 1945. In 2002, he was named by TV Guide as the greatest cartoon character of all time, an honor he shares...
disguises himself as a bearded old man and tries to trick the tortoise into telling him "how he beat that rabbit!")
Wallace Wimple
Wallace Wimple, an expansion of Thompson's Breakfast Club role, would prove to be his most enduring character, however. Wimple was a timid birdwatcher, appropriately nicknamed "Wimp" by McGee, who lived in constant terror of his "big old wife," ironically named "Sweetie Face," who was often mentioned but never heard. (The term "wimp" for an unmanly character was in common usage already, as with the cartoon character J. Wellington WimpyJ. Wellington Wimpy, or just Wimpy, is one of the characters in the long-running comic strip Popeye , and in the Popeye cartoons based upon the strip....
). The character, whose greeting was a mild "Hello, folks," became very popular, and inspired animationAnimation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways...
director Tex AveryFrederick Bean "Fred/Tex" Avery was an American animator, cartoonist, voice actor and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He did his most significant work for the Warner Bros...
to build a dog character around the voice. This character, eventually named Droopy DogDroopy is an animated cartoon character, an anthropomorphic dog with a droopy face, hence the name Droopy. He was created by Tex Avery, for theatrical cartoon shorts produced by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio, in 1943...
, was also voiced by Thompson in most of his appearances. Thompson also played the title role, an Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party...
take-off, in Avery's Academy AwardThe Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is...
nominated short The Blitz Wolf.
World War II
Around 1943, however, Thompson's thriving career was interrupted when he joined the US NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
during World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and all of his radio characters were temporarily dropped. He returned to Fibber McGee full-time in 1946, however, and also became a semi-regular on Edgar BergenEdgar John Bergen was an American actor and radio performer, best known as a ventriloquist.-Early life:...
's radio series as lecturer "Professor" Thompson, and continued to work on radio until the late 1950s, notably in several episodes of CBS Radio Workshop.
Upon his return to civilian life, Thompson's animationAnimation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways...
voice-overVoice-over is a production technique where a non-diegetic voice is broadcast live or pre-recorded in radio, television, film, theatre and/or presentation....
career also began to build steam. At MGMThe Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was the in-house division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture studio in Hollywood, California, responsible for producing animated short subjects to accompany MGM feature films in Loew's Theaters...
, he returned as Droopy and also played Droopy's recurring bulldog nemesis Spike, known as Butch in his appearances that were produced after Avery's departure from MGM, and many other characters in the studio's cartoon shorts (he used the Wimple/Droopy voice for the titular Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
caricature in Big Heel-Watha and for Tom's look-a-like cousin George in a 1957 Tom and JerryTom and Jerry is a series of theatrical animated cartoons featuring a cat and a mouse.Tom and Jerry may also refer to:* The Tom and Jerry Show, a 1975 television series featuring the cartoon characters...
entry Timid TabbyTimid Tabby is the 106th one reel animated Tom and Jerry short, copyrighted 1956, directed and produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Lewis Marshall, Kenneth Muse, Irven Spence, Ken Southworth and Bill Schipek, with backgrounds by...
, for two examples).
Disney
For Walt DisneyWalter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon and philanthropist. Disney is famous for his influence in the field of entertainment during the twentieth century. As the co-founder Walter Elias...
, he was heard in many shorts and features, often in either dialect parts or a variation of his Wimple/Droopy voice. His animated feature film credits included the parts of the White Rabbit and the Dodo in Alice in WonderlandAlice in Wonderland is a American animated comedy feature produced by Walt Disney and based on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Thirteenth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film was released in New York City and London on July 26, 1951...
, Mr. Smee (and the other pirates) in Peter Pan (reprising his roles in radio adaptations for Lux Radio TheaterLux Radio Theater, a long-run classic radio anthology series [NBC Blue Network ; CBS ; NBC ] which first adapted Broadway stage works, and then films to hour-long radio programs performed live before studio audiences...
), and King Hubert in Sleeping BeautySleeping Beauty is a American animated feature produced by Walt Disney and based on the fairy tale "La Belle au bois dormant" by Charles Perrault. It was released to theatres on January 29, 1959 by Buena Vista Distribution...
.
His best showcase may well have been in Lady and the TrampLady and the Tramp is a American animated feature film produced by Walt Disney and released to theaters on June 22, 1955, by Buena Vista Distribution. The fifteenth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, it was the first animated feature filmed in the CinemaScope widescreen...
, where he was heard in no less than five dialect parts, as Jock the friendly Scottish terrierThe Scottish Terrier , popularly called the Scottie, is a breed of dog best known for its distinctive profile and typical terrier personality....
, Bull the CockneyThe term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...
bulldogA Bulldog, also known as British Bulldog or English Bulldog, is a breed of dog which traces its ancestry to England. It should not be confused with other varieties such as the American Bulldog or the French Bulldog, which have a similar appearance.- Appearance :The bulldog is a breed with...
, Dachsie the GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
dachshundThe dachshund is a short-legged, elongated dog breed, of the hound family. The standard size was developed to scent, chase, and flush badgers and other burrow-dwelling animals, while the miniature was developed to hunt smaller prey, like rabbits....
, Joe the ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
cook, and the IrishIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
policeman in the park. In shorts, he was heard as Ranger J. Audobon WoodlorePark ranger J. Audubon Woodlore is a character created by The Walt Disney Company who has appreared in the cartoons since the 1950s. He was originally voiced by Bill Thompson...
in several Donald DuckDonald Duck is an American cartoon character from The Walt Disney Company. Donald is a white anthropomorphic duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He usually wears a sailor shirt, cap, and a red or black bow tie, but no trousers...
and Humphrey the Bearthumb|250 px|Humphrey the Bear sporting his signature grin; from the intro to "[[In The Bag]]" .Humphrey the Bear is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney studio in 1950. He first appeared in the Goofy cartoon Hold That Pose, in which Goofy tried to take his picture...
entries and as Professor Owl in two music related shorts, including the Academy AwardThe Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is...
winning Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom (directed by Ward KimballWard Walrath Kimball was an animator for the Walt Disney Studios. He was one of Walt Disney's team of animators known as Disney's Nine Old Men.-Career:...
), amongst many others. He reprised both of these roles in Disney's various television series, and was the first actor to voice the comic book character Scrooge McDuckScrooge McDuck or Uncle Scrooge is a Glaswegian anthropomorphic duck created by Carl Barks that first appeared in Four Color Comics #178, Christmas on Bear Mountain, published by Dell Comics in December 1947....
(the theatrical featurette Scrooge McDuck and Money).
Union Oil
In 1957, Thompson joined the Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
branch of Union OilUnion Oil Company of California, dba Unocal is a defunct company that was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headquartered in El Segundo, California, United States.On August 10, 2005, Unocal merged with...
as an executive, working in community relations and occasionally reprising his radio characters. He remained sporadically active in animation, however, going on to play King Hubert in Disney's Sleeping BeautySleeping Beauty is a American animated feature produced by Walt Disney and based on the fairy tale "La Belle au bois dormant" by Charles Perrault. It was released to theatres on January 29, 1959 by Buena Vista Distribution...
, and as Touché Turtle for Hanna-BarberaHanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. , was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
's Touché Turtle and Dum DumTouché Turtle and Dum Dum is one of the segments from The New Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Series, produced by Hanna-Barbera in 1962....
(plus a guest role in an early episode of The FlintstonesThe Flintstones is an animated American television sitcom that ran from 1960 to 1966 on ABC. The series was the first prime-time animated series aimed at adults. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions , The Flintstones is about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next door...
).
During this period, around 1958, Thompson appeared as a guest challenger on the TV panel show To Tell the TruthTo Tell the Truth is an American television game show created by Bob Stewart and produced by Goodson-Todman Productions that has aired intermittently in various forms since 1956 on both networks and in syndication. Along with The Price Is Right, it is one of two game shows in the United States to...
.
Death
Thompson's final role was as Uncle Waldo in The AristocatsThe Aristocats is an animated feature produced and released by Walt Disney Productions in 1970. The twentieth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film is based on a story by Tom McGowan and Tom Rowe, and revolves around a family of aristocratic cats, and how an alley...
, released shortly before his sudden death from acute septic shockSeptic shock is a serious medical condition caused by decreased tissue perfusion and oxygen delivery as a result of infection and sepsis, though the microbe may be systemic or localized to a particular site. It can cause multiple organ dysfunction syndrome and death...
on July 15, 1971, at 58 years old.
Sources
Dunning, John. On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-507678-8
External links