Billy Bletcher
Encyclopedia
William "Billy" Bletcher (September 24, 1894 – January 5, 1979) was an American
actor
, comedian
, and voice artist, a native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania
.
and The Three Stooges comedies.
Bletcher was also famous as a voice actor. Uncharacteristically for someone of his size, his voice was a deep and strong-sounding baritone
. He provided the voices of various characters for Disney
(Black Pete and the Big Bad Wolf in Three Little Pigs
and its spin-offs), MGM
(Spike the Bulldog
and in some occasions even Tom, in Tom and Jerry
), and Warner Bros.
(many characters, most notably the Papa Bear of Chuck Jones
' The Three Bears after Mel Blanc
had performed the role in the initial entry). He appeared opposite Blanc in Little Red Riding Rabbit
, where he played another famous wolf. Bletcher's booming voice can also be heard as "Dom Del Oro" the Yacqi Indian god in the 1939 Republic serial, Zorro's Fighting Legion
. He provided voicework for Warner Brothers rival Ub Iwerks
as the Pincushion man in 1935's Balloon Land
. He also voiced Owl Jolson's disciplinarian violinist father in the 1936 short subject
based on the song I Love to Singa
and the menacing spider
in Bingo Crosbyana
. Both he and Mel Blanc did voice acting in the 1944 Private Snafu
WWII training film "Gas", where Bletcher plays the villainous Gas Cloud (with Mel Blanc voicing Private Snafu and a cameo
of Bugs Bunny) as an opponent of Snafu. Bletcher also played The Captain in Captain and the Kids with MGM cartoons.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
, and voice artist, a native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...
.
Career
The diminutive (5 in 2 in (1.57 m)) Bletcher appeared on-screen in films and later television from the 1910s to the 1970s, including appearances in several Our GangOur Gang
Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...
and The Three Stooges comedies.
Bletcher was also famous as a voice actor. Uncharacteristically for someone of his size, his voice was a deep and strong-sounding baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
. He provided the voices of various characters for Disney
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
(Black Pete and the Big Bad Wolf in Three Little Pigs
Three Little Pigs (film)
Three Little Pigs is an animated short film released on May 27, 1933 by United Artists, produced by Walt Disney and directed by Burt Gillett. Based on a fairy tale of the same name, Three Little Pigs won the 1934 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. In 1994, it was voted #11 of the 50...
and its spin-offs), MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
(Spike the Bulldog
Spike (MGM)
Spike and Tyke are fictional characters from the Tom and Jerry series, created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Spike is a stern but occasionally dumb British bulldog who is particularly disapproving of cats, but a softie when it comes to mice, and later, his son Tyke...
and in some occasions even Tom, in Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...
), and Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
(many characters, most notably the Papa Bear of Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
' The Three Bears after Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
had performed the role in the initial entry). He appeared opposite Blanc in Little Red Riding Rabbit
Little Red Riding Rabbit
Little Red Riding Rabbit is a 1944 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Friz Freleng, and starring Bugs Bunny. It is a sendup of the Little Red Riding Hood story, and is the first time in which Mel Blanc receives a voice credit...
, where he played another famous wolf. Bletcher's booming voice can also be heard as "Dom Del Oro" the Yacqi Indian god in the 1939 Republic serial, Zorro's Fighting Legion
Zorro's Fighting Legion
Zorro's Fighting Legion is a 1939 Republic Pictures film serial consisting of twelve chapters. It features Reed Hadley as Zorro. The plot revolves around his alter-ego Don Diego's fight against the evil Don Del Oro....
. He provided voicework for Warner Brothers rival Ub Iwerks
Ub Iwerks
Ub Iwerks, A.S.C. was a two-time Academy Award winning American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, creator of Mickey Mouse, and special effects technician, who was famous for his work for Walt Disney....
as the Pincushion man in 1935's Balloon Land
Balloon Land
Balloon Land, also known as The Pincushion Man, is a 1935 animated short film produced by Ub Iwerks as part of the ComiColor Cartoons series. The cartoon is about a place called Balloon Land, whose residents are made entirely out of balloons...
. He also voiced Owl Jolson's disciplinarian violinist father in the 1936 short subject
Short subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
based on the song I Love to Singa
I Love to Singa
I Love to Singa is a Merrie Melodies animated cartoon directed by Tex Avery, produced by Leon Schlesinger, and released to theatres on July 18, 1936 by Warner Bros. and Vitaphone. I Love to Singa depicts the story of a young owlet who wants to sing jazz, instead of the classical music that his...
and the menacing spider
Spider
Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
in Bingo Crosbyana
Bingo Crosbyana
Bingo Crosbyana is a 1936 Merrie Melodies cartoon short directed by Friz Freleng, and notable for its title song, composed by Sanford Green and with lyrics by Irving Kahal.-Plot:...
. Both he and Mel Blanc did voice acting in the 1944 Private Snafu
Private Snafu
Private Snafu is the title character of a series of black-and-white American instructional cartoon shorts produced between 1943 and 1945 during World War II. The character was created by director Frank Capra, chairman of the U.S. Army Air Force First Motion Picture Unit, and most were written by...
WWII training film "Gas", where Bletcher plays the villainous Gas Cloud (with Mel Blanc voicing Private Snafu and a cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
of Bugs Bunny) as an opponent of Snafu. Bletcher also played The Captain in Captain and the Kids with MGM cartoons.
Selected filmography
- A Sticky AffairA Sticky AffairA Sticky Affair is a 1916 silent comedy film featuring Oliver Hardy.-Cast:* Oliver Hardy - Plump * Billy Ruge - Runt* Elsie MacLeod* Billy Bletcher...
(1916) - One Too ManyOne Too Many (1916 film)-Cast:* Oliver Hardy - Plump * Billy Ruge - Runt* Billy Bletcher - Unhappy Boarder* Joe Cohen* Edna Reynolds - Newlywed* Madelyn Hardy - Woman on street...
(1916) - The SerenadeThe Serenade (film)The Serenade is a 1916 silent comedy film featuring Oliver Hardy.-Cast:* Oliver Hardy - Plump * Billy Ruge - Runt* Billy Bletcher - Schmitte* Florence McLaughlin - Florence...
(1916) - The Battle RoyalThe Battle RoyalThe Battle Royal is a 1916 silent comedy film featuring Oliver Hardy.-Cast:* Oliver Hardy - Plump * Billy Ruge - Runt* Elsie MacLeod - Runt's sister* Billy Bletcher - Grandpa Runt* Will Louis - Revenue Officer...
(1916) - The Brave OnesThe Brave OnesThe Brave Ones is a 1916 silent comedy film featuring Oliver Hardy.-Cast:* Oliver Hardy - Plump * Billy Ruge - Runt* Billy Bletcher - The Sheriff* Elsie MacLeod - The Sheriff's daughter...
(1916) - Aunt BillAunt BillAunt Bill is a 1916 silent comedy film featuring Oliver Hardy.-Cast:* Oliver Hardy - Plump * Billy Ruge - Runt* Ray Godfrey - Mrs. Runt* Florence McLaughlin - Mrs. Plump * Bert Tracy - Aunt...
(1916) - The Bar-C MysteryThe Bar-C MysteryThe Bar-C Mystery is a 1926 Western film serial directed by Robert F. Hill. It is now considered to be lost.-Cast:* Dorothy Phillips - Jane Cortelyou* Wallace MacDonald - Nevada* Ethel Clayton - Mrs...
(1926) - The Terrible PeopleThe Terrible PeopleThe Terrible People is a 1928 adventure film serial directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet. The film is now considered to be lost.-Cast:* Allene Ray - Nora Sanders* Walter Miller - Arnold Long* Larry Steers - Jack Crayley...
(1928) - Bridge WivesBridge Wives-Cast:* Al St. John - Al Smith* Fern Emmett - Al's wife, Mrs. Smith* Billy Bletcher - Radio announcer* Lynton Brent - Reporter* Roger Moore - Sewer worker...
(1932) - The DentistThe Dentist (1932 film)The Dentist is a 1932 American comedy short starring W.C. Fields. The film is one of four short films Fields made with the "king of comedy," Mack Sennett, at Paramount. Although Sennett was near the end of his career, he found good use of the new medium of talking pictures for comedy, as the film...
(1932) - The Midnight PatrolThe Midnight PatrolFor the television cartoon, see Midnight Patrol: Adventures in the Dream Zone.The Midnight Patrol is a short comedy film starring Laurel and Hardy released August 3, 1933.-Plot:Laurel and Hardy play two policemen on night patrol, hence the title...
(1933) - Bedtime WorriesBedtime WorriesBedtime Worries is a 1933 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan. It was the 124th Our Gang short that was released.-Plot:...
(1933) - The First Round-UpThe First Round-UpThe First Round-Up is a 1934 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Gus Meins. It was the 128th Our Gang short that was released.-Plot:...
(1934) - Punch DrunksPunch DrunksPunch Drunks is the second short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.-Plot:...
(1934) - March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934)
- The Lost CityThe Lost City (1935 serial)The Lost City is an independently made film serial produced in 1935 directed by Harry Revier.-Plot:The film took the premise of that year's The Phantom Empire but transferred the lost civilization motif from the west to another popular serial locale, the African jungle...
(1935) - Balloon LandBalloon LandBalloon Land, also known as The Pincushion Man, is a 1935 animated short film produced by Ub Iwerks as part of the ComiColor Cartoons series. The cartoon is about a place called Balloon Land, whose residents are made entirely out of balloons...
(1935) - I Haven't Got a HatI Haven't Got a HatI Haven't Got a Hat is a 1935 animated short film, directed by Isadore Freleng for Leon Schlesinger Productions as part of Warner Bros.' Merrie Melodies series. Released by Warner Bros. on March 9, 1935, the short is notable for featuring the first appearance of several Warner Bros. cartoon...
(1935) - Divot DiggersDivot DiggersDivot Diggers is a 1936 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan; It was the 142nd Our Gang short to be released.-Plot:...
(1936) - Pigs Is PigsPigs Is Pigs (1937 film)Not to be confused with Pigs Is Pigs .Pigs Is Pigs, is a 1937 Merrie Melodies cartoon that featured Piggy and the Hamhock family, in what would be Piggy's final appearance in the Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes repertory in the Golden Age of American animation.- Synopsis :Piggy Hamhock is always...
(1937) - Egghead Rides AgainEgghead Rides AgainEgghead Rides Again is a 1937 Merrie Melodies Warner Bros. film directed by Tex Avery.- Plot :Energenic Egghead is bouncing around pretending to be a cowboy until his obnoxious cadence gets him kicked out of the apartment complex he's living in. While on the street he finds an ad for a wanted...
(1937) - The Case of the Stuttering PigThe Case Of The Stuttering PigThe Case of the Stuttering Pig was a Looney Tunes animated cartoon, starring Porky Pig and Petunia Pig, released to theaters on October 30, 1937...
(1937) - The Lone RangerThe Lone Ranger (serial)The Lone Ranger is a 1938 American Republic Movie serial. It was the ninth of the sixty-six serials produced by Republic, the fourth western and the first of 1938...
(1938) - Hide and ShriekHide and ShriekHide and Shriek is a 1938 Our Gang short subject directed by Gordon Douglas. It was the 168th Our Gang entry in the series, and the last to involve series creator Hal Roach.-Plot:...
(1938) - The Lone Ranger Rides AgainThe Lone Ranger Rides AgainThe Lone Ranger Rides Again is a 1939 American Republic serial. It was a sequel to Republic's earlier 1937 serial The Lone Ranger, which had been highly successful, and the thirteenth of the sixty-six serials produced by Republic....
(1939) - The Wizard of OzThe Wizard of Oz (1939 film)The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
(1939) - DumboDumboDumbo is a 1941 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released on October 23, 1941, by RKO Radio Pictures.The fourth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, Dumbo is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and illustrated by Harold Pearl for the prototype of a...
(1941) - Who Killed Who?Who Killed Who?Who Killed Who? is a 1943 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated short directed by Tex Avery for MGM. The cartoon is a parody of whodunit stories and employs many clichés of the genre for humor.-Plot:...
(1943) - Quiet Please! (1945)
- Bowery BugsBowery BugsBowery Bugs is a Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Arthur Davis, written by Lloyd Turner and Bill Scott, and released in mid-1949 as part of the Merrie Melodies series...
(1949)