Dudley Do-Right, created by Alex Anderson, is the
eponymAn eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
ous hero of a segment on
The Rocky and Bullwinkle ShowThe Rocky & Bullwinkle Show is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959 to June 28, 1964 on the ABC and NBC television networks...
which parodied early 20th century
melodramaThe term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
and
silent filmA silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
(by using only a
pianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
as a musical background) in the form of the
Northern genreThe Northern or Northwestern is an American and Canadian genre in literature and film made popular by the writings of Rex Beach and Zane Grey. It is similar to the Western genre but the action occurs in the Canadian North and typically features Mounties instead of, for example, cowboys or sheriffs...
.
Overview
Dudley Do-Right is a dim-witted
Canadian MountieThe Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
who is always trying to catch his nemesis
Snidely WhiplashSnidely Whiplash is the cartoon arch-villain to Dudley Do-Right in the tongue-in-cheek Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties segments of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show by American animation pioneer Jay Ward....
, more often succeeding by pure luck than anything else. He romantically pursued Nell Fenwick, the daughter of Inspector Fenwick, the head of the Mountie station. However, a
running gagA running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
throughout the series was Nell's interest in his horse (called Horse), to the point that she scarcely noticed Dudley's interest.
Dudley Do-Right once made a cameo in a "Rocky and Bullwinkle Fan Club" segment, playing the hero in "She Can't Pay the Rent", a play staged by
Boris BadenovBoris Badenov is a fictional character in the 1960s animated cartoons Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show, collectively referred to as Rocky and Bullwinkle for short. He is voiced by Paul Frees....
. Rocky and Bullwinkle also appeared as cameo in an episode called "Mountie Bear".
In the standard intro, Dudley is seen riding his horse backwards.
Dudley Do-Right Show
The Dudley Do-Right Show is an animated television series assembled by P.A.T. Film Services, consisting of cartoons produced by
Jay Ward ProductionsJay Ward Productions was an Amercian animated television cartoon series production company, founded in 1949 by American animator Jay Ward. It made extensive use of limited animation techniques....
and Total Television, which aired Sunday mornings on ABC-TV from April 27, 1969 to September 6, 1970. Each half-hour show included two segments each of
Dudley Do-Right Of The Mounties and
The World Of Commander McBragg, along with one segment each of
Tooter Turtle and
The Hunter.
Dudley Do-Right was a Jay Ward production, while the other segments were products of Total Television. Both companies used Gamma Productions, a Mexico-based animation studio.
The U.S. syndicated version of the show, called
Dudley Do Right And Friends, differs from
The Dudley Do-Right Show, featuring most of the same recurring cartoon segments, but a different episode selection. The syndicated package features
Dudley Do-Right Of The Mounties, The World Of Commander McBragg, The King And Odie, and
The Hunter. The latter two originally appeared as part of
King Leonardo And His Short Subjects, a series that aired between October 15, 1960 and September 28, 1963 on NBC-TV. Twenty-six new segments of both series were produced for CBS-TV's
Tennessee Tuxedo And His Tales in 1963, and these later segments are included in the syndicated
Dudley Do Right And Friends.
Actors (voice overs) included:
- Bill Scott - Dudley Do-Right
- June Foray
June Foray is an American voice actress, best known as the voice of many animated characters...
- Nell Fenwick
- Hans Conried
Hans Georg Conried, Jr. was an American comedian, character actor and voice actor.-Early years:He was born on April 15, 1917 in Baltimore, Maryland to Hans Georg Conried, Sr. and Edith Beyr Gildersleeve. His mother was a descendant of Pilgrims, and his father was a Jewish immigrant from Vienna,...
- Snidely Whiplash
- Paul Frees
Paul Frees was an American voice actor and character actor.-Biography:He was born Solomon Hersh Frees in Chicago...
- Inspector Fenwick/Narrator
- William Conrad
William Conrad was an American actor, producer and director whose career spanned five decades in radio, film and television....
did several (but not all) of the narrations.
Segments
- The Disloyal Canadians - Whiplash smuggles stolen furs via musical instruments
- Finding Gold
- Mortgagin' The Mountie Post
- Trap Bait
- Masked Ginny Lynne - Nell dons a mask and becomes a singing "sensation" via Whiplash
- The Centaur
- Railroad Tracks - Whiplash ties everything and everyone to railroad tracks
- Foreclosing Mortgages
- Snidley Mounted Police
- Mother Love
- Mountie Bear
- Inspector Dudley Do-Right
- Recruiting Campaign
- Out Of Uniform
- Lure Of The Footlights
- Bullet Proof Suit
- Miracle Drug
- Elevenworth Prison
- Saw Mill
- Mountie Without A Horse
- Mother Whiplash's Log Jam
- Stolen Art Masterpiece
- Mechanical Dudley
- Flicker Rock
- Faithful Dog
- Coming-Out Party
- Robbing Banks
- Skagway Dogsled-Pulling Contest
- Canadian Railway's Bridge
- Niagara Falls
- Snidely's Vic Whiplash Gym
- Marigolds - Dudley's allergic reaction to marigolds gives Whiplash an idea
- Trading Places
- Top Secret
- The Locket
- The Inspector's Nephew
- Matinee Idol
- Snidley Arrested - Whiplash becomes despondent enough to want to be arrested, only to be freed thanks to Nell
One segment originally seen on
The Bullwinkle Show, "Stokey the Bear", had been withheld from all reissues of the series because the U.S. Forest Service objected to the image of a bear that
started forest fires. The segment was finally released on home video in 2005.
Film
In 1999, a
live-action filmDudley Do-Right is a 1999 romantic comedy film, based on Jay Ward's Dudley Do-Right, produced by Davis Entertainment for Universal Studios. The film stars Brendan Fraser as the cartoon's title character. It was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada...
starring
Brendan FraserBrendan James Fraser is a Canadian-American film and stage actor. Fraser portrayed Rick O'Connell in the three-part Mummy film series , and is known for his comedic and fantasy film leading roles in major Hollywood films, including Encino Man , George of the Jungle , Dudley Do-Right , Monkeybone ,...
(as Dudley),
Sarah Jessica ParkerSarah Jessica Parker is an American film, television, and theater actress and producer.She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City , for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards...
(as Nell),
Alfred MolinaAlfred Molina is a British-born American actor. He first came to public attention in the UK for his supporting role in the 1987 film Prick Up Your Ears...
(as Snidely), and
Robert ProskyRobert Prosky was an American stage, film, and television actor.-Life and career:Prosky, a Polish American, was born Robert Joseph Porzuczek in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Helen and Joseph Porzuczek. His father was a grocer and butcher...
(Inspector Fenwick) was released. The movie was a box-office failure, as it had an opening weekend gross (domestically) of $3,018,345, which then went on to have a "domestic total gross" of $9,974,410. The movie was made on a budget of $70 million.
Theme park attraction
Dudley Do-Right is the theme of a log flume attraction at the
Islands of AdventureUniversal's Islands of Adventure is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida. It opened May 28, 1999 as part of an expansion that, along with CityWalk Entertainment District, the Portofino Bay Hotel, and Hard Rock hotel, converted Universal Studios Florida into the Universal Orlando Resort...
theme park titled "
Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw FallsDudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls is a log flume ride at Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida inspired by the Dudley Do-Right character created by cartoonists Jay Ward and Alex Anderson...
". Guests enter a queue themed to resemble a theater, with Dudley, Nell, Snidely and Horse presented as actors. Riders board cartoon logs and journey "into" the story, where Snidely has sinisterly captured Nell Fenwick. Horse and Dudley make their first appearance in front of a
cycloramaFor the classical album Cyclorama, see Jonathan Goldstein; For the rock album Cyclorama by Styx, see Cyclorama ; for the theatrical backdrop, see Cyclorama...
backdrop, theatrically "charging" to the rescue.
The ride system contains three drops, the last and tallest of which is 75 feet. It is a hybrid flume/coaster that utilizes steel track to not only shoot guest-filled logs down the final drop, but under the water's surface and over a bunny hill. The ride system was designed and built by Mack GmbH and opened in 1999.
In popular culture
- The character is mentioned in the 1991 Tony Scott
Anthony D. L. "Tony" Scott is an English film director. His films include Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II, The Last Boy Scout, True Romance, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State, Spy Game, Man on Fire, Déjà Vu, The Taking of Pelham 123, and Unstoppable...
film The Last Boy ScoutThe Last Boy Scout is a 1991 action film starring Bruce Willis as a former Secret Service agent, now working as a private detective, and Damon Wayans as a retired professional football player. The two join forces to solve the murder of Wayans' character’s girlfriend . The movie was produced by...
starring Bruce WillisWalter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
and Damon WayansDamon Kyle Wayans is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor, one of the Wayans brothers.-Early life:Wayans was born in New York City, New York, the son of Elvira, a homemaker and social worker, and Howell Wayans, a supermarket manager...
. In one scene, Wayans' character accuses Willis's character of pretending to be a "Dudley f***ing Do Right" when, in fact, he is a lowlife.
- Prince
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
and The New Power Generation's 1991 single Gett Off"Gett Off" is the lead single by Prince and The New Power Generation from the 1991 album Diamonds and Pearls. The song was a last-minute addition to the album, replacing "Horny Pony", which became the song's B-side The cover uses a face drawn in...
includes the lyric "Dudley do no wrong tonight if Nell just let him kick it" in reference to Dudley's frustrated pursuit of Nell.
- In an issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis...
in SeanbabySean Patrick Reiley , better known as Seanbaby, is an American writer best known for his comedy website and frequent contributions to video game media outlets Electronic Gaming Monthly and 1UP.com. He is also a regular contributor to the humor website Cracked.com...
's section "The Rest of the Crap" in which that month's topic was a Captain N: The Game MasterCaptain N: The Game Master was an American animated television series that aired on television from 1989 to 1991 as part of the Saturday morning cartoon lineup on NBC. The show incorporated elements from many of the most popular Nintendo games of the time...
parody, Seanbaby quoted that Simon Belmont in Captain N "talks like Dudley-Do Right".
- In the episode "Midnight Rx
"Midnight Rx" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons sixteenth season. It was the first new episode of 2005.-Plot:Mr. Burns reserves the Springfield Air and Space Museum for a plant company party. While there, Burns acts strangely kind to all of his employees. At the end of the party, Burns announces...
" of The SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
HomerHomer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
goes to a Canadian drug store called "Dudley Do Drugs" with an image of Dudley in effect of the drugs.
- The athletic bands of the Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
, Wichita State UniversityWichita State University is a NCAA Division I public university in Wichita, Kansas with selective admissions. WSU is one of six state universities governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The current president is Dr. Donald Beggs....
, and The University of Akron perform the theme song while the students act as if they are each riding a horse at various home games, such as basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, hockeyHockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
, and footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
. The theme song is played by the Wichita State Basketball Band for the opening and second half tip-offs at Wichita State basketball games.
- The theme music for Dudley Do-Right includes a small portion of Franz von Suppé
Franz von Suppé or Francesco Suppé Demelli was an Austrian composer of light operas who was born in what is now Croatia during the time his father was working in this outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire...
's Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna.
- In the series Due South
Due South is a Canadian crime drama series with elements of comedy. The series was created by Paul Haggis, produced by Alliance Communications, and stars Paul Gross, David Marciano, and latterly Callum Keith Rennie...
the Canadian Mountie-hero is referred to in one episode as "Dudley Do-Right".
- In the film Canadian Bacon
Canadian bacon can mean:* Canadian bacon, a US name for two different pork products - back bacon and a smoked ham* Canadian Bacon, a 1995 comedy film* Canadian Bacon , a peak in the US state of Washington...
, a character refers to a mountie with "Nice try, Dudley."
- In the essay Cowboys v. Mounties, from the book The Partly Cloudy Patriot
The Partly Cloudy Patriot is a book published in 2002, and is a collection of essays about American history and the author's own reflections on such issues, by Sarah Vowell, a contributing editor for the WBEZ / Public Radio International program This American Life.The chapters include scenes from...
by Sarah VowellSarah Jane Vowell is an American author, journalist, essayist and social commentator. Often referred to as a "social observer," Vowell has written five nonfiction books on American history and culture, and was a contributing editor for the radio program This American Life on Public Radio...
(2002).