Amos Stevens
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Voice of Winnie the Pooh's Tigger dies
Paul Winchell also created voice for 'The Smurfs'
Sunday, June 26, 2005; Posted: 11:04 a.m. EDT (15:04
GMT)
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Paul Winchell, a
ventriloquist, inventor and children's TV show host
best known for creating the lispy voice of Winnie the
Pooh's animated friend Tigger, has died. He was 82.
Winchell died Friday morning in his sleep at his
Moorpark home, Burt Du Brow, a television producer and
close family friend, told the Los Angeles Times.
Over six decades, Winchell was a master ventriloquist
-- bringing dummies Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead
Smiff to life on television -- and an inventor who
held 30 patents, including one for an early artificial
heart he built in 1963.
But he was perhaps best known for his work as the
voice of the lovable tiger in animated versions of
A.A. Milne's "Winnie the Pooh" -- with his trademark
"T-I-double grrrr-R."
Winchell first voiced Tigger in 1968 for Disney's
"Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day," which won an
Academy Award for best animated short film, and
continued to do so through 1999's "Winnie the Pooh:
Seasons of Giving."
"I first met Walt Disney 25 or 30 years ago," Winchell
recalled in a 1988 interview with The Associated
Press. "He said, 'We're both in the same business. I
use cartoons and you use dummies and we both entertain
children.' That was long before I started working
here. Walt gave me a VIP tour of the studio. I
remember people doing voices. I said, 'Gee, that must
be fun.' And here I am."
Winchell voiced memorable characters in numerous
animated features over the years for Disney and Hanna
Barbera. He was Gargamel in "The Smurfs," and Boomer
in "The Fox and the Hound."
Winchell said he always tried to look for
characteristics and idiosyncrasies in the voices he
created. For Tigger, he created a slight lisp and a
laugh. He credited his wife, who is British, for
giving him the inspiration for Tigger's signature
phrase: TTFN. TA-TA for now.
In 1974, he earned a Grammy for best children's
recording with "The Most Wonderful Things About
Tiggers" from the feature "Winnie the Pooh and Tigger
Too."
At the age of 13, Winchell was a winner on radio's
"Amateur Hour" for doing his imitation of Edgar Bergen
and Charlie McCarthy. Ventriloquist Bergen was his
childhood hero, and Winchell said one of the greatest
thrills of his life was a joint appearance with Bergen
on the game show "Masquerade Party."
Winchell made his television debut in 1947 with a
smart-mouthed puppet he had invented in his early
teens, and within a year was host of "The Bigelow
Show." He was also host of a number of children's
shows, including "The Paul Winchell-Jerry Mahoney
Show" and "Circus Time."
In 1950, Winchell created Knucklehead Smiff and
introduced him on "The Spiedel Show," which later
became "What's My Name?"
Despite his success in television, Winchell felt the
medium did not do justice to his beloved craft.
"Ventriloquism today is in a slump," he told the AP.
"I think television defeats ventriloquism. Children
are so used to seeing puppets that when they see a
real ventriloquist they don't understand it. On
television, everyone talks and they don't care about
the mechanics."
Winchell's dummies are now at the Smithsonian
Institution in Washington.
Winchell was born in New York City on December 21,
1922. He contracted polio at age six and overcame
speech impediments as he learned to throw his own
voice.
Winchell attended Columbia University and also studied
and practiced acupuncture and hypnosis and became a
prolific inventor.
He donated his early artificial heart to the
University of Utah for research. Dr. Robert Jarvik and
other researchers at the university went on to build
an artificial heart, dubbed the Jarvik-7, which was
implanted into patients after 1982.
Among Winchell's other patents: a disposable razor, a
flameless cigarette lighter and an invisible garter
belt.
Winchell is survived by his wife of 31 years, the
former Jean Freeman; five children and three
grandchildren.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.
Paul Winchell also created voice for 'The Smurfs'
Sunday, June 26, 2005; Posted: 11:04 a.m. EDT (15:04
GMT)
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Paul Winchell, a
ventriloquist, inventor and children's TV show host
best known for creating the lispy voice of Winnie the
Pooh's animated friend Tigger, has died. He was 82.
Winchell died Friday morning in his sleep at his
Moorpark home, Burt Du Brow, a television producer and
close family friend, told the Los Angeles Times.
Over six decades, Winchell was a master ventriloquist
-- bringing dummies Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead
Smiff to life on television -- and an inventor who
held 30 patents, including one for an early artificial
heart he built in 1963.
But he was perhaps best known for his work as the
voice of the lovable tiger in animated versions of
A.A. Milne's "Winnie the Pooh" -- with his trademark
"T-I-double grrrr-R."
Winchell first voiced Tigger in 1968 for Disney's
"Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day," which won an
Academy Award for best animated short film, and
continued to do so through 1999's "Winnie the Pooh:
Seasons of Giving."
"I first met Walt Disney 25 or 30 years ago," Winchell
recalled in a 1988 interview with The Associated
Press. "He said, 'We're both in the same business. I
use cartoons and you use dummies and we both entertain
children.' That was long before I started working
here. Walt gave me a VIP tour of the studio. I
remember people doing voices. I said, 'Gee, that must
be fun.' And here I am."
Winchell voiced memorable characters in numerous
animated features over the years for Disney and Hanna
Barbera. He was Gargamel in "The Smurfs," and Boomer
in "The Fox and the Hound."
Winchell said he always tried to look for
characteristics and idiosyncrasies in the voices he
created. For Tigger, he created a slight lisp and a
laugh. He credited his wife, who is British, for
giving him the inspiration for Tigger's signature
phrase: TTFN. TA-TA for now.
In 1974, he earned a Grammy for best children's
recording with "The Most Wonderful Things About
Tiggers" from the feature "Winnie the Pooh and Tigger
Too."
At the age of 13, Winchell was a winner on radio's
"Amateur Hour" for doing his imitation of Edgar Bergen
and Charlie McCarthy. Ventriloquist Bergen was his
childhood hero, and Winchell said one of the greatest
thrills of his life was a joint appearance with Bergen
on the game show "Masquerade Party."
Winchell made his television debut in 1947 with a
smart-mouthed puppet he had invented in his early
teens, and within a year was host of "The Bigelow
Show." He was also host of a number of children's
shows, including "The Paul Winchell-Jerry Mahoney
Show" and "Circus Time."
In 1950, Winchell created Knucklehead Smiff and
introduced him on "The Spiedel Show," which later
became "What's My Name?"
Despite his success in television, Winchell felt the
medium did not do justice to his beloved craft.
"Ventriloquism today is in a slump," he told the AP.
"I think television defeats ventriloquism. Children
are so used to seeing puppets that when they see a
real ventriloquist they don't understand it. On
television, everyone talks and they don't care about
the mechanics."
Winchell's dummies are now at the Smithsonian
Institution in Washington.
Winchell was born in New York City on December 21,
1922. He contracted polio at age six and overcame
speech impediments as he learned to throw his own
voice.
Winchell attended Columbia University and also studied
and practiced acupuncture and hypnosis and became a
prolific inventor.
He donated his early artificial heart to the
University of Utah for research. Dr. Robert Jarvik and
other researchers at the university went on to build
an artificial heart, dubbed the Jarvik-7, which was
implanted into patients after 1982.
Among Winchell's other patents: a disposable razor, a
flameless cigarette lighter and an invisible garter
belt.
Winchell is survived by his wife of 31 years, the
former Jean Freeman; five children and three
grandchildren.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.
