June Foray (born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American voice actress and radio personality, best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer from Disney's Cinderella, Cindy Lou Who, Jokey Smurf, Granny from the Warner Bros. cartoons directed by Friz Freleng, Grammi Gummi from Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears series, and Magica De Spell, among many others.
Her career encompassed radio, theatrical shorts, feature films, television, comedy and children's recordings – particularly with Stan Freberg – video games, talking toys, and other media.
Foray was one of the early members of ASIFA-Hollywood, the society devoted to promoting and encouraging animation. She is credited with the establishment of the Annie Awards, as well as being instrumental in the creation of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2001. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame honoring her voice work in television.[3]
Chuck Jones was quoted as saying: "June Foray is not the female Mel Blanc. Mel Blanc was the male June Foray."[4]
Early life
June Lucille Forer was born on September 18, 1917,[5] in Springfield, Massachusetts, one of three children of Ida (née Robinson, 1893–1975)[6] and Morris Forer (1886–1958).[7][8] Her mother was of Lithuanian Jewish and French Canadian ancestry, and her father was a Jewish emigrant from Odessa, Russian Empire.[9] The family resided at 75 Orange Street, Forest Park. As a small child, Foray first wanted to be a dancer, so her mother sent her to local classes, but she had to drop out due to a case of pneumonia.[10]
Acting career
After entering radio through the WBZA Players, Foray starred in her own radio series Lady Make Believe in the late 1930s.[13] She soon became a popular voice actress, with regular appearances on coast-to-coast network shows including Lux Radio Theatre and The Jimmy Durante Show.[12]
In the 1940s, Foray also began film work, including a few roles in live action movies, but mostly did voice over work for animated cartoons and radio programs and occasionally dubbing films and television.[14] On radio, Foray did the voices of Midnight the Cat and Old Grandie the Piano on The Buster Brown Program, which starred Smilin' Ed McConnell, from 1944 to 1952. She later did voices on the Mutual Broadcasting System program Smile Time for Steve Allen.[11] Her work in radio ultimately led her to recording for a number of children's albums for Capitol Records
Personal life
Foray married Bernard Barondess in 1941.[39][40][41] The marriage ended in divorce.[42] She met Hobart Donovan while appearing on The Buster Brown Program on radio. He was the show's main writer and had also written The Buster Brown comic book. Foray and Donovan were married from 1955 until Donovan's death in 1976.[43] She had no children by either marriage.
In 1973, Foray was an organizer of a meat boycott in response to President Nixon's freezing of meat (and other) prices.[44] As a result of this, Foray was included in the master list of Nixon's political opponents
Performances
Radio
Film
Live action
Television
Video games
Further reading
June Foray with Mark Evanier and Earl Kress. Did You Grow Up with Me, Too?: The Autobiography of June Foray. BearManor Media, 2009. ISBN 1593934610
External links
References
- Carlson, Michael. June Foray obituary The Guardian, July 30, 2017, retrieved March 19, 2018^
- Seitz, Matt Zoller. June Foray Was One of the Greatest Voice Actors of All Time New York Magazine, July 27, 2017, retrieved March 19, 2018^
- Clare, Nancy. June Foray