Frank Welker | |
|---|---|
| File:Frank Welker.png Welker at the 2015 Rhode Island Comic Con | |
| Born | Franklin Wendell Welker March 12, 1946 Denver, Colorado, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Santa Monica College |
| Occupation | Voice actor |
| Years active | 1967–present |
| Agent | CESD Talent Agency |
| Known for |
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Frank Welker was born in Denver, Colorado on March 12, 1946. He began his career as a stand-up comic and a live-action actor. He appeared in TV commercials and films before getting the role as Fred in Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? He started the role in 1969, and has continued to do the voice of Fred to this day.
Frank Welker has voiced many characters including Megatron (The Transformers), Curious George, Dynomutt, Stripe (Gremlins), Orbity (The Jetsons)... Visit The Frank Welker Homepage for more information on Frank.
ScoobyAddicts.com: What inspired you to become a voice actor?
Frank Welker: I really started out doing mostly on-camera and then stand-up comedy. I never really set out to do just voice acting ... in fact, I didn't even know what VO performing was ... the first job I got was a commercial for "Friskies" dog food. The producer and his girlfriend saw me perform in a nightclub doing dog and cats. It turned out that she worked for CBS and she was casting a cartoon show, "Scooby Doo!" I went in to read for Scooby and ended up getting Freddy. I am still doing Freddy and that was in 1969. I know it doesn't quite work out mathematically since I have been telling everybody I'm thirty-six.
ScoobyAddicts.com: Do you do anything special to get into character?
Frank Welker: I really like the visual, seeing the character or a drawing. Second best is reading a description, and third is having someone tell you. Physically, I try to let myself become the character. Pretty straightforward.
ScoobyAddicts.com: Do you have a favorite character that you have voiced?
Frank Welker: It's almost like cheating, if I say I like one better than the other ... I really do like some more that others but there are many and I don't want to go on and on and bore you. I liked doing Bullwinkle on a series of commercials, Freddy and Scooby of course, Megatron because it was my own invention without any input from others and it has stood the test of time. Slimer, Fall-Apart Rabbit, Jabberjaw, Dynomutt ... see, I told you I would go on and on and bore you!
ScoobyAddicts.com: What are some of the rewards of being a voice actor? What are some of the challenges?
Frank Welker:
Rewards: You get play a hugely diverse range of characters ... unless you get voice type cast ... you work with fabulous and often very funny and talented people, and you don't take things too seriously because you bark, growl, and make noises for a living.
Challenges: Working with people that take a simple fun job and get in the way of the actors. Coming up with new voices when you are given the same kinds of roles over and over. Remembering all of the above.
ScoobyAddicts.com: According to an interview done (on the Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour DVD) you originally wanted the part of Shaggy. How did you get the part of Fred? Did you expect the show to be such a huge success when you first started to voice him?
Frank Welker: I went in to read for Scooby but they had pretty much cast the wonderful Don Messick. They were interested in casting young people to play young people ... a new concept at that time ... so, I read for both Shaggy and Freddy. I wanted Shaggy because he was the comedic [role], and Casey Casem wanted to get Freddy ... a little more on the serious side. We both ended up getting each other's character and I must say it worked out well. Don, and Casey were absolutely perfect for their characters. Freddy, well I like him, but he is not the most popular on the show. I remember seeing a survey on AOL. They asked who was your favorite Scooby Gang character? Scooby had thousands, Shaggy had hundreds, Daphne, and Velma were in the respectable low hundreds. Freddy came in around 50, and half of those votes were mine!!
ScoobyAddicts.com: Do you have a favorite Scooby-Doo episode?
Frank Welker: Oh man, there were so many ... I haven't a clue. I know as the show progressed over the years I was doing more and more guest voices and that was always fun, especially villains. Something different.
ScoobyAddicts.com: You have done the voice of Fred for every series, except for A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. Why didn't you do the voice of Fred for that series?
Frank Welker: I think the studio wanted to try a young version of Fred and felt the formula worked the first time so they got a younger version of me. Here is a strange twist, one of the actors on "PUP" was a young kid, Scott Menville, as it turns out we are working together as of this writing on the newest incarnation of Scooby but he is playing a young Shaggy for Casey Casem.
ScoobyAddicts.com: You started voicing Scooby-Doo in the movies from 2003 (starting with Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire) to present. Why did you voice him as opposed to Scott Innes?
Frank Welker: That was a studio decision. I wouldn't audition for Don's part. After we lost Don, Scott was given the roles of both Scooby and Shaggy. I think Casey decided he would like to continue doing the shows and of course he was immediately given the job back. Scott did a very good Shaggy and Scooby but I think the studio wanted someone who lived in LA and was close by the studio. Scott has a very successful radio show and career in another state but I believe he still does a certain amount of Scooby related commercials and personal appearances.
ScoobyAddicts.com: Do you have any new projects coming up?
Frank Welker: We just finished our second season of, "Curious George" and were nominated for an Emmy (yea!). I have a couple of other projects but can't disclose them at this time. Sounds like CIA huh?!
ScoobyAddicts.com: Thank you, I really appreciate your time!
Frank Welker: You are more than welcome Nicole. Thanks for keeping up with, "Scooby and the Gang" ... hello to all our fans at your site!
©2020Scooby-Doo and all related characters and elements are trademarks of Hanna-Barbera,
Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor best known for his role as Fred Jones from the Scooby-Doo franchise since its inception in 1969 and as the voice of Scooby-Doo since 2002. He is also known as the voice of Megatron in the Transformers franchise and as the voice and vocal effects of Nibbler on Futurama.
In 2016, Welker was honored with an Emmy Award for his lifetime achievement.
Early life[]
Welker was born in Denver, Colorado, on March 12, 1946.[1] He moved to California and attended Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where he majored in theatrical arts. In 1966, he received honors for his performance as the Cowardly Lion in the college's theater production of The Wizard of Oz.[2] During his transition between college and his voice-acting career, his first voice-over role was in a commercial for Friskies dog food. The producer's girlfriend informed him of auditioning for Hanna-Barbera during the casting of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, where he initially auditioned for the title character (and, according to Casey Kasem, the role of Shaggy Rogers, as well)[3] but instead won the role of Fred Jones.[4]
Career[]
Voice-acting career[]
Welker's first voice role came in 1969, as Fred Jones in the Scooby-Doo franchise. Welker has voiced Fred in almost every series and incarnation of the Scooby-Doo animated franchise (with the exception of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo) and has also provided the voice of Scooby-Doo since 2002.[5] As of 2019, Welker is the only remaining original voice actor still involved in the series.
His next major character voice was for Wonder Dog (which was inspired by Scooby-Doo) and Marvin White on the 1973 series Super Friends (also produced by Hanna-Barbera). That same year, he played Pudge and Gabby on DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' animated series Bailey's Comets. Welker continued to provide voices for many characters for Hanna-Barbera for several years, which include Jabberjaw, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, and the Shmoo in The New Fred and Barney Show and its spin-off, The Flintstones Comedy Show. Frank Welker described the voice he used for the Shmoo as "a bubble voice" (one he would later use for Gogo Dodo in Tiny Toon Adventures).
In 1978, he played the title character on Fangface and later in its spin-off, Fangface and Fangpuss, and also voiced Heckle and Jeckle and Quackula on The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle, and Tom Cat, Jerry Mouse, Spike, Tyke, Droopy, Slick Wolf and Barney Bear on The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Welker became a very busy actor, providing the voice for many popular cartoon characters in multiple series, including Brain, Doctor Claw, and M.A.D. Cat on Inspector Gadget; Mister Mxyzptlk, Darkseid, and Kalibak on Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show; Wild Bill, Dreadnok Torch, and various G.I. Joe heroes and villains; Scooter on Challenge of the GoBots, Ray Stantz and Slimer in The Real Ghostbusters; the villainous Dr. Jeremiah Surd on The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest; Bubba the Caveduck and two of the Beagle Boys (Bigtime & Baggie) on DuckTales; multiple voices on The Smurfs, including Hefty Smurf, Poet Smurf, and Peewit; and various characters on Captain Planet and the Planeteers.
He also voiced various characters on The Simpsons, such as Santa's Little Helper, Snowball II, and various other animals from 1991 to his departure from the show in 2002. Welker provided both the speaking voice and animal sounds for Nibbler on Matt Groening's Futurama. He provided the voices for Mr. Plotz, Runt, Ralph the Guard, Buttons, and other characters on Animaniacs, Gogo Dodo, Furball, Beeper and others on Tiny Toon Adventures, Pepé Le Pew on The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, and McWolf the main antagonist to Droopy and his nephew Dripple on Tom and Jerry Kids Show and Droopy, Master Detective.
Welker has also created the vocal effects for many animals and creatures in films, including Abu the monkey, Rajah the tiger, and the Cave of Wonders in Aladdin (1992), its two sequels, and the television series, Arnold the Pig in the television film Return to Green Acres (1990), the Martians in Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! (1996), and the penguins in Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011). He performed Spock's screams in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) and voiced The Thing in The Golden Child (1986), Jinx the robot in SpaceCamp (1986), Totoro in the 2005 English version of Studio Ghibli's film My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Alien Sil in Species (1995), Malebolgia in Spawn (1997), and Gargamel's cat Azrael in Sony Pictures Animation's live action/animated film versions of The Smurfs.
In 2006, he began voicing George in the popular children's series Curious George. He also voiced George in the animated film of the same name that same year. In 2007, Welker became the new voice of Garfield, succeeding the original actor Lorenzo Music, who died in 2001 (Welker and Music had previously worked together on The Real Ghostbusters and the original Garfield and Friends). Welker voiced Garfield in Garfield Gets Real (2007), Garfield's Fun Fest (2008), Garfield's Pet Force (2009), and on the series The Garfield Show, which ran from 2008 to 2016. In 2011, he provided the voice of Batman in a Scooby-Doo crossover segment of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode, "Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases!". In the same episode, he also voiced Batboy, the classic Mad Magazine Batman spoof, originally created by Wally Wood.
Welker has also provided voices for many video game characters, most notably Disney's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and The Shadow Blot in Epic Mickey and its sequel Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two,[6] as well as Zurvan, also called the Ancient One, on StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. He also provided the voice of the mad mage Xzar for the Baldur's Gate video game series, and reprised his role from Avengers Assemble as Odin for Lego Marvel's Avengers.
Live-action acting career[]
Welker's first on-camera film role was as a college kid from Rutgers University who befriends Elvis Presley in The Trouble with Girls (1969). His next film role was in the Disney film The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), which starred Kurt Russell (he would also appear in the film's sequel, Now You See Him, Now You Don't, in 1972). He later co-starred with Don Knotts in Universal's How to Frame a Figg (1971), and appeared in Dirty Little Billy (1972).[4]
On-camera television appearances included roles on Laugh-In, Love, American Style, The Partridge Family, and The Don Knotts Show. He played a prosecutor in the highly acclaimed ABC special The Trial of General Yamashita and as Captain Pace beside Richard Dreyfuss' Yossarian in Paramount Television's pilot Catch-22. He also appeared on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, The Mike Douglas Show, The Tonight Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The Smothers Brothers Show, The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour, Laugh Trax, and as one of the cast members in the special of That Was the Year That Was (1985) with David Frost.
Frank also played an on-camera role as a voice actor in a 1984 episode of Simon & Simon. In The Duck Factory, he played a rival actor trying to steal the role of Dippy Duck from fellow voice actor Wally Wooster (Don Messick). In recent years, he appeared in Steven Soderbergh's film The Informant! (2009) as Matt Damon's father.
In 1978, Frank Welker appeared on The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast to George Burns. While saluting Burns, he showed his abilities as an impressionist by honoring George Burns with the voices of Walter Cronkite, Henry Kissinger, Muhammad Ali, David Frost, and Jimmy Carter.
Transformers[]
In the 1980s, Welker voiced many recurring characters in the original Transformers animated series. He voiced several Decepticons, including the leader Megatron, Soundwave, Skywarp, Mixmaster, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, and Ratbat, as well as Autobots Mirage, Trailbreaker and Sludge. He took on the role of Wheelie in The Transformers: The Movie (1986), and in the post-movie episodes took over the role of Galvatron (from his Star Trek III castmate Leonard Nimoy) and also voiced Chromedome and Pinpointer.
Welker returned to two of his Transformers roles when he portrayed Megatron and Soundwave as part of a spoof in a third-season episode of Robot Chicken, which aired shortly after the release of the first live-action film. In the second Transformers film, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), he joined the voice cast and reprised the roles of Soundwave and Ravage, and also provided the voices for Grindor, Devastator, and Reedman. He would again reprise his role as Soundwave, as well as take on the roles of Shockwave and Barricade, in the third film, Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011). And, in Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014), he would reprise his role as Galvatron, albeit with a much different voice from his performance in the 1980s Generation One series. Welker reprised the voice of Megatron in the fifth installment, Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) taking over from Hugo Weaving who played Megatron in the first three live-action Transformer films.
He does not voice Megatron in the first three live-action films (Hugo Weaving was chosen for the role instead). However, Welker did voice Megatron in the two video games based on the first two films, as well as the theme park attractions at Universal Studios Singapore, Universal Studios Hollywood, and Universal Studios Florida, Transformers: The Ride.
Welker also reprised the roles of Megatron and Soundwave in the series Transformers: Prime (retitled Transformers: Prime – Beast Hunters for its third season) and the Transformers: Generation 1 video game Transformers: Devastation.[7]
Filmography[]
References[]
- ↑ "Frank Welker," Behind the Voice Actors, www.behindthevoiceactors.com/
- ↑ "Two Dorothys, Lion Earn Top Prizes". Santa Monica City College Corsair. June 8, 1966.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
- ↑ Sigesmund, B.J. "The Inside Dope." Newsweek. June 14, 2002. Available at Lexis-Nexis.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Frank Welker: Master of Many Voices, Bob Miller, ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE, ISSUE 5.01". April 2000. Archived from the original on March 4, 2012. Retrieved March 4, 2012. Unknown parameter
|dead-url=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help)<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles> - ↑ "Frank Welker". scoobyaddicts.com. Retrieved 2016-12-14.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
- ↑ Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two - Warren Spector Extended Cut, Game Trailers TV, March 26, 2012
- ↑ "BotCon 2010 Hasbro panel". Retrieved October 20, 2014.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
External links[]
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- Frank Welker at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
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