Difference between revisions of "Frank Welker"
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| − | '''Franklin W. Welker''' (born March 12, 1946) is a | + | '''Franklin W. Welker''' (born March 12, 1946) is a voice actor. He is responsible for a broad spectrum of character voices, noises, and other vocal effects that have appeared over the last 40 years in American television and motion pictures. He is listed as the number one "All Time Top 100 Stars at the Box office" in terms of the total revenue the films he has participated in have generated. |
== Early life == | == Early life == | ||
| − | Welker was born in | + | Welker was born in Denver, Colorado. He attended college in California, where he later began his professional career appearing in commercials. While in college he appeared in numerous plays, and developed a stand-up comedy act which got him started on the concert circuit touring with The Righteous Brothers and Sergio Mendes. He continued with stand up, appearing in places including Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe as the opening act for headliners like Sonny and Cher, Diana Ross, Loretta Lynn, Ann Margaret and Neil Sedaka. |
== Acting career == | == Acting career == | ||
| − | Welker's first film role was as a bar fight participant in Stan Dragoti’s ''Dirty Little Billy.'' He played a college kid from | + | Welker's first film role was as a bar fight participant in Stan Dragoti’s ''Dirty Little Billy.'' He played a college kid from Rutgers University in the Elvis Presley picture ''The Trouble with Girls.'' He later co-starred with Don Knotts in Universal’s ''How to Frame a Figg.'' Welker also participated in two Disney films, ''The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes'' and ''Now You See Him, Now You Don't''. |
| − | His on camera television appearances included '' | + | His on camera television appearances included ''Love American Style,'' ''The Partridge Family'' and ''The Don Knotts Show''. He played a prosecutor in 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 appeared on ''Laugh In'', ''The Dean Martin Roast'', ''The Mike Douglas Show'', ''The Tonight Show'', ''Merv Griffin'', ''The Smothers Brothers Show'', ''The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour'' and ''Laugh Trax''. In the latter show, he was a cast member along side Jim Staahl and Howie Mandel. |
== Voice actor == | == Voice actor == | ||
| − | Welker has been referred to as a "voice acting god" (by [[John DiMaggio]] and | + | Welker has been referred to as a "voice acting god" (by [[John DiMaggio]] and Billy West in the DVD commentary for ''[[Futurama]]'') in Hollywood for the sheer number of voices he has done — over 1,200 — ranging from his work on ''Scooby-Doo'' to the present day. His voice acting credits include television shows and films such as ''Curious George'', ''Aladdin'', ''Pocahontas'' and computer games such as the ''Baldur's Gate'' series, ''New Super Mario Bros'' and ''CarnEvil''. |
| − | In the '' | + | In the ''Transformers'' television series, he voiced eight of the original 14 Decepticons as well as the Autobots Mirage and Trailbreaker. With the release of the animated film in 1986, he took on the role of the Autobot Wheelie and afterwards, took over the role of Galvatron, (which Welker had originated) from [[Leonard Nimoy]]. Having already provided the screams for Nimoy's character Mr. Spock in ''Star Trek III: The Search for Spock'', this marked the second time he had inherited a role from Nimoy. |
| − | Welker did more live action movies during the 1990s. Among his work includes vocal effects for the character of Sil in '' | + | Welker did more live action movies during the 1990s. Among his work includes vocal effects for the character of Sil in ''Species'', Goro in 1995's ''Mortal Kombat'', the Devil in 1985's ''The Golden Child'', and Malebolgia in 1997's ''Spawn''. Welker also provided the voice (both speaking and non-speaking) of Nibbler in the cartoon TV series ''[[Futurama]]'' and was also the voice of Snot Tiger in the 2006 Walt Disney animated film ''The Fox and the Hound 2''. |
| − | As of 2002, Welker is the voice of both | + | As of 2002, Welker is the voice of both Fred Jones and Scooby Doo. This includes the most recent ''What's New, Scooby-Doo?'', and the series-based spinoff, ''Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!''. |
| − | His most recent character is | + | His most recent character is Garfield in ''Garfield Gets Real'', the first in a series of new Garfield DVDs. |
== Partial filmography == | == Partial filmography == | ||
| − | * '' | + | * ''Final Destination 3'' - Martians |
| − | * '' | + | * ''101 Dalmatians: The Series'' - Thunderbolt, Steven, Scorch, Cynde |
| − | * '' | + | * ''ABC Weekend Special'' - O. G. Readmore |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius'' - Goddard |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Aladdin'', ''The Return of Jafar'' and ''Aladdin and the King of Thieves'' - Abu |
| − | * | + | * ''Aladdin'' (TV series) - Abu, Xerxes, additional voices |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Animaniacs'' - Runt, Flavio Hippo, Buttons, Ralph the Guard, Thaddeus Plotz, and Chicken Boo, occasional segment narration |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Bonkers'' - Fall-Apart Rabbit, Toots, Roderick the Toon Radio, Toon Handbag, Cadet Quark, Elmo, additional voices |
* ''The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour'' - Regular Cast Member | * ''The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour'' - Regular Cast Member | ||
| − | * '' | + | * ''Buzz Lightyear of Star Command'' - Grubs |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Captain N: The Game Master'' - Game Boy (Seasons 2 & 3) |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Cats Don't Dance'' - Farley Wink |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Challenge of the Gobots'' - Scooter, Zeemon, Blaster, Rest-Q |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Challenge of the Superfriends''- The Toyman |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Clay Fighter 63 1/3'' - Blob, Icky Bod Clay, Lockjaw Pooch and the Zappa Yow Yow Boyz |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Cro'' - Gogg, Bobb, Earle, Big Red |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Curious George'' - voice of George |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Dexter's Laboratory'' - Monkey, Quackor, The Infraggible Krunk and Mr. Luzinsky |
| − | * '' | + | * ''The Don Knotts Show'' - Regular Cast Member |
| − | * '' | + | * ''DuckTales'' - Bigtime and Baggy Beagle, Bubba, Tootsie and Poe De Spell |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Dungeons & Dragons'' - Uni and Tiamat |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Dynomutt, Dog Wonder'' - Dynomutt, the dog wonder |
| − | * '' | + | * ''The Fairly Oddparents'' - Doidle, Dinkledog, The Sewer Gator |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Fangface'' - Fangs/Fangface |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Fangface and Fangpuss'' - Fangs/Fangface, Baby Fangs/Fangpuss |
| − | * ''[[ | + | * ''[[Futurama]]'' - Nibbler, both talking and non-talking versions, Seymour, and numerous other animal and humanoid voices |
| − | * '' | + | * ''G.I. Joe'' - Copperhead, Flash, Freedom, Junkyard, Polly, Short-Fuse, Timber, Torch, and Wild Bill |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Garfield and Friends'' - Booker, Sheldon, Bo, Mort, Fred Duck, Dr. Garbanzo Bean |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Gargoyles'' - Bronx and Baby Alex |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Goof Troop'' - Waffles and Chainsaw |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Gremlins'' - Stripe and other Mogwai and Gremlins |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Gremlins 2: The New Batch'' - Mohawk, Daffy, Lenny, George, and other Gremlins. |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Hercules: The Animated Series'' - Pegasus, Additional Voices |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Inspector Gadget'' - Brain, Doctor Claw, and Mad Cat |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Jabberjaw'' - Jabberjaw |
| − | * '' | + | * ''The Jetsons'' - Orbity (Seasons 2 & 3, 1984-1987) |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Jim Henson's Muppet Babies'' - Kermit, Beaker, and Skeeter (1985-1990) |
| − | * '' | + | * ''The Land Before Time'' |
| − | ** '' | + | ** ''The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving'' - Velociraptor |
| − | ** '' | + | ** ''The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists'' - Tickles |
| − | * '' | + | * ''The Pagemaster'' - Voice of Horror, Dragon, Parrot |
| − | * '' | + | * ''The Pirates of Dark Water'' - Niddler, Dark Dweller, Morpho, Lugg Brother #2 |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Pocahontas'' - Flit |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Rambo: The Force of Freedom'' - Mad Dog |
| − | * '' | + | * ''The Real Ghostbusters'' - Ray Stantz, Samhaine, The Bogeyman and Slimer |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Roger Rabbit'' |
| − | ** '' | + | ** ''Roller Coaster Rabbit'' - Bull |
| − | ** '' | + | ** ''Trail Mix-Up'' - Beaver / Bear |
| − | * '' | + | * ''SeaQuest DSV'' - voice of Darwin the Dolphin |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Scooby-Doo'' - Freddy Jones (1969-present) and Scooby-Doo (for the 2002 series ''What's New, Scooby-Doo?'') |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics''- Tinker, Yakky Doodle, Magic Rabbit, Sooey Pig, Dynomutt |
| − | * '' | + | * ''The Smurfs'' - Clockwork Smurf, Hefty Smurf, Peewit, Poet Smurf, Puppy |
| − | * '' | + | * ''The Snorks'' - Occy, Tooter |
| − | * ''Spawn'' - | + | * ''Spawn'' - Malebolgia |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Species'' - Alien Sil's vocal effects |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends'' - Bobby Drake/Iceman, Flash Thompson, Ms. Lion (Firestar's pet Dog) |
| − | * '' | + | * ''SpongeBob Squarepants'' - Giant clams, misc. voices. |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Stargate'' - mastadge pack animal |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show'' - Darkseid, Kalibak, Mr Mxyzptlk, Dollmaker |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron'' - Dr. Viper |
| − | * '' | + | * ''The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians'' - Darkseid, Kalibak, Mr. Mxyzptlk |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze'' - Tokka and Rahzar |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' - Gogo Dodo, Little Beeper, Calamity Coyote, and Furrball |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Transformers'' - Megatron, Galvatron, Soundwave, Trailbreaker, Mirage, Teletraan II, Ravage, Rumble, Frenzy, Laserbeak, Skywarp, and many others |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch'' - Wheelie and Chopper |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Mortal Kombat'' - Voice of Shao Kahn (provided vocal effects for Goro) |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Yogi's Great Escape'' - Bopper, Yapper, the Real Ghost |
| − | * '' | + | * ''Mars Attacks!'' -Martians |
==Simpsons Voices== | ==Simpsons Voices== | ||
Revision as of 16:33, February 27, 2008
Franklin W. Welker (born March 12, 1946) is a voice actor. He is responsible for a broad spectrum of character voices, noises, and other vocal effects that have appeared over the last 40 years in American television and motion pictures. He is listed as the number one "All Time Top 100 Stars at the Box office" in terms of the total revenue the films he has participated in have generated.
Early life
Welker was born in Denver, Colorado. He attended college in California, where he later began his professional career appearing in commercials. While in college he appeared in numerous plays, and developed a stand-up comedy act which got him started on the concert circuit touring with The Righteous Brothers and Sergio Mendes. He continued with stand up, appearing in places including Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe as the opening act for headliners like Sonny and Cher, Diana Ross, Loretta Lynn, Ann Margaret and Neil Sedaka.
Acting career
Welker's first film role was as a bar fight participant in Stan Dragoti’s Dirty Little Billy. He played a college kid from Rutgers University in the Elvis Presley picture The Trouble with Girls. He later co-starred with Don Knotts in Universal’s How to Frame a Figg. Welker also participated in two Disney films, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and Now You See Him, Now You Don't.
His on camera television appearances included Love American Style, The Partridge Family and The Don Knotts Show. He played a prosecutor in 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 appeared on Laugh In, The Dean Martin Roast, The Mike Douglas Show, The Tonight Show, Merv Griffin, The Smothers Brothers Show, The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour and Laugh Trax. In the latter show, he was a cast member along side Jim Staahl and Howie Mandel.
Voice actor
Welker has been referred to as a "voice acting god" (by John DiMaggio and Billy West in the DVD commentary for Futurama) in Hollywood for the sheer number of voices he has done — over 1,200 — ranging from his work on Scooby-Doo to the present day. His voice acting credits include television shows and films such as Curious George, Aladdin, Pocahontas and computer games such as the Baldur's Gate series, New Super Mario Bros and CarnEvil.
In the Transformers television series, he voiced eight of the original 14 Decepticons as well as the Autobots Mirage and Trailbreaker. With the release of the animated film in 1986, he took on the role of the Autobot Wheelie and afterwards, took over the role of Galvatron, (which Welker had originated) from Leonard Nimoy. Having already provided the screams for Nimoy's character Mr. Spock in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, this marked the second time he had inherited a role from Nimoy.
Welker did more live action movies during the 1990s. Among his work includes vocal effects for the character of Sil in Species, Goro in 1995's Mortal Kombat, the Devil in 1985's The Golden Child, and Malebolgia in 1997's Spawn. Welker also provided the voice (both speaking and non-speaking) of Nibbler in the cartoon TV series Futurama and was also the voice of Snot Tiger in the 2006 Walt Disney animated film The Fox and the Hound 2.
As of 2002, Welker is the voice of both Fred Jones and Scooby Doo. This includes the most recent What's New, Scooby-Doo?, and the series-based spinoff, Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!.
His most recent character is Garfield in Garfield Gets Real, the first in a series of new Garfield DVDs.
Partial filmography
- Final Destination 3 - Martians
- 101 Dalmatians: The Series - Thunderbolt, Steven, Scorch, Cynde
- ABC Weekend Special - O. G. Readmore
- Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius - Goddard
- Aladdin, The Return of Jafar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves - Abu
- Aladdin (TV series) - Abu, Xerxes, additional voices
- Animaniacs - Runt, Flavio Hippo, Buttons, Ralph the Guard, Thaddeus Plotz, and Chicken Boo, occasional segment narration
- Bonkers - Fall-Apart Rabbit, Toots, Roderick the Toon Radio, Toon Handbag, Cadet Quark, Elmo, additional voices
- The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour - Regular Cast Member
- Buzz Lightyear of Star Command - Grubs
- Captain N: The Game Master - Game Boy (Seasons 2 & 3)
- Cats Don't Dance - Farley Wink
- Challenge of the Gobots - Scooter, Zeemon, Blaster, Rest-Q
- Challenge of the Superfriends- The Toyman
- Clay Fighter 63 1/3 - Blob, Icky Bod Clay, Lockjaw Pooch and the Zappa Yow Yow Boyz
- Cro - Gogg, Bobb, Earle, Big Red
- Curious George - voice of George
- Dexter's Laboratory - Monkey, Quackor, The Infraggible Krunk and Mr. Luzinsky
- The Don Knotts Show - Regular Cast Member
- DuckTales - Bigtime and Baggy Beagle, Bubba, Tootsie and Poe De Spell
- Dungeons & Dragons - Uni and Tiamat
- Dynomutt, Dog Wonder - Dynomutt, the dog wonder
- The Fairly Oddparents - Doidle, Dinkledog, The Sewer Gator
- Fangface - Fangs/Fangface
- Fangface and Fangpuss - Fangs/Fangface, Baby Fangs/Fangpuss
- Futurama - Nibbler, both talking and non-talking versions, Seymour, and numerous other animal and humanoid voices
- G.I. Joe - Copperhead, Flash, Freedom, Junkyard, Polly, Short-Fuse, Timber, Torch, and Wild Bill
- Garfield and Friends - Booker, Sheldon, Bo, Mort, Fred Duck, Dr. Garbanzo Bean
- Gargoyles - Bronx and Baby Alex
- Goof Troop - Waffles and Chainsaw
- Gremlins - Stripe and other Mogwai and Gremlins
- Gremlins 2: The New Batch - Mohawk, Daffy, Lenny, George, and other Gremlins.
- Hercules: The Animated Series - Pegasus, Additional Voices
- Inspector Gadget - Brain, Doctor Claw, and Mad Cat
- Jabberjaw - Jabberjaw
- The Jetsons - Orbity (Seasons 2 & 3, 1984-1987)
- Jim Henson's Muppet Babies - Kermit, Beaker, and Skeeter (1985-1990)
- The Land Before Time
- The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving - Velociraptor
- The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists - Tickles
- The Pagemaster - Voice of Horror, Dragon, Parrot
- The Pirates of Dark Water - Niddler, Dark Dweller, Morpho, Lugg Brother #2
- Pocahontas - Flit
- Rambo: The Force of Freedom - Mad Dog
- The Real Ghostbusters - Ray Stantz, Samhaine, The Bogeyman and Slimer
- Roger Rabbit
- Roller Coaster Rabbit - Bull
- Trail Mix-Up - Beaver / Bear
- SeaQuest DSV - voice of Darwin the Dolphin
- Scooby-Doo - Freddy Jones (1969-present) and Scooby-Doo (for the 2002 series What's New, Scooby-Doo?)
- Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics- Tinker, Yakky Doodle, Magic Rabbit, Sooey Pig, Dynomutt
- The Smurfs - Clockwork Smurf, Hefty Smurf, Peewit, Poet Smurf, Puppy
- The Snorks - Occy, Tooter
- Spawn - Malebolgia
- Species - Alien Sil's vocal effects
- Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends - Bobby Drake/Iceman, Flash Thompson, Ms. Lion (Firestar's pet Dog)
- SpongeBob Squarepants - Giant clams, misc. voices.
- Stargate - mastadge pack animal
- Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show - Darkseid, Kalibak, Mr Mxyzptlk, Dollmaker
- Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron - Dr. Viper
- The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians - Darkseid, Kalibak, Mr. Mxyzptlk
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze - Tokka and Rahzar
- Tiny Toon Adventures - Gogo Dodo, Little Beeper, Calamity Coyote, and Furrball
- Transformers - Megatron, Galvatron, Soundwave, Trailbreaker, Mirage, Teletraan II, Ravage, Rumble, Frenzy, Laserbeak, Skywarp, and many others
- Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch - Wheelie and Chopper
- Mortal Kombat - Voice of Shao Kahn (provided vocal effects for Goro)
- Yogi's Great Escape - Bopper, Yapper, the Real Ghost
- Mars Attacks! -Martians
Simpsons Voices
