June Foray
June Foray (born September 18, 1917) is an American voice actress who has worked for most of the studios which produced animated films since the 1940s.
Foray was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, where her voice was first broadcast in a local radio drama when she was 12 years of age; by age 15 she was doing regular radio voice work. Two years later she moved to Los Angeles, California, and soon became a popular voice actress on radio there, including on the national programs of Jimmy Durante and Danny Thomas. In the 1940s, she began film work as well, including a few appearances acting in live-action movies, but mostly doing voiceovers for animated cartoons.
For Walt Disney, she played Lucifer the Cat in the feature film Cinderella; she did a variety of voices in Walter Lantz's Woody Woodpecker cartoons; for Warner Bros. Cartoons she was Granny, owner of Tweety and Sylvester (whom she has played, on and off, since 1943), and, memorably, a series of witches including Witch Hazel for Chuck Jones; plus, she did the voice of Penelope Pussycat in Really Scent. She appeared on the Smurfs (as Jokey Smurf and Mother Nature), George of the Jungle, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (as Cindy Lou Who, asking "Santa" why he's taking their tree); she was the voice of the original "Chatty Cathy" doll (coincidently, she was the voice of the "Talking Tina" doll in The Twilight Zone episode, "Living Doll"), and is a voice on the Disney attraction "Pirates of the Caribbean" as the wife of the man getting dunked ("Don't tell him, Carlos!").
Foray has done much work for Hanna-Barbera as well, including The Flintstones, Tom and Jerry, The Jetsons, and many others. She has also done extensive voice acting for Stan Freberg's commercials and albums.
Most recognizable, though, is her work for Jay Ward: she played nearly every female on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, including Natasha Fatale and Nell Fenwick, and (against sex) Rocket J. Squirrel AKA (Rocky Squirrel).
She also voiced Magica De Spell and Ma Beagle in the televised cartoon DuckTales. She even voiced Grammi Gummi on Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears.
Foray and Freberg are arguably the last surviving voice artists from the golden age of theatrical cartoons. She remains active to this day, with roles in recent animated films, such as Mulan (as Grandmother Fa) and Looney Tunes: Back in Action. In October 2006, June portrayed Susan B. Anthony on three episodes of the podcast The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd.
Renowned animator/director Chuck Jones is reported to have said, "June Foray is not the female Mel Blanc, Mel Blanc was the male June Foray."
June Foray has recently become a contributor to ASIFA-Hollywood's Animation Archive Project.
Trivia
- Foray guest starred in The Simpsons season 1 episode Some Enchanted Evening as the receptionist for Rubber Baby Buggy Bumper Babysitting Service.
- Hiss and Make Up was the 1943 cartoon that launched Foray's career as Granny. However, between 1950 and 1953, Foray was working for Disney and Bea Benaderet once again played Granny.