Jim Cummings
Jim Cummings | |
---|---|
Born | James Jonah Cummings November 3, 1952 |
Occupation | Voice actor |
Years active | 1983—present |
Agent | International Creative Management |
Spouse | Stevie Cummings |
James Jonah "Jim" Cummings (born November 3, 1952)[1] is an American voice actor.
Born in Youngstown, Ohio, Cummings relocated to New Orleans, where he worked on the assembly of Mardi Gras floats. He later moved to Anaheim, California, where he worked "odd jobs" until the early 1980s. Cummings's first opportunity as a voice actor came in 1983, when the failing health of longtime Winnie the Pooh voice actor Sterling Holloway prompted an open call for Holloway's replacement for the animated feature, Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore. While Hal Smith (best known as Otis Campbell on The Andy Griffith Show) took over for that particular project, Cummings would substitute for Holloway in the subsequent TV show The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
Career
This section contains weasel words: vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. (June 2009) |
At Disney, Cummings not only replaced the ailing Holloway as the voice of Winnie-the-Pooh, but also took over as the voice of Tigger when Paul Winchell retired. Then, when Jeremy Irons experienced problems with his vocal cords during production of The Lion King, Cummings was hired to imitate Irons's voice for the last few lines of the song "Be Prepared". Cummings duplicated the voice of Russell Means for the songs in Pocahontas, and he also duplicated the voice of Christopher Lloyd for the song, "In the Dark of the Night" in Anastasia. When Cummings provided a rendition of Louis Prima's voice for King Louie in TaleSpin, this provoked a controversy with Prima's widow.[citation needed]
Cummings was the only original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles voice actor to return for the 2007 movie. His first three TMNT appearances were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. The 2007 movie was Cummings's sixth computer-animated movie appearance. His first five computer-animated movie appearances included Antz, The Nuttiest Nutcracker, Shrek, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, and Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas; and his latest animated movie appearances are Bee Movie and the upcoming The Princess and the Frog and BIONICLE: The Legend Reborn.
In the course of two decades, Cummings's career as a voice actor has taken him from bit parts to leading roles in major series at various studios, including Nickelodeon, Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera, Dreamworks, and 20th Century Fox studios. His most memorable roles, however, have been at Walt Disney Studios.[dubious – discuss] There, he provided voices for a variety of television series, including leading roles in Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, (taking over the character of Zummi Gummi after Paul Winchell's departure from the role), DuckTales, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, Bonkers, Gargoyles, and House of Mouse, and movies such as Hercules, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Pocahontas and the Disney special edition of Alice in Wonderland (as the Cheshire Cat singing "I'm Odd"). Cummings also voiced the non-speaking roles of Ed the laughing hyena in 1994's The Lion King and Duncan the horse for one episode of The Simpsons.
Other notable roles include "Mr. Bumpy" in the Claymation show Bump in the Night, Dr. Robotnik on Sonic The Hedgehog, Mayor Manx on SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, Psy-Crow and Bob the Killer Goldfish on Earthworm Jim and Taz Tazmanian Devil on Taz-Mania and a number of other projects. In addition to Taz and Pooh, Cummings has over the years become the official voice for a number of legendary cartoon characters, including Tigger, Pete, Humphrey the Bear, Dick Dastardly, the Slag Brothers, Big Gruesome, Private Meekly, Clyde, and Morocco Mole . He also did some voices on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles such as Leatherhead the mutant alligator and some additional characters. He also did the voice of Don Karnage in Disney's TaleSpin. Cummings has also provided voices for video games, television commercials, and movie trailers, and is the current official announcer for Kids' WB!, as well as the official spokesperson for the current Cheez-It commercials. He returned to his role as Taz on Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas.
Cummings has done the voice of Minsc of Baldur's Gate/Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn and Drizzt Do'Urden in the first Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance game. He is also prominently displayed in the credits of Kingdom Hearts as Pooh, Tigger, and Pete. Cummings provided the voices for "Bad Mr. Frosty", "Hougan", and "Sumo Santa" in Clay Fighter 63 1/3. He also voices "Sarge" and the other soldiers in the Army Men games. In Ys I & II for the Turbografx -16 CD system, he is credited as voicing "Dalles", and he provided voices for minor characters in Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers. He played several characters in the little-known "Toonstruck."
In addition, Cummings narrates the current Epcot fireworks show at Walt Disney World, IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth.
Cummings has a cameo in Comic Book: The Movie as an inebriated party-goer.
Cummings has made some vocal performances using his voice at normal pitch for some younger looking characters like Witterquick from Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light and Buddy Boar from Taz-Mania. Cummings also voices the veteran Glatorian Ackar in the film Bionicle: The Legend Reborn.
Voice work
Television series
- 101 Dalmatians: The Series – Colonel, Mayor Ed Pig, Jasper
- 2 Stupid Dogs – Super Secret Secret Squirrel's Morroco Mole
- The Addams Family (animated series) – Lurch
- Adventures in Odyssey – Larry Walker
- Adventures from the Book of Virtues - Aristotle
- Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears – Zummi Gummi (Originally Paul Winchell), Chummi Gummi
- The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius – Mayor Quadar, Ultra Lord, Cap'n Betty, Atilla The Hun
- Aladdin (TV series) - Razoul
- Animalia - Dagmont Dragon
- Animaniacs – Narrator and several one-shot characters
- The Batman – Temblor
- Bonkers – Bonkers D. Bobcat, Lucky Piquel and other characters
- The Book of Pooh – Winnie the Pooh, Tigger
- Bump in the Night – Mister Bumpy, Destructo, Closet Monster
- Buzz Lightyear of Star Command – Senator Aarrfvox
- Captain Planet and the Planeteers – Sly Sludge (Hanna-Barbera episodes)
- Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue – Winnie-the-Pooh, Tigger
- CatDog – Cat
- ChalkZone – Skrawl
- Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers – Monterey Jack, Fat Cat, Professor Nimnul, Wart the Lizard
- Chowder - Alligator
- Codename: Kids Next Door – Vin Moosk
- Courage the Cowardly Dog – The Great Fusilli, Cajun Fox, Boss of the Eggplants
- Cro – Phil, Ogg, Murray
- Curious George – Chef Pisghetti; Jumpy Squirrel; Mister Quint
- Cyberchase - Mr. Zero ("A World Without Zero")
- Darkwing Duck – Drake Mallard/Darkwing Duck, DarkWarrior Duck, NegaDuck, Warden Waddlesworth, Herb Muddlefoot, Professor Moliarty
- Dexter's Laboratory - Red-Eye (in Photo Finish)
- Duckman - Big Jack Mcbastard
- DuckTales - El Capitan
- Earthworm Jim – Psycrow, Bob the Killer Goldfish, and other various voices.
- Freakazoid -Senator Janos Ivnovels
- Gargoyles – Dingo and other characters
- Goof Troop – Pete
- The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy – Nasalmancer, Biker,Additional Voices
- The Hot Rod Dogs and Cool Car Cats – Scarhood.
- House of Mouse – Pete, Humphrey the Bear, King Louie, Big Bad Wolf, Censor Monkeys, Ed the Hyena, Gorilla, Kaa, Razoul, Tiki Masks, Weasels, Zeke, Cheshire Cat, Roquefort, Mister Stork, Jasper, Colonel Hathi, Cyril Proudbottom, Otto, Shun Gun, Boomer, Porcupine, Sexton Mouse, Deacon Owl, Gideon
- Invasion America – Major Lomack
- Iron Man – MODOK, Whirlwind, Dreadknight, Backlash and President Bill Clinton.
- Jackie Chan Adventures – Hak Foo (Season 1)
- Johnny Test - Monster Truck Announcer, Wrestling Announcer
- Jungle Cubs - Kaa, Fred, Ned
- King of the Hill - C. Everett Koop, Pops Papacito, Mark McJimsey, Salesman, Bounty Hunter, Jimmy Helstrom
- The Legend of Tarzan – Tantor, Merkus
- The Little Mermaid TV series - Ebb the Male Crocodile
- Marsupilami – Maurice, Norman
- My Friends Tigger & Pooh – Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Beaver
- The Mask – Doyle (Lieutenant Kellaway's partner), Kablamus, various one-shot characters
- The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – Winnie the Pooh, Tigger
- Ozzy & Drix – Chief Gluteus
- Perfect Strangers- Additional characters (1986-1993)
- Pepper Ann – Mr. Carter (Pepper Ann's science teacher) and some one-shot characters
- The Pirates of Dark Water – Skorian, Ioz (season 2)
- Project G.e.e.K.e.R. - Mister Moloch and Will Dragonn
- The Powerpuff Girls – Fuzzy Lumpkins
- The Replacements – Various
- Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin (Disneyland attraction)- Baby Herman
- Road Rovers – General Parvo
- Rude Dog and the Dweebs – Satch
- The Savage Dragon - Dragon
- The Secret Files of the Spy Dogs – Bald Spokesperson, Flea Leader, Von Rabie, Catastrophe
- The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries - Moo Goo Guy Pan
- Sonic the Hedgehog (SATAM) – Doctor Ivo Robotnik, SWATbots, Nasty Hyena member (Fed Up With Antoine)
- Spider-Man – Shocker, Chameleon
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Hondo Ohnaka
- SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron – Mayor Manx, Feral's Sergeant
- Tales from the Crypt - Judge Vic "Leave 'Em Hanging" Johnson
- TaleSpin – Don Karnage, Louie, Trader Moe, Covinton
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Shredder (1991 and European Vacation Alternate), Leatherhead, Genghis Frog, Dirk Savage
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time – Leatherhead and Shredder (Arcade version only)
- Teen Titans – Master of Games and Wildebeest ("Winner Take All")
- The Spectacular Spider-Man - Crusher Hogan
- Taz-Mania – Taz, Buddy Boar, Bushwhacker Bob, Wendell T. Wolf
- The Tick – Thrakkorzog, Barry Hubris, Stalingrad, Captain Decency, Mister Mental, Multiple Santa, Leonardo Da Vinci
- Timon and Pumbaa – Ed, Additional Voices
- The Transformers – Afterburner, Rippersnapper
- Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light – Witterquick & the Bearer of Knowledge
- Where's Waldo? – Narrator
- What's New, Scooby-Doo? - Cyrus T. Buford, Crawdad Mike, Broderick Bosepheus
- Widget the World Watcher – Megabrain
- Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa – Dakota Dude
- W.I.T.C.H. – Tridart, Harold Hale, Zacharias
Film
- Aladdin, The Return of Jafar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves - Razoul
- All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 – Jingles
- Anastasia – Rasputin (singing voice)
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire – Additional voices
- Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas – Taz, Gossamer
- Balto – Steele
- Bionicle: The Legend Reborn - Ackar
- Bee Movie - Title Narrator and Graduation Announcer
- The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars - Supreme Commander (singing)
- Brother Bear 2 – Nita's father, Lead Raccoon
- Cabin Boy – Floating Cupcake
- Dead Space: Downfall - Captain Mathius, Farum
- The Fox and the Hound 2 - Waylon & Floyd
- Hellboy: Blood and Iron - Tom Manning
- Hercules – Nessus, Additional Voices
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Captain of the Knights, gypsies, additional voices
- The Jungle Book 2 - Kaa, Colonel Hathi, M.C. Monkey
- The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire – Sierra
- The Land Before Time XIV - Petrie
- Laputa: Castle in the Sky – General
- The Lion King – Ed, Scar (singing voice in last part of "Be Prepared")
- The Lion King II: Simba's Pride – Scar, additional voices
- The Lion King 1 1/2 – Ed
- The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning - King Triton and Shelbow
- Mulan - Huns, Soldiers, additional voices
- The Pagemaster – Long John Silver
- Pocahontas – Chief Powhatan (singing vocals), Kekata (singing vocals)
- Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World – King James (speaking role), Chief Powhatan (singing vocals)
- Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin - Pooh
- The Princess and the Frog - Ray
- The Road to El Dorado – Hernán Cortés, additional voices
- Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island - Jacques, Morgan Moonscar
- Shrek – Captain of the guards
- Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas - Luca, Additional Voices
- Small Soldiers - Ocula
- Tarzan II - Whizzer MacWoff Vlad
- TMNT – Various voices
- Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring - Butch
- Tweety's High-Flying Adventure - Taz, Yosemite Sam
Video Games
- Baldur's Gate Series – Minsc, Firkraag, Gorion, Tazok, Abazigal, Gromnir Il-Khan, Demogorgon
- ClayFighter 63⅓ - Bad Mr. Frosty, Houngan, Sumo Santa
- Clive Barker's Jericho – Arnold Leach
- Dragon Age: Origins
- Fallout – The Master, Set, Gizmo
- Icewind Dale - Arundel, Hrothgar, additional voices
- Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II – Pete, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Ed
- The Lost Vikings 2 - Olaf the Stout, Tomator.
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 - Thor
- Mickey's Speedway USA – Pete
- Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness – Boris, Hans
- Toonstruck - Feedback, B.B. Wolf, Dough, Snout, Seedy, Warp
- Ys: Book I&II – Dalles
- Army Men Series – All the voices except females.
Notes
- ^ State of California. Lists James J. Cummings on 3 November 1952. No James J. Cummings born in 1953.
External links
- Jim Cummings at IMDb
- Jim Cummings at Voice Chasers
- Jim Cummings Interview at Toon Zone
- Jim Cummings feature article and photos at Voice Actors in the News
- Jim Cummings' Imaginography at Imagine Casting