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Jim Cummings

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For other people named James Cummings (disambiguation), see James Cummings (disambiguation) (disambiguation).
Jim Cummings
Born
James Jonah Cummings

(1952-11-03) November 3, 1952 (age 72)
Youngstown, Ohio, U.S.
OccupationVoice-actor
Years active1983—present
AgentInternational Creative Management
SpouseStevie 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 his 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

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 film. 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 film 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, 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, Duncan the horse for one episode of The Simpsons, and Papa Smurf and Gargamel for a TV Funhouse sketch on Saturday Night Live.

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, Bob the Killer Goldfish on Earthworm Jim, Taz Tazmanian Devil on Taz-Mania, Dakota Dude on Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa 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, Popeye, Dick Dastardly, the Slag Brothers, Big Gruesome, Private Meekly, Clyde, and others. 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 was one of the official announcers for Kids' WB!, as well as the official spokesperson for the current Cheez-It commercials and some current Weather Channel commercials (most notably the Wake Up With Al ones). 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 63⅓. 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 on-screen 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 Glatorian Ackar in Bionicle: The Legend Reborn.

Voice work

Television series

  • Cummings is legally precluded from performing any incarnation of Louie (aka King Louie) due to a lawsuit filed by the widow of Louis Prima who originated the character's voice in Disney's 1967 version of the The Jungle Book film which Prima's widow successfully argued was an unauthorized use of her late husband's voice and public personal. Rumors persist that was the reason both Talespin and Jungle Cubs were cancelled by Disney.

Film

Video games

References

  1. ^ State of California. Lists James J. Cummings on 3 November 1952. No James J. Cummings born in 1953.
  2. ^ http://forums.eidosgames.com/LCGoLpodcasts/Podcast2_Audio.mp3
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