Here's a 2-for-1 special.
From Johnny Carson's self-titled 1955 primetime show come a pair of voice-over legends, plus a 3rd who isn't quite at legendary level.
That would be Sara Berner, who went uncredited for her work for Warner Bros. in the Golden Age. She appears in the midst of this clip, which is bookended by the two legends we spoke of, June Foray & John Stephenson.
June Foray, the grand dame of voice acting, seems to have been around since the dawn of time, right along with Janet Waldo. June made a rare on-camera appearance in the following skit, which demonstrates just how much the future King of Late Night had to learn before perfecting his craft. Meanwhile, John Stephenson was a regular on The Johnny Carson Show, appearing as the anchorman for the Catch Up With The News segment, which falls apart as soon as Johnny gives away the joke a wee bit too early. Stephenson spent quite a bit of time in front of the cameras in the 60's, working on a number of Westerns, as well as a few appearances on Hogan's Heroes. As we've documented in the past, he also served as a narrator early on during the 1967 run of Dragnet.
Uploaded by RRaquello.
5 comments:
What's so cruel is that not only was this not reported closer to the date of its occurrence - but that I was living in the city he died in and local media outlets never picked it up either!!
Admittedly, most people might not remember his name, but to do a compilation of his best known voices (Mr. Slate, et al) people would have noticed!
This is filed under "slipped through the cracks". As it was discussed on ToonZone, there seem to be a few doubters, but the web reports are valid, t'would seem.
Turns out that the news of John Stephenson's passing were not true, and I've edited the first post to reflect this.
John Stephenson appeared in an early soap opera called "Morning Star" dated 1966. It's on You Tube. He appears 6 minutes into the clip and he does an excellent job. At first his character is standing in the shadows but his voice is crystal clear and it's instantly recognizable to anyone whose ever seen Scooby-Doo or any number of other classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the '60s and '70s. He used his natural speaking voice as numerous cops and scientists in those cartoons but he could also mimic other people, too.
Morning Star, eh? Never heard of that one, but I'll hunt that down. Thanks for the tip.
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