June Foray

One of the most accomplished and beloved voice actors of all time, June Foray was perhaps best known as the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel on "The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show" (ABC, 1959-1961). Born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1917, Foray began her career on the radio, appearing regularly on local programs at the young age of 15. By the 1940's, Foray was co-starring on shows like "Lux Radio Theatre," "The Jimmy Durante Show," "The Buster Brown Program," and her own series, "Lady Make Believe." She branched into animation in the Warner Bros. short "The Unbearable Bear" (1943), and soon began voice-acting numerous Looney Tunes roles, including one that she would play for the next several decades, that of Sylvester and Tweety's sweet owner Granny. Foray also began appearing in Disney's productions, playing Lucifer the cat in "Cinderella" (1950) and a number of characters in "Peter Pan" (1953). She also began playing Knothead in the "Woody Woodpecker" cartoons, in addition to providing the voice of Rocky in 1959. As if these accomplishments weren't enough, Foray gave her first of several performance as Tom and/or Jerry in the "Tom & Jerry" short "Duel Personality" (1965). While the coming decades would bring countless opportunities for Foray to reprise her iconic roles for Warner Bros., the voice actor never stopped taking on new projects as well, playing Jokey Smurf and Mrs. Sourberry on the long running series "The Smurfs" (NBC, 1981-89) and Grammi Gummi on "The Adventures of the Gummi Bears" (NBC, 1985-1991). She also sat on the Governor's board for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, where she lobbied for 20 years to establish the award for Best Animated Feature, finally succeeding in 2001 when the award was created thanks to her petitioning. Foray died on July 26, 2017, less than two months shy of her 100th birthday.