"June Foray isn't the female Mel Blanc. Mel Blanc is the male June Foray."
June 25, 2012 3:18 PM   Subscribe

Voice actress June Foray won her first Emmy award this year at age 94.

Known for such roles in cartoons as Rocky the Squirrel from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, Looney Tunes' Witch Hazel, Cindy Lou Who from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Foray also was the voice of the Chatty Cathy dolls, a voice she recreated in a memorable episode of The Twilight Zone as Talky Tina.

Legendary animator Chuck Jones once said, "June Foray is not the female Mel Blanc. Mel Blanc is the male June Foray."

June foray won her Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program as Mrs. Cauldron on "The Garfield Show." At 94 years old, she is the oldest performer to ever win an Emmy award, beating out previous record holder Betty White, who won at age 88 for hosting Saturday Night Live
posted by xingcat (24 comments total) 22 users marked this as a favorite
 
And now here's something I hope you really like!

Grats June!
posted by davros42 at 3:21 PM on June 25, 2012 [6 favorites]


About F'ing Time. For someone so integral to Contemporary American Animation to not have been awarded is criminal. Yay Miss June!
posted by djrock3k at 3:22 PM on June 25, 2012 [2 favorites]


Hey Rocky, watch me pull an Emmy out of my hat!
posted by box at 3:22 PM on June 25, 2012 [7 favorites]


Hey Rocky, watch me pull an Emmy out of my hat!

Again?!?
posted by Strange Interlude at 3:27 PM on June 25, 2012 [5 favorites]


Definitely about time.
posted by Artful Codger at 3:34 PM on June 25, 2012


Don't forget, she was also the voice of Natasha and Nell Fenwick. What a TV show that would have made: someone with multiple personality disorder who is sometimes a sweet virtuous girl, sometimes an evil russian spy, and sometimes a flying squirrel!
posted by ubiquity at 3:36 PM on June 25, 2012


Yay! Although I swear, every post about an awesome older person should start with a disclaimer that they're still with us so my heart stays in its chest where it belongs.
posted by yellowbinder at 3:46 PM on June 25, 2012


HOKEY SMOKES, academy! It's about time!
posted by Danf at 3:47 PM on June 25, 2012 [2 favorites]


Whoops, wrong hat.
posted by ten pounds of inedita at 3:50 PM on June 25, 2012


... someone with multiple personality disorder who is sometimes a sweet virtuous girl, sometimes an evil russian spy, and sometimes a flying squirrel!

Who are you and how did you get access to my personal erotic fiction cache?
posted by benito.strauss at 3:57 PM on June 25, 2012 [1 favorite]


Hooray!
posted by warbaby at 4:03 PM on June 25, 2012


Loooooooooong overdue recognition.
Sad it came from her work on Garfield, of all things.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:07 PM on June 25, 2012


Woo, my first comment after reading mefi every day for years! Ok back on topic,
here's a recent video interview of June on a webcast (that is, in full disclosure, produced by a family member). An incredible career!
posted by InspiredChaos at 4:22 PM on June 25, 2012 [1 favorite]


LOL I met June once, back around '85 or so. She was wearing a big gold bling necklace of Rocky.
posted by charlie don't surf at 4:31 PM on June 25, 2012 [1 favorite]


Thrilled for her. And as previously mentioned somewhere on here, she's one of my grandmother's closest friends. Back when the Oscar movies were on VHS, man-I was that kid who saw 'em all. And u have some sweet memorabilia or when I'm old and Antiques Roadshow comes around. But for someone who voiced Gramma Gummy and Jokey Smurf, that is one last who does NOT like children. At all.
posted by atomicstone at 5:14 PM on June 25, 2012


Sad it came from her work on Garfield, of all things.

Still, The Garfield Show is better than the comic strip, due mostly to Writer/Producer Mark Evanier, who submitted her for nomination (apparently, the producers of the TV work she'd done since there has been an 'Animation Performer' Emmy never bothered) AND who proudly escorted her to the ceremony (and did all the things a good male escort should, right?). And just to show what a class act Evanier is, here is a picture from a recent recording session where he worked with June, Rose Marie (Dick Van Dyke Show) and Laraine Newman (Staturday Night Live When It Was Good).

Amazing how one of her first gigs was the voice of Granny on the Tweety & Sylvester Looney Tunes when she was in her 20s, and today, she can still do little girl voices.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:17 PM on June 25, 2012 [1 favorite]


Congrats to June! It's hard to imagine she only has two awards given the length of her career.

It seems oddly shocking to know there's a new Garfield show. I'm no longer the kid who has a vague idea of everything out there in the world of animation. But somehow I would imagine I would have heard some tangential reference to a show being shown on CN since 2008. Sheesh.
posted by egypturnash at 6:44 PM on June 25, 2012




The Garfield Show is better than the comic strip, due mostly to Writer/Producer Mark Evanier

I haven't watched The Garfield Show, but Mark Evanier's previous series Garfield and Friends (which also featured the occasional performance from June Foray) was a mainstay of my Saturday mornings for years and was definitely much better than the comic strip. I still enjoy some of the weirder U.S. Acres cartoons.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 7:03 PM on June 25, 2012 [1 favorite]


Boris, dahling, pedal harder! We losing ground to moose and squirrel!
posted by gimonca at 7:41 PM on June 25, 2012 [1 favorite]


Le mew! Le purr-rr-rr!
posted by SPrintF at 8:44 PM on June 25, 2012


I knew June Foray was the voice of Rocky, but it blows my mind that Rocky was also TALKY TINA!!!
posted by Mael Oui at 8:48 PM on June 25, 2012


One of my favorite pieces of June Foray audio is this improvised bit with Don Messick, which shows her ability to work blue.
posted by Trace McJoy at 7:18 AM on June 26, 2012 [2 favorites]


June Foray also voiced the receptionist for the Baby Buggy Bumper Babysitting Service in the 13th episode of The Simpsons.
posted by Diskeater at 12:51 PM on June 26, 2012


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