Continuing our former blog’s tradition of “Frivilous List Friday”…
Thanks to youbentmywookie.com for the heads-up on this video from YouTube Channel mewlists ranking “The Top 15 Unseen Characters on TV.”
After the jump, we’ve revealed the unnamed talents who voiced some of these unseen characters, and included commentary for ones who didn’t make the cut but should have.
Identifying the voices behind these unseen characters:
At #8, Dr. Claw — Inspector Gadget: Gadget’s primary nemesis and founding father of the evil M.A.D. organization was unseen on the 80s-favorite animated series except for a metally-gloved arm poking out of a high-back chair. And that same arm is usually stroking a cat (whom Claw affectionately calls “M.A.D. Cat”) — an obvious nod to the classic Bond villain, Dr. No.
Both Dr. Claw AND the cat were voiced by Frank Welker. If you’re visiting this site and you still don’t know who Frank Welker is, please visit Frank’s official site maintained by Voice Actors in the News staffer Doreen Mulman: http://www.frankwelker.net/
And surely there are Gadget fans out there who aren’t yet aware that in the early 90s they actually released an action figure of Dr. Claw, which completely shattered the imaginations of kids who saw it in stores, and gave nightmares to the kids whose parents bought one for them. The figure looks like the lovechild of Malcolm MacDowell and Christopher Lloyd after being dunked repeatedly in a vat of nuclear waste.
At #4, Charlie — Charlie’s Angels: The unseen head of whatever spy organization it was that the Angels worked for as undercover agents was voiced by John Forsythe. He enjoyed a long career in TV and earned celebrity status from his roles on such popular TV dramas as Dynasty, The Colbys, and To Rome With Love. He also had his own show in the mid-60s, The John Forsythe Show, which is unique in that Forsythe did not play himself in the show, and it originally started as a sitcom but by mid-season it inexplicably changed into a spy drama. Forsythe also reprised his role as the voice of Charlie in the Charlie’s Angels feature film franchise before he passed away in 2010.
At #2, George Steinbrenner — Seinfeld: If it weren’t for sites like imdb.com, most of us wouldn’t know that this recurring, but mostly unseen character — the iconic New York Yankees’ owner — was voiced by none other than Seinfeld creator/producer/writer Larry David.
Honorable mentions… who unfortunately weren’t mentioned in mewlist’s video:
– Mom and Dad, Cow & Chicken: One of the show’s trademark running gags was having Cow and Chicken’s parents appear only from the knees down, and often in hilariously outrageous visual gags. They were voiced by Candi Milo and Dee Bradley Baker.
– Randy Beaman, Animaniacs: This unseen character on Animaniacs was always referenced in a fan-favorite recurring sketch where a little boy would come running out of the house and tell a story about his friend Randy Beaman. Because the boy never said his own name, fans dubbed him “The Randy Beaman Kid.” He was listed in the credits as “Colin,” apparently named after the young actor who provided the voice, Colin Wells.
– Robin Masters, Magnum P.I.: The owner of the grand 200-acre beachfront estate that private investigator Magnum (Tom Selleck) occupies through out the series’ run was owned by Robin Masters, described as a “celebrated-but-never-seen author of several dozen lurid novels” [wikipedia]. Masters’ voice was provided by Orson Welles, whom Higgins’ (played by John Hillerman) the estate caretaker actually resembles, and this later became a plot point in the show’s story arc.
– Peg’s Mom, Married With Children: Al Bundy’s never-seen but monstrous mother-in-law who lived upstairs in the Bundy home (and who served as a source for mother-in-law jokes for married men everywhere) was voiced by Kathleen Freeman. Freeman had a successful career playing mostly crusty, old, mean characters in TV and film until she passed away in 2001. She voiced the old woman in Shrek, Ma Mayhem in Batman Beyond, Mrs. Crackshell and Nurse Hatchet in DuckTales, Madame Xima in The Curse of Monkey Island, and had a recurring role voicing Mrs. Gordon in As Told By Ginger.
– Mrs. Wolowitz, Big Bang Theory: BBT’s Howard Wolowitz is an uber-nerd who likes to think he’s a ladies man, and even in his late 20s he’s still living at home with his overbearing Jewish mother who is never seen and yells at Howard. A lot. She is voiced by Carol Ann Susi, who ironically also had a brief recurring role on Married With Children.
– Miss Sarah Bellum, The Powerpuff Girls: The face of Miss Bellum, the mayor’s assistant, was never shown on the series or feature film. She was voiced by Jennifer Martin, whose voice credits include the announcer on The Bold and the Beautiful, Agent Elle on Men In Black: The Series, and a cameo as “Ms. Bellum” on Chowder. And in yet another Married With Children connection, she was the voice of “Butter” in the MWC episode “I Can’t Believe It’s Butter.”
– Eddy’s Brother, Ed, Edd & Eddy: Until the made-for-TV movie aired, Eddy’s brother was an unseen character whom Eddy told everyone how cool and criminal he was, only to have it revealed later that he’s just a big bully who tortures Eddy endlessly. He was voiced by Terry Klassen, who has a prolific history in animation voiceovers on such series as Inuyasha, Dragon Ball Z, Bucky O’Hare, Ranma 1/2, and the Fantastic Four.
– Orson, Mork & Mindy: The booming, otherworldly voice whom Mork (Robin Williams) faithfully contacted twice an episode was performed by Ralph James, who was also the voice of Doctor Doom in the 1980s Spider-Man animated series.
– Nanny, Muppet Babies: Show creator Jim Henson is probably the reason for the unique toddler POV of Nanny, causing the babies to be so distracted by Nanny’s green and white-stripey socks that they never noticed her head. Nanny’s comforting, motherly tones came courtesy of Barbara Billingsley, an ideal casting choice since she portrayed one of the most iconic TV moms of all time, June Cleaver of Leave It To Beaver.
– Walter “Skunky” Beaumont, Doug: This unseen recurring surfer-type character on the Nickelodeon animated series was voiced by Doug Preis, who also performed the voices of Doug’s dad Phil Funnie, Assistant Principal Lamar Bone, and Mr. William “Bill” Bluff III. Preis’ other notable voice work includes Thundercats (Alluro), Silverhawks, The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers, and Harvey Birdman (Thundarr).
– Troy Garland, Out Of This World: In the backstory for this late 80s TV series, an alien visits Earth and ends up knocking up an earth-woman and then promptly abandons mother and child presumably to return to his home planet.
For 12 years, the mother lies to daughter Evie that the reason for her father’s absence is because he’s a secret agent. (So much for “secrecy,” ay?) On Evie’s 13th birthday, mom finally confesses that Evie’s daddy is an alien and gives her a “cube” device which allows her to talk to her dad while he’s elsewhere in the galaxy… probably impregnating other female species on other planets. The dad, whose face is never seen even when he actually makes a rare appearance on the show, is voiced by Burt Reynolds, of Cannonball Run and Smokey and the Bandit fame.
– Carlton the Doorman, Rhoda: The recurring gag of the never-seen Carlton (whose voice emanated from the apartment’s intercom system), was heard in almost every episode of Rhoda over the course of five seasons, and surprisingly resulted in the character getting his own spin-off animated special in 1980, Carlton Your Doorman. The voice, which later became famously associated with pop culture icon Garfield the Cat, belonged to the late-great Lorenzo Music, who also voiced Tummi on Disney’s Adventures of the Gummi Bears and Peter Venkman on The Real Ghostbusters.
Lorenzo’s camera-shyness was his trademark as well, and for fans of classic/vintage TV programming a character like Carlton is the FIRST to come to mind when it comes to top “unseen characters” in TV history. So it’s surprising that Carlton didn’t even make the cut for the top 15 choices in the video list.
So, after watching the video and seeing our list of honorable mentions, any comments on some we overlooked as well?
