Recently, Wayne Allwine, the man who has voiced, and very much embodied Mickey Mouse for the past thirty years, has passed away due to complications with diabetes. Having voiced him since the 70’s, his voice has defined the character. While Mr. Disney’s himself provided Mickey with his voice for the first decade or so, do to the effects Disney’s smoking, the original voice of Mickey was fairly inconsistent. This ranged from high and energetic in the beginning, to more of a warm and fuzzy voice by the time Mr. Disney passed the torch. That torch was passed to sound effects man Jimmy Macdonald. Because he was a natural base, Macdonald constantly struggled to provide Mickey’s voice. It was then passed on to Allwine. His take on the character defined Mickey for several generations, and the Mickey many remember from their childhood, came from his voice. Even more then that, while he was only filling in for the boss, he was entrusted with the responsibility of keeping the character alive, and making sure that he stayed true to his creators original vision.
It will be interesting to see what the company does about this, while the mouse may be the companies icon, there are some real business ethics involved. The first being that Allwine’s wife has performed Minnie Mouse alongside him for the past twenty years.
Just an example of the type of work he and his wife have done to keep the character classic, and modern. Also, the villain is particularly awesome in this one.
