Thurl Ravenscroft

Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft (/ˈθɜːrl ˈrvənzkrɒft/; February 6, 1914 – May 22, 2005) was an American actor and bass singer. He was well known as one of the booming voices behind Kellogg's Frosted Flakes animated spokesman Tony the Tiger for more than five decades. He was also the uncredited vocalist for the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" from the classic Christmas television special, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas![1]

Thurl Ravenscroft
Ravenscroft in 1967
Born
Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft

(1914-02-06)February 6, 1914
DiedMay 22, 2005(2005-05-22) (aged 91)
Resting placeCrystal Cathedral Memorial Gardens, Garden Grove, California
Alma materOtis College of Art and Design
Occupations
  • Actor
  • singer
Years active1939–2005
Spouse
June Seamans
(m. 1946; died 1999)
Children2

Ravenscroft did voice-over work and singing for Disney in various films and Disneyland attractions (which were later featured at Walt Disney World), the best known including The Haunted Mansion, Country Bear Jamboree, Mark Twain Riverboat, Pirates of the Caribbean, Disneyland Railroad, and Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room.

His voice acting career began in 1939 and lasted until his death in 2005 at age 91.[2]

Early life and career

Ravenscroft left his native Norfolk, Nebraska, in 1933 for California, where he studied at Otis Art Institute. In 1939 he joined a singing group formed by tenor Bill Days called The Merry Men: Days, Johnny Rarig, Max Smith, and Ravenscroft. They served as backup singers to vocalist Marie Greene on the Okeh record label (credited as "Marie Greene and Her Merry Men"). The quartet also contributed to a Disney feature, Pinocchio (1940), singing "Honest John". This was deleted from the film, but can still be heard in the supplements on the 2009 DVD.

The group, billed as The Four Merry Men, appeared in three-minute musical films, produced in 1941 by the Featurettes company, for coin-operated jukeboxes.[3] That same year the Four Merry Men left Featurettes for the more successful Soundies company, and made more jukebox musicals; they were now billing themselves as "The Four Sportsmen".[4] They were also very popular on radio and in live nightclub appearances.

In 1942 Thurl Ravenscroft left the Sportsmen quartet to serve in the armed forces. He served as a keeper navigator contracted to the U.S. Air Transport Command, spending five years flying courier missions across the north and south Atlantic. Among the notables carried on board his flights were Winston Churchill and Bob Hope. As he told an interviewer: "I flew Winston Churchill to a conference in Algiers and flew Bob Hope to the troops a couple of times. So it was fun."[5]

When he returned from the service, he found that his place in The Sportsmen had been taken by bass singer Gurney Bell, and Bell was unwilling to relinquish the job to Ravenscroft. Undaunted, Ravenscoft formed his own quartet, The Mellomen.[6] The Mellomen contributed to other Disney films, such as Alice in Wonderland and Lady and the Tramp. The group appeared on camera in a few episodes of the Disney anthology television series; in one instance recording a canine chorus for Lady and the Tramp and in another as a barbershop quartet that reminds Walt Disney of the name of the young newspaper reporter Gallagher.Ravenscroft sang bass on Rosemary Clooney's "This Ole House", which went to No. 1 in both the United States and Britain in 1954, as well as Stuart Hamblen's original version of that same song. He sang on the soundtrack for Ken Clark as "Stewpot" in South Pacific, one of the top-selling albums of the 1950s. He also backed The DeCastro Sisters on their 1955 top 20 hit, "Boom Boom Boomerang."[7] He sang "King of the River," as the character Mike Fink, on a Golden Record released in 1956. [8] Singing with the Johnny Mann Singers,[9] his distinctive bass can also be heard as part of the chorus on 28 of their albums that were released during the 1960s and 1970s. He was also the bass singer on Bobby Vee's 1960 Liberty hit record "Devil or Angel". Andy Williams' recording of "The 12 Days of Christmas" features him as well. His work with Spike Jones included singing "(I Was a) Teenage Brain Surgeon" for the 1959 album Spike Jones in Stereo.

He sang the opening songs for the two Disney serials used on The Mickey Mouse Club, Boys of the Western Sea and The Hardy Boys: Mystery of the Applegate Treasure.

He sang the "Twitterpatter Song" and "Thumper's Song" on the Disneyland record Peter Cottontail and other Funny Bunnies.

On the Disneyland record All About Dragons, he both provided the narration and sang the songs "The Reluctant Dragon" and "The Loch Ness Monster".[10]

His voice was heard during the Pirates of the Caribbean ride as well as The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland as Uncle Theodore, the lead vocalist of the singing busts in the cemetery near the end of the ride.[11] He also played the Narrator in The Story and Song From the Haunted Mansion. Ravenscroft is also heard in the Enchanted Tiki Room as the voice of Fritz the Animatronics parrot, as well as the tree-like Tangaroa tiki god in the pre-show outside the attraction. He was also the voice of the Disneyland Railroad in the 1990s. Further roles include that of The First Mate on The Mark Twain Riverboat, a spokesalien for Tokyo Disneyland's Pan Galactic Pizza Port restaurant, and the American bison head named Buff at The Country Bear Jamboree.[12]

Later career

One of Ravenscroft's best-known uncredited works is as the vocalist for the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch." His name was accidentally omitted from the credits, leading many to believe that the cartoon's narrator, Boris Karloff, sang the song, while others cited Tennessee Ernie Ford as the song's signature voice.[1] The song, now credited to Ravenscroft, peaked on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart at number 32 for the week ending January 2, 2021. Thanks to "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch", Thurl Ravenscroft has officially hit the Top 40 as a solo artist.[13]

Ravenscroft sang "No Dogs Allowed" in the Peanuts animated motion picture Snoopy Come Home.

For more than 50 years, he was the uncredited voice of Tony the Tiger for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes. His booming bass gave the cereal's tiger mascot a voice with the catchphrase "They're g-r-r-r-eat!!!!".[14]

Various record companies, such as Abbott, Coral, Brunswick, and "X" (a division of RCA) also released singles by Ravenscroft, often in duets with little-known female vocalists, in an attempt to turn the bass-voiced veteran into a pop singer. These efforts were commercially unsuccessful, if often quite interesting. He was also teamed up with the Andrews Sisters (on the Dot Records album The Andrews Sisters Present) on the cover of Johnny Cymbal's "Mr. Bass Man". The Mellomen released some doo-wop records under the name Big John & the Buzzards, a name apparently given to them by the rock-and-roll-hating Mitch Miller.

A devoted Christian, he appeared on many religious television shows such as The Hour of Power. In 1970, he recorded an album called Great Hymns in Story and Song, which featured him singing 10 hymns, each prefaced with the stories of how each hymn came to be, with the background vocals and instrumentals arranged and conducted by Ralph Carmichael.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Ravenscroft was narrator for the annual Pageant of the Masters art show at the Laguna Beach, California, Festival of the Arts.

Later life and death

Ravenscroft married June Seamans in 1946 and they had two children. June died in 1999.

Ravenscroft died at his home on May 22, 2005, from prostate cancer. He was buried at the Memorial Gardens at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. He was 91 years old.[2]

In the June 6, 2005, issue of the advertising industry journal Advertising Age, Kellogg's ran an advertisement commemorating Ravenscroft, the headline reading: "Behind every great character is an even greater man."

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1940PinocchioMonstro the WhaleVoice
Isle of DestinySportsman Quartet Member
Little BlabbermouseBad Tobacco FaceVoice
Prehistoric PorkyBass Lizard
1941DumboSinger of "Look Out For Mr. Stork" and "Pink Elephants on Parade"
The Nifty NinetiesSinger
1942Wacky BlackoutCarrier Pigeon singing
Saludos AmigosSinger of the main title theme
1944Springtime for PlutoSinging CaterpillarShort, Voice
1948Melody TimeSingerVoice
1951Alice in WonderlandCard Painter
Rooty Toot TootJonathan Bailey a.k.a. "Honest John the Crook"
1952Jack and the BeanstalkSinging voices of two villagers
1953Peter PanSinger / PiratesVoice
Toot, Whistle, Plunk and BoomSinger
1954Rose MarieMedicine Man
1955Daddy Long LegsDaydream Sequence SongShort, Voice
Lady and the TrampAl the Alligator / Singing Pound DogsVoice
1956Design for Dreaming(singer)
Hardy BoysTheme Song
1958Paul BunyanPaul BunyanShort, Voice
1959Sleeping BeautySinger
1961One Hundred and One DalmatiansCaptain the HorseVoice
1962Gay Purr-eeHench Cat
1963The Sword in the StoneSir Bart
1964Mary PoppinsBanker / Pig
1965The Man from Button WillowSinger / Reverend / Saloon Man
1966How the Grinch Stole ChristmasSinger of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch"
1967The Jungle BookColonel Hathi's crew
The War WagonBackup singer on main theme
1968
1977
Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Singer
Black Honeypot
1969Butch Cassidy and the Sundance KidSinging Voiceperformed "South American Getaway"
The Trouble with GirlsBass Singerwith the Bible Singers Quartet (The Mellomen)
1970Horton Hears a Who!Wickersham Brother
The Phantom TollboothLethargians
The AristocatsBilly Bass - Russian CatVoice
1971The Cat in the HatThing OneVoice
Bedknobs and BroomsticksSinging voice of Russian vendor / Various cartoon animal voices
1972Snoopy Come HomeSinger of "No Dogs Allowed"Voice
The LoraxSingerVoice
1977The HobbitGoblins/ChorusVoice
Halloween Is Grinch NightSinger / MonstersVoice
Donny & MarieDarth Vader / NarratorStar Wars Segment
1978The Small OnePotterVoice
1987The Brave Little ToasterKirbyVoice
1990Disney Sing Along Songs: Disneyland Fun – It's a Small WorldSinger of "Grim Grinning Ghosts"
1996Superior DuckThe NarratorVoice
1997The Brave Little Toaster to the RescueKirbyVoice
1998The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1995The Baby Huey ShowGeneral Does-LittleVoice; ep. "Target...Huey!"

Theme Parks

YearTitleRoleNotes
1955Mark Twain RiverboatBosunVoice
1963-The Enchanted Tiki RoomFritz the Parrot, Tangaroa
1967-Pirates of the CaribbeanPirates/Chorus, Singing Dog
1967-1987Adventures Thru Inner SpaceChorus
1969-The Haunted MansionUncle Theodore
1971-Country Bear JamboreeBuff the BuffaloVoice
1984-Country Bear Christmas Special
1986Country Bear Vacation Hoedown
1989-2023Splash MountainBrer Frog
1988-2002Disneyland RailroadAnnouncer

Commercials

YearTitleRole
late 1970s-early 1980sToys R UsGeoffrey the Giraffe
1953–2005Kellogg's Frosted FlakesTony the Tiger

Partial solo discography

  • Mad, Baby, Mad – 1955 (Fabor)
  • I Ain't Afraid – 1956 (Bally)
  • You Wanna Talk About Texas – 1956
  • Wing Ding Ding – 1956
  • Big Paul Bunyan – 1962 (Globe)
  • Gold Dubloons and Pieces of Eight – 1962 (The Hardy Boys: Mystery of the Applegate Treasure)
  • The Headless Horseman – 1965 (Disney)
  • Great Hymns In Story And Song – 1970 (Light)
  • Nathaniel the Grublet (In Direwood) – 1979 (Birdwing)
  • Psalms and Selahs – 2002

References