Casey Kasem
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Casey Kasem (born Kemal Amin Kasem on April 27 1932,) is a Lebanese-American radio personality and voice actor (of Druze heritage).
Kasem is an prominent voice-over actor, best known as the voice of Shaggy in Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo cartoons from 1969 until 1991. He also has done many other animated series, such as the original Batman animated series (1968) and the later SuperFriends series (both as sidekick Robin), the drummer Groove from The Cattanooga Cats (1969), Alexander Cabot III from Josie and the Pussycats (1970, 1972), and television specials, such as Rankin-Bass' Here Comes Peter Cottontail. In the 1980s, he was a regular actor on The Transformers, before quitting the show in its third season after a dispute regarding the portrayal of Arabian characters. Kasem also walked out on his role as Shaggy in 1995 when he, a vegetarian, was asked to voice Shaggy--whom he requested also become a vegetarian--in a Burger King commercial. He returned to the character in 2002, after Hanna-Barbera made sure Shaggy was portrayed as a strict vegetarian.
For a period in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Kasem was the staff announcer for the NBC television network.
In addition to his voice-over duties, he is a renowned music historian and disc jockey best known for the weekly American Top 40 radio program from 1970 to 1988, and again from the late 1990s. He also hosted a spin-off TV show called America's Top 10 for a time in the 1980s. He also was the host of the short-lived American version of 100% in 1999. Most recently, he has appeared on infomercials pitching many CD compilations.
Kasem was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1992. He currently is married to actress/singer Jean Kasem. Their son, Mike Kasem, is also a voice-over actor. His daughter is TV host, Kerri Kasem.
Rehearsal recordings of a frustrated Kasem in an extended profane rant during his stint on American Top 40 has surfaced on the Internet, and later appeared on Negativland's single "U2".
He quit hosting "American Top 40" on January 10, 2004, as Ryan Seacrest succeded him.
External links
- Kasem entry at the National Broadcaster's Hall of Fame (http://www.infoage.org/NBHF-CaseyKasem.html)
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