Frank Welker
|
Frank_welker_pd.gif
Frank Welker (born February 16, 1945 in Denver, Colorado), is an American voice actor. He is responsible for a broad spectrum of character voices, noises, and other vocal effects that have appeared over the last 40 years in American TV shows and movies.
He is particularly noted for a wide range of non-verbal vocal effects, i.e. for aliens and (non-talking) animals.
He is often referred to as a "voice acting god" in Hollywood for the sheer number of voices he has done, over 1200, ranging from 1969 with his work on Scooby-Doo, to present day with his many roles in cartoons (Lilo & Stitch: The Series), films (The Cat in the Hat), and computer games (the Baldur's Gate series). In The Transformers, he voiced nearly all of the original Decepticons. With the release of the film, he took on the role of the Autobot Wheelie, and afterwards, took over the role of Galvatron from Leonard Nimoy. Having already provided the screams for Spock in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, this marked the second time he had inherited a role from Nimoy. Welker did more live action movies during the 1990s. Among his work includes vocal effects for the character Goro in 1995's Mortal Kombat, the movie being based on Midway's popular fighting game and he voiced the Devil Malebolgia in 1997's Spawn, that movie based on the very popular Todd McFarlane comic books. As of 2002, Welker is the voice of the very popular Freddy Jones in What's New Scooby-Doo?, the latest series-based spin-off to Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, which dates back to 1969. He also does the voice of Scooby-Doo, according to some sources. He also does the voice of King Bowser in 2003's Mario Party 5 and 2005's Super Mario 64 DS, both released by Nintendo and are in stores now. Mario Party 5 for the Nintendo GameCube and Super Mario 64 DS for the Nintendo DS.
Partial filmography
- Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch - Wheelie and Chopper
- Scooby-Doo - Freddy Jones
- Inspector Gadget - Brain, Dr. Claw, and Mad Cat
- Dungeons & Dragons - Uni and Tiamat
- Gremlins - Mogwai and Stripe
- Transformers - Megatron, Galvatron, Soundwave and many others
- G. I. Joe - Copperhead, Flash, Freedom, Junkyard, Polly, Short-Fuse, Timber, Torch, and Wild Bill
- Garfield and Friends - Booker, Sheldon, Bo, and Mort
- The Real Ghostbusters - Ray Stantz and Slimer
- Tiny Toon Adventures - Gogo Dodo, Little Beeper, Calamity Coyote, and Furrball
- Jim Henson's Muppet Babies - Kermit, Beaker, and Skeeter
- Hudson Hawk - Bunny the dog
- Pac-Man - Chomp Chomp
- Captain N: The Game Master - Game Boy (Seasons 2 & 3)
- Heathcliff - Dingbat (1980-1982)
- Aladdin - Abu the monkey
- Animaniacs - Ralph, Runt, Flavio Hippo, Buttons, Ralph the Guard, Thaddeus Plotz, and Chicken Boo
- Species - Alien Sil's vocal effects
- Trouble with Girls - On screen appearance as Rutgers
- Tonight Show - Guest on June 5, 1979
- The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes - On screen appearance as Henry
- The Don Knotts Show - Regular Cast Member
- The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour - Regular Cast Member
- The Smurfs - Clockwork Smurf, Hefty Smurf, Peewit, Poet Smurf, Puppy
- The Snorks - Occy, Tooter
- The Jetsons - Orbity (Seasons 2 & 3, 1984-1987)
- Futurama - Nibbler, both talking and non-talking versions.
- Stargate - The giant pack animal
- The Simpsons - Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II