Paul Winchell
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Paul Winchell (born December 21, 1922), born Paul Wilchen, is a ventriloquist and voice actor whose fame flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. He is also an amateur inventor and he patented an artificial human heart which he donated to the University of Utah.
The ventriloquist figures for which he is most known include Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff. Both figures were carved by Chicago-based figure maker Frank Marshall. His later career included a great deal of voice-over acting for animated cartoons, including the Hanna-Barbera character Dick Dastardly and Gargamel from The Smurfs. He has also been known for voicing the character Tigger from Disney's Winnie the Pooh films, although he recently retired from that role (Jim Cummings, the current voice of Pooh, now also assumes Tigger's voice).
He has five children, one son Stacy Paul Winchell and a daughter Stephanie from his first marriage to Dorothy (Dottie) Movitz, a daughter April Winchell, a comedian and voice actress, from his marriage to actress Nina Russel and two step-sons Larry and Keith Freeman from his current marriage to Jean Freeman.
External links
- Paul Winchell's main page: http://www.paulwinchell.com
- Paul Winchell's Kids Network: http://www.pwkn.com