Don Messick

Messick was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Lena Birch (née Hughes) and Binford Earl Messick, a house painter.[1] He first wanted to be a ventriloquist, and even supported himself as one for a time. His big break came in the mid-1940s. At MGM, Tex Avery was producing the Droopy cartoons. The regular voice actor, radio actor Bill Thompson, was not available. Daws Butler, who voiced characters for MGM, suggested that Avery seek out Messick, and so, he was hired to voice Droopy. Later, in the mid-1950s, when Bill Thompson parted company with MGM, Messick took over the role of Droopy. Messick and Butler became a voice acting team for the Hanna-Barbera unit in 1957 with the arrival of Ruff and Reddy. Don was Ruff the cat and the Droopy-sounding Professor Gizmo. Butler was the southern-speaking dog, Reddy. Messick also narrated the show, which played out like an animated soap opera. From 1957 to 1965, Butler and Messick gave voice to a large number of characters. Always the sidekick, Messick’s characters were not headliners. His notable roles in this era were Boo Boo Bear, Ranger Smith, Major Minor, Pixie Mouse, Astro and Muttley. Messick was used primarily for his narration skills, which were heard on many of those cartoons in which Daws Butler starred. In narrating the Yogi Bear cartoons, he also voiced Ranger Smith in something close to his natural voice, leaving the impression that the Ranger was narrating the cartoons. Messick would eventually star in a cartoon series: Ricochet Rabbit (1964–65). This character was paired with the slow-poke Deputy Droop-a-Long, voiced by Mel Blanc. In outer space cartoons, Messick created noises and sounds for weird space creatures and aliens. His Ranger Smith voice was often heard as various space villains. His narrator voice was given to Vapor Man, Dr. Benton Quest, The Perilous Paper Doll Man, and Multi Man, Hong Kong Phooey (1974), where he was also Spot the cat, a faithful sidekick, and Laff-A-Lympics (1977-79). In late September 1996, Messick suffered a stroke while recording voices at Hanna Barbera. On October 12, 1996, Messick had a "retirement party" at his favorite Chinese restaurant (Joe Barbera personally sent a limo to Messick and his wife, and the two were chauffeured). Many of his companions and peers during his career who had come to pay tribute to him included Henry Corden, Casey Kasem, Lucille Bliss (his co-star from The Smurfs), June Foray (another co-star from The Smurfs) and Gary Owens. Messick suffered a second stroke and died on October 24, 1997. He was cremated. His ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean at the Point Lobos State Reserve. Since Messick's death, Scott Innes and Frank Welker have both played the role of Scooby-Doo. A year later in 1998, the film Scooby Doo on Zombie Island was dedicated to his memory.