The Voice of Kellogg's Tony the Tiger Dies at 91Thurl Ravenscroft Made 'They're Grrrrreeeat!' and Frosted Flakes Famous
FULLERTON, Calif. (May 24) - Thurl Ravenscroft, who provided the rumbling "They're Grrrrreeeat!" for Kellogg's Tony the Tiger ads and voiced a host of Disney characters, has died. He was 91.
Ravenscroft died Sunday of prostate cancer, said Diane Challis Davy, director of Laguna Beach's Pageant of the Masters.
For more than 50 years, Ravenscroft was the affable voice behind Tony the Tiger, TV's popular cartoon pitchman for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes.
"I'm the only man in the world that has made a career with one word: Grrrrreeeat!" Ravenscroft told the Orange County Register in 1996. "When Kellogg's brought up the idea of the tiger, they sent me a caricature of Tony to see if I could create something for them. After messing around for some time I came up with the `Grrrrreeeat!' roar, and that's how it's been since then."
He also narrated the summertime Pageant of the Masters at Laguna Beach for 20 years and lent his voice to characters on thrill rides at Disneyland, including the Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, the Enchanted Tiki Room and the Haunted Mansion.
"Disneyland wouldn't have been, and wouldn't be, the same without him," the park's former president, Jack Lindquist, told the Register. "His voice was one of the things that made it all come alive."
Ravenscroft also did voices for the animated films "Cinderella," "The Jungle Book," "Mary Poppins," "Alice in Wonderland," "Lady and the ****" and many others.
Born in Norfolk, Neb., Ravenscroft moved to California in 1933 to study art. By the mid-1930s he was appearing regularly on radio, and by the late-1930s he was singing backup for Bing Crosby.
After military service during World War II, he returned to Hollywood, where he sang with the Mellomen, a group that performed with Frank Sinatra, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Elvis Presley.
In 1952, Ravenscroft's voice appeared in the first Frosted Flakes commercial.
Ravenscroft is survived by two children and four grandchildren. June, his wife of 53 years, died in 1999 at age eighty.
05-24-05 07:09 EDT
Some other stuff this guy was in (well, that he did voices in) includes:
The Brave Little Toaster
The Hobbit
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Snoopy Come Home
The Cat In The Hat (the original cartoon)
The Aristocats
Horton Hears a Who!
Tom And Jerry
Marry Poppins
The Sword in The Stone
Sleepy Beauty
101 Dalmations
South Pacific
Lady and The ****
Peter Pan
Paul Bunyan
Alice in Wonderland
Wow, that's sad. I saw him on TV back in '93 but I thought he was **** by now.
IMDb didn't update yet, but they do have most of his work listed. I'll remember him for:
Wow, that's sad. I saw him on TV back in '93 but I thought he was **** by now.
IMDb didn't update yet, but they do have most of his work listed. I'll remember him for:
Tony the Tiger
"You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch"
"No Dogs Allowed"
Kirby the Vacuum Cleaner
Rest in Peace, "Tony" :-(
Wow, I totally forgot about You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch. This was one signing dude. He also did the theme song for Zorro and "Look Out For Mr. Stork from Dumbo".
The Different Faces of Tony...
