Christmas Day may be a thing of the past for another year, but as my tree will be up until Epiphany, my radio tuned to Christmas classics until a few days after that, I still use this time of year to catch up on my Christmas movies and partake in some Christmastime trivia. Today's ramble around IMDB and Wikipedia? How The Grinch Stole Christmas. For many years it was commonly thought that Boris Karloff was the singing voice in the Christmas classic. 'Tis not so. We now of course know that the dulcet tones of Thurl Ravenscroft are what we crave at Christmastime. Think you've heard his voice before? If you're a Disney geek then you probably have. Thurl's voice is in many locations across the various parks:
- He is a pirate on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
- In the Haunted Mansion he is the voice of Uncle Theodore, singing lead vocals amongst the busts at the end of the ride. That is in fact his likeness etched onto the bust, and not Walt Disney as can appear at first glance.
- Thurl can be found in the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki room as the voice of Frtiz the German parrot.
- He provides voices at Splash Mountain, the Country Bear Jamboree, and is one of the many singing voices for It's a Small World.
- A role that seems perfectly suited to that low bass, he is the voice of Monstro the Whale on Pinocchio's Daring Journey.
Not limited to the parks, Thurl's voice can also be found on many Disney movies and shows. Thurl's quartet, The Mellomen, were often invited by Walt to provide vocals for his projects, most notably the singing canines in Lady and the Tramp. The Mellomen were also featured in Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella.Need a little something more than Disney trivia? Thurl also provided the voice effects for the goblins in the 1977 Rankin-Bass animated classic The Hobbit.So after my Christmas movie season is over, I can start prepping for our trip to Walt Disney World in March by going on a movie to movie hunt for one of my favorite voice actors.Sources: The Disney Insider, Wikipedia, IMDB
