I just heard that Jackson Beck has died at the age of 92. He lent his voice to many characters, probably numbering up into the thousands if you count commercials, of which he did many, for everything from Chesterfield cigarettes to Little Caesar’s pizza. You know that “Pizza Pizza” snip? That was Beck.
He was the voice of Bluto in Popeye cartoons, Philo Vance in a rather well done detective drama in the late forties, and did dozens of narrator roles in radio, film and television. They ranged from “Faster than a speeding bullet!” for the Superman radio and TV shows, to “On November 13th, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence …” for The Odd Couple TV show, to the narrator of Woody Allen’s “Take the Money and Run.”
Beck’s work has become a part of our popular culture to the point where we probably don’t even notice it, and I thought it appropriate to make note of his passing here.