Billy Bletcher

Billy Bletcher

1894-09-23 – 1979-01-05 (age 84) Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA
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Biography

The diminutive (5 feet 2 inches/1.57 meters) Bletcher appeared on-screen in films and later television from the 1910s to the 1970s, including appearances in several Our Gang and Three Stooges comedies.Bletcher was also famous as a voice actor. Uncharacteristically for someone of his size, his voice was a deep and strong-sounding baritone. He provided the voices of various characters for Disney (Black Pete and the Big Bad Wolf in Three Little Pigs and its spin-offs), MGM (Spike the Bulldog and in some occasions even Tom, in Tom and Jerry), and Warner Bros. (many characters, most notably the Papa Bear of Chuck Jones' The Three Bears after Mel Blanc had performed the role in the initial entry). He appeared opposite Blanc in Little Red Riding Rabbit, where he played another famous wolf. Bletcher's booming voice can also be heard as "Dom Del Oro" the Yacqi Indian god in the 1939 Republic serial, Zorro's Fighting Legion. He also voiced Owl Jolson's disciplinarian violinist father in the 1936 short subject based on the song I Love to Singa and the menacing spider in Bingo Crosbyana. Both he and Mel Blanc did voice acting in the 1944 Private Snafu WWII training film "Gas", where Bletcher plays the villainous Gas Cloud (with Mel Blanc voicing Private Snafu and a cameo of Bugs Bunny) as an opponent of Snafu. Bletcher also played The Captain in Captain and the Kids with MGM cartoons.

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Known For

The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz

1939

as Mayor / Lollipop Guild Member (voice) (uncredited)

Dumbo
Dumbo

1941

as Clown (voice) (uncredited)

Quiet Please!
Quiet Please!

1945

as Spike (voice) (uncredited)

The Chase
The Chase

1966

as Mr. Vincent (uncredited)

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

1949

as Headless Horseman (voice)

The Nutty Professor
The Nutty Professor

1963

as Plumber (uncredited)

Hello, Dolly!
Hello, Dolly!

1969

as Man (uncredited)

Calamity Jane
Calamity Jane

1953

as Prospector (uncredited)

Get a Horse!
Get a Horse!

2013

as Peg-Leg Pete (voice)

I Married a Witch
The Big Bad Wolf
The Big Bad Wolf

1934

as Big Bad Wolf (voice) (uncredited)

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

1947

as Western Character (uncredited)

Three Little Pigs
Three Little Pigs

1933

as Big Bad Wolf (voice)

Baby Puss
Baby Puss

1943

as Butch (voice) (uncredited)

Once Upon a Halloween
Once Upon a Halloween

2005

as Tiny Tom (Peg Leg Pete) (voice) (archive sound)

Babes in Toyland
Babes in Toyland

1934

as Chief of Police (uncredited)

The Verdict
The Verdict

1946

as Gravedigger

Harlow
Harlow

1965

as Policeman

Thru the Mirror
Thru the Mirror

1936

as Radio (voice) (uncredited)

Heavenly Puss
Heavenly Puss

1949

as Devil Dog (voice) (uncredited)