Born in 1914, raised in Norfolk, Nebraska, Thurl Ravenscroft served as a navigator in the US Army Air Transport Command in World War II before settling in Hollywood. An accomplished singer, he performed with 'The Sportsmen Quartet' . He was best known, however, for his mellifluous voice-overs, and he voiced Tony the Tiger in countless advertisements for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes in both English and Spanish. In 1996 he and his wife June retired to southern California, although he still did occasional work as Tony. He died in 2005 of prostate cancer.
In addition to his considerable voice work for Disney and as the voice of Tony the Tiger, Thurl Ravenscroft was for decades the voice of Laguna Beach, Californias Festival of Arts Pageant of the Masters, a presentation of living pictures where actual humans posed in life-size works of famous artists such as Norman Rockwell and Winslow Homer, among others. For many people, his will always be remembered as part of the experience of this yearly Laguna Beach event.
Voice of on-board narration on Disneylands River Boat, the Mark Twain.
For Disneyland Park, he is the voices of Buff, the buffalo head on the Country Bear Jamboree; lead vocalist on the theme song "Grim Grinning Ghosts" in the Haunted Mansion (he is the bust that most people have mistaken as Walt Disney ); Fritz, the German-accented parrot in the Tiki Room; can also be heard on the Columbia Sailing Ship song spiel and the recorded narration of the jungle cruise (before the skippers started doing it live); original voice of the first mate on the Mark Twain Steamship and one of the bass voices one hears during the chorus of "Its a Small World"; and the voice of Tangaroa, father of all Gods and Goddesses at the Enchanted Tiki Garden (the waiting area outside the Tiki Room).
Was the narrator for "The Glory of Christmas" at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, from the early 1980s through the late 1990s.
During World War II, was employed by the War Department as a civilian contract airline pilot. He flew mainly high profile courier missions across the Atlantic and Pacific; among them Bob Hope and Winston Churchill.
Was the voice heard on the monorail system at Disneyland in California.
Was inadvertently omitted from the credits of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! , after which producers Chuck Jones and Dr. Seuss took out a full-page ad in "Variety" to correct the oversight.
