Voice actors don’t often get that much respect or notoriety save from those that know what they do unless they happen to be live action stars before they begin performing voice roles. Frank Welker has been around so long however that you should very easily recognize the name since he’s done plenty of iconic roles at this point. His voice acting started with a commercial for Friskies dog food but when he was told of an audition for Scooby-Doo he decided to take a chance and was given the part of Fred. From that point on he would eventually become known as one of Hanna Barbera’s top voice actors as he did Scooby-Doo as well and several other characters that you should easily recognize if you grew up in the 70s or 80s.
To think about all the voices this guy has done is just amazing, and even better is that he’s done multiple voices on several movies and TV shows. Now if you don’t recognize anything in this clip then the chances are that you didn’t watch a lot of TV or film, but living in a world with technology it’s a better chance that you did. Frank has been behind so many different voices that trying to sort them all out without this clip would be an effort in futility since he’s taken on so many different characters that it seems as though he’d have to sort them out for himself before performing one role or the other.
He’s been the only Fred on Scooby-Doo.
Apart from A Pup Named Scooby-Doo he’s been the only voice actor that’s ever taken on the part of Fred, likely because he’s done such a great job that the producers didn’t want to replace him. He’s also the only person still alive from the original cast of the show and still doing his thing. Now you remember Scooby-Doo then you might recall that the voices of Daphne and Velma changed just a bit throughout the series. The guys never did however as Frank and Casey Kasem stayed on through the whole series. That takes a lot of dedication to stick with something you helped to create and to enjoy it for so long.
He’s the voice of Galvatron in Transformers: Age of Extinction.
It’s funny that we didn’t get to see Galvatron in the latest Transformers movie, but Frank did take over the voice of Galvatron from Leonard Nimoy after the first animated Transformers movie. He also did the old-school voice of Megatron back in the day, as well as Soundwave and a few other characters throughout the series. To hear him switch from one voice to another is simply amazing since they all seem so distinct and the only ones that ever seem to sound like each other are the animal sounds that he makes.
He’s very into playing animal roles.
He’s done so many that you would think that they might all sound alike at one point, and some do to some extent, but at the same time they fit the character he plays so well that it’s easy to forgive and forget. After all there’s only a set number of sounds that human vocals can make even if it can be switched up from time to time with different sound effects. But Frank manages to make each part seem like something totally unique and puts a lot of effort into the roles that he’s playing in order to make them something that is relevant and completely partial to the show or movie that he’s using the voice for. The animal sounds he makes are no doubt aided by sound effects but overall he’s pretty talented when it comes to modulating his voice and making so many various sounds that you have to wonder how it affects his vocal cords sometimes.
This is a guy that has been entertaining generations of children for so long that you would think that he would be one of the most well known individuals in the world. He is to be honest and he does get the credit he deserves since he’s become of the most well-renowned voice actors to ever step into a role and just let everything he has come out in one great role. But to children his performances are no doubt what are remembered the most, even if his name is not. It’s hard not to smile however when looking at the clip above and realizing that one man was voicing all those parts over the years and bringing so much joy and amusement to so many. He’s still a voice actor to this date and there’s nothing saying that he won’t keep doing it until he simply can’t any more. The guy might be in his early 70s but he’s still fully capable of doing what he loves to do, as has been evidenced by the clip above.
