Frank Welker

Frank Welker

Frank Welker, 2007
Born Franklin Wendell Welker
March 12, 1946 (1946-03-12) (age 64)
, U.S.
Occupation Voice actor
Years active 1967–present
Website
http://www.frankwelker.net

Franklin Wendell "Frank" Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American actor, who specializes in voice acting. He has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.

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Acting career

Welker's first on camera film role was as a bar fight participant in Stan Dragoti’s Dirty Little Billy. However, his first film role was in The Trouble with Girls, portraying a college kid from Rutgers University who befriends Elvis Presley. He later co-starred with Don Knotts in Universal's How to Frame a Figg. Welker also appeared in three Disney films, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes , Now You See Him, Now You Don't, and he also voiced Abu in the animated film Aladdin.

His on camera television appearances included Love American Style, The Partridge Family and The Don Knotts Show. He played a prosecutor in highly acclaimed ABC special The Trial of General Yamashita and as Captain Pace beside Richard Dreyfuss' Yossarian in Paramount television’s pilot, Catch-22. He appeared on Laugh In, The Dean Martin Roast, The Mike Douglas Show, The Tonight Show, Merv Griffin, The Smothers Brothers Show, The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour and Laugh Trax. In the latter show, he was a cast member alongside Jim Staahl and Howie Mandel. Frank also played an on camera role of a voice actor on an episode of Simon and Simon. He returned to an on-camera role in the film The Informant, playing Matt Damon's character's father. Frank Welker also played Grimace in the McDonald's commercials from the 1970s all the way to the 1990s.

Voice acting career

During the 1990s, Welker voiced more roles than he acted. His work includes vocal effects for the character of Arnold Ziffel in the TV movie, Return to Green Acres, Sil in Species, Goro in 1995's Mortal Kombat, the Devil in 1986's The Golden Child, and Malebolgia in 1997's Spawn. Welker also provided the voice (both speaking and non-speaking) of Nibbler in the cartoon TV series Futurama. He's also the voice of the monkey Abu in Aladdin, its two sequels and the TV series adaptation.

Welker's first voice role came in 1969, as Fred Jones in Scooby Doo, Where Are You!. As of 2002, Welker is the voice of both Fred Jones and Scooby-Doo. This includes the most recent What's New, Scooby-Doo?, and the series-based spinoff, Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! and most recently, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. Welker is so closely connected with Fred that anytime Fred appears (with the exception of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo), it is Welker providing the voice. Also, Welker starred in most of the 2000s Scooby-Doo projects as Fred Jones and Scooby-Doo.

He also was Sasquatch in The Legend of Sasquatch. Welker's talent was also recognized in Disney's Stitch: Experiment 626, voicing the jealous and maniacal Experiment 6-2-1. For the cartoon SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, Welker provided the voice of the villainous Dr. Viper. Welker is also (as of 2005–present) the new voice of Garfield, succeeding the original voice Lorenzo Music, who died in 2001. He has voiced him in Garfield Gets Real, Garfield's Fun Fest, and Garfield's Pet Force. He also portrays Garfield in the new cartoon series The Garfield Show. Welker played Ray Stanz opposite Lorenzo Music's Peter Venkman as well as Slimer and myriad other characters in The Real Ghostbusters. Welker's voice can also be heard on other animated television series, live-action films and video games.

Transformers

In the 1980s, Welker voiced many recurring characters in the Transformers animated series. He voiced several Decepticons, including Megatron, Soundwave, Skywarp, Mixmaster, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, and Ratbat. He also did voicework as the Autobots Mirage, Trailbreaker, and Sludge. With the release of the Transformers animated film in 1986, he took on the role of the Autobot Wheelie and afterwards, took over the role of Galvatron from Leonard Nimoy. Having already provided the screams for Nimoy's character Mr. Spock in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, this marked the second time he had inherited a role from Nimoy.

Welker also returned to two of his Transformers roles when he portrayed Megatron and Soundwave as part of a spoof in the third season episode of Robot Chicken, aired shortly after the release of the live action film. In Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen, he reprises the roles of Soundwave and Ravage, and also provides voices for Grindor, Devastator, and Reedman.

At BotCon 2010 on June 26, 2010, it was revealed that Welker had been cast for Transformers: Prime, once again as Megatron.[1]

Filmography

Television animation

Live-action roles

Theater animation

Video games

Notes

  1. ↑ BotCon 2010 Hasbro panel

External links

The Simpsons cast members
Main cast
Recurring cast
Pamela Hayden · Tress MacNeille · Maggie Roswell · Russi Taylor · Karl Wiedergott
Recurring guest stars
Albert Brooks · Kelsey Grammer · Jan Hooks · Jane Kaczmarek · Maurice LaMarche · Jon Lovitz · Joe Mantegna · Marcia Wallace
Former cast
Christopher Collins · Doris Grau · Jo Ann Harris · Phil Hartman · Marcia Mitzman Gaven · Frank Welker