Jackson Beck 1912-2004

Mark Evanier notes the passing of Jackson Beck, aged 92 years, five days. If we had voice credits listed in our Paramount Cartoons filmography, Jackson Beck's name would be all over them. He was with the studio roughly from the beginning until about 1961. The voices he performed included Bluto, Buzzy The Crow, King Leonardo, and of course the narrator of the "Superman" radio series, where he may have been the first to ever intone the words "It's a bird - it's a plane - it's Superman!" Up until about five years ago, you could still hear Jackson Beck on dozens of national television commercials, including Little Caesar's Pizza Pizza and Thompson's Water Seal. I believe the last commercials he ever did were for Infusium shampoo, and if anyone had trouble believing an 87-year-old could sell shampoo to teeny boppers, they probably had no soul to begin with.