He was a man, and a mouse
The voice actor behind Mickey Mouse embodied character’s charm, loved ones say.
By Joyce Rudolph
Family and friends of Wayne Allwine, the voice of Mickey Mouse who died May 18 of complications from diabetes, are remembering how the Glendale resident so embodied the modest and optimistic character he portrayed since 1977.Funeral services for the Walt Disney figure are pending and will be private. He was 62.
He died holding hands with his wife, Russi Taylor, the voice of Minnie Mouse.
“Walt [Disney] used to say, he put the heart and soul into Mickey Mouse,” Taylor said.
Allwine is only the third person to voice the character. Walt Disney was the first, followed by the late sound effects man, Jimmy Macdonald.
Born in 1947 in Glendale, Allwine grew up in Burbank and graduated from John Burroughs High School.
“They had a good performing arts department and he did many productions, like ‘Charlie’s Aunt’ and others,” she said. “He loved doing shows there. He always talked really fondly of the teachers there.”
Allwine was very proud to be the voice of Mickey Mouse, Taylor said, but added he was never a show-off about it.
“We’ve always said we were the caretakers of these characters,” she said.
And part of that belief was to keep the mystique of their characters by not using their voices in public, Taylor said.
“We tried to never break that bond,” she said. “Mickey is his own person.”
Allwine used to make phone calls to ill children and talk to them in Mickey’s voice, Taylor said. Once he saw a little boy in the park who was crying.
“Wayne came up and stood behind him and in Mickey’s voice, asked him not to cry,” she said. “Then Wayne said ‘Where’d he go? He was here just a second ago.’ But there was no more crying.”
One of Allwine’s biggest fans is Rick Dempsey, senior vice president of Creative Disney Character Voices Inc. at the Walt Disney Co. campus in Burbank.
They met 20 years ago when Dempsey started at Disney, he said. Allwine was already cast as the voice of Mickey Mouse.
“It was one of the greatest thrills to meet the voice of Mickey Mouse,” he said. “I was a huge Disney fan. The beauty of Wayne was once you met the guy, there was an instant friendship that lasted 20 1/2 years. There was no pretension about being the voice, he was as humble as Mickey himself.”
And he made people laugh, Dempsey said.
“Generally, he was an absolute blast to be around,” he said. “He was funny, spontaneous and a joyful person to be around.”
Allwine, Taylor and Tony Anselmo, the voice of Donald Duck and Bill Farmer, who provides the voice of Goofy, have been recording voices for “Mickey’s Clubhouse.”
They were as close as family, both at work and after hours, Anselmo said.
“We are all friends socially,” he said. “We’ve worked together 30 years. We don’t just see each other in recording sessions, we go out to dinner. I spent last New Year’s Eve with them.”
All of the voice actors are very much like the characters they portray, he added.
“Wayne was very much like kind of the leader,” he said. “We definitely respected him the most for advice and opinions. He was kind, everything a Boy Scout is, which is kind of like Mickey Mouse.”
But the sweetest thing about Allwine and Taylor, friends said, was the match in heaven of the same people who were matches on the cartoon screen. “I never knew two people who adored each other more sincerely,” Anselmo said. “I really envied their relationship.”
Allwine and Taylor fell in love doing the voices of their characters, Anselmo said.
“They were friends for a while and before we knew it, they were married,” he said.
Taylor was smitten, she said.
“I was absolutely crazy about him from the moment I met him,” she said.
They were married for 20 years.
“I just want to tell the world he was my hero,” she said. “He was such a beautiful man.”
Their first kiss was on a street near a lamppost as they were going to their separate cars, Taylor said.
“He gave me a kiss and we both laughed and he skipped back to his car with the sweetest look on his face,” she said.
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