Posted on 06/27/2005 7:12:03 AM PDT by Red Badger
Monday, June 27, 2005; Posted: 8:02 a.m. EDT (12:02 RELATED Paul Winchell, voice of Tigger, dies YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Obituaries (Entertainment) Bob Newhart or Create Your Own Manage Alerts | What Is This? NEW YORK (AP) -- John Fiedler, a stage actor who won fame as the voice of Piglet in Walt Disney's Winnie-the-Pooh films, died Saturday, The New York Times reported in Monday editions. He was 80. Fiedler served in the Navy during World War II before beginning a stage career in New York. He performed in supporting roles alongside Sidney Poitier on Broadway, John Wayne in Hollywood and Bob Newhart on television. With Newhart, on "The Bob Newhart Show," he was Mr. Peterson, the meek patient who was often a target for Jack Riley's sarcastic Mr. Carlin. Fiedler also appeared in the films "12 Angry Men," "The Odd Couple," "True Grit," "The Fortune" and "Sharky's Machine," and was a cast member on the TV show "Buffalo Bill." But he was best known for the squeaky voice of the ever-worrying Piglet that he landed when someone noticed his naturally high-pitched voice. "Walt Disney heard it on a program and said, 'That's Piglet,' " his brother James Fiedler told The Times. In addition to his brother, Fiedler is survived by a sister, Mary Dean, The Times reported. The newspaper did not report the cause or location of his death.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
How very sad. Piglet is one of my all time favorite characters. My favorite Piglet quotes are:
Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.
"Pooh!" he whispered.
"Yes, Piglet?"
"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of you."
and
It is awfully hard to be b-b-brave, when you are only a Very Small Animal.
Prayers for his family.
One of those character actors whose face you never forget ...RIP ...
Howard Morris.
(If I were a voice actor on any Pooh film, I'd be really worried! That's 3 gone in about a month.)
The voices of Tigger and Piglet pass away within one day of each other.
He was Lawyer J. Noble Daggett in True Grit - which is my very favorite western. Even Glen Campbell couldn't ruin that movie.
Also, he played the crazed psycho-slasher "Redjack" on an episode of the original Star Trek.
The voice of Eyore, is getting old, too........
Absolutely right. Another superb character actor was the late Strother Martin ("What we have here is failure to communicate!"), although IMHO, the best character actor of all time is Eli Wallach.
Um...did I just out myself as a Star Trek geek?
"Paul Winchell the voice of Tigger died recently as well. I remember him with Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff. My childhood memories are slowing fading into oblivion."
Me too. Lord, how I miss Mel Blanc. (si, Sy, sew, Sue (from the Jack Benny Show)).
Winchell was also Gargamel in "The Smurfs" and Dick Dastardly in Hanna Barbera cartoons.
Howard Morris also played the voice of Atom Ant, Jughead on Archie and Mr. Peebles (Magilla Gorilla) among many, many others. Truly a very talented comedian/actor.
Um, yeah. I meant that Gopher was a Disney creation, not from the original Milne books.
Seems to me, Howard Morris was also a comedy writer during the early days of TV. (Yep. Found it. The "Caesar's Hour" with Sid Caesar.) Another great mind, and character.
A lot of Sid Caesar's writers went on to do great things.
He was my neighbor in downtown Brooklyn and until recently I saw him fairly regularly walking around. Just in the past few days I wondered what happened to him as I hadn't run into him for a while (he always said "hi").
"And just the other day, the voice of Tigger passed away."
Hmm yes and I suspect foul play at work. Someone is bumping these guys off. Peter Cullen, The Voice Of Eeyore, needs immediate police protection.
I suspect that owl.
Ah yes, of course.
If I'd been awake a little longer I would have remembered.
And yes, RayBob, you did ;^)
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