Ludwig Von Drake
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Ludwig Von Drake is one of Walt Disney's cartoon and comic book characters. He was first introduced on September 24, 1961 as the presenter (and singer of "The Spectrum Song") in the cartoon An Adventure in Color, part of the first show of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color on NBC. Said to be an uncle of Donald Duck, he was supposedly named after either Ludwig von Mises or Ludwig van Beethoven. The character frequently displayed his "expert" knowledge on a variety of subjects in the anthology series, as well as on a number of Disneyland Records. Paul Frees voiced Ludwig Von Drake until the actor's death in 1986, after which Corey Burton took over the role.
Ludwig Von Drake comes from Vienna, Austria. Some creators have presumed that his family is a Germanic branch of the Duck family but that hasn't been included in any major stories. Ludwig had a fascination with knowledge. Since his youth he had been trying to obtain as many diplomas, in any science, as possible. At some point, the professor emigrated to the United States and he married the already retired Matilda McDuck (this is not canon, but a widespread theory created by Don Rosa). Since her death, Ludwig has spent the rest of his life as a loner. Among his many interests is psychology, and he has tried to make a psychological study of his nephew Donald Duck.
[edit] Cartoon Apperances (1980's-Present Day)
Von Drake has appeared on several Disney animated cartoons: DuckTales, Raw Toonage, Bonkers, Mickey Mouse Works, Quack Pack, House of Mouse, and numerous television specials. Ironically, like many characters introduced before 1991, he never appeared on Darkwing Duck. In all of these, Von Drake wears a pink shirt, black tie, red vest, and a lab coat.
In Disney's House of Mouse, Von Drake appears as a recurring character. In the show, he tries to use his inventions to make the club perfect, and is difficult to "stump" in what amounts to a trivia contest. He also had his own series of cartoons called Von Drake's House of Genius, where his inventions had either been invented before or backfired on him (for example, he created a machine to print money so that everyone could have as much money as they needed, and he ended being arrested for counterfeiting) and a cameo in a Mickey, Donald and Goofy cartoon where Mickey and his compatriots foiled The Phantom Blot's attempts to rob all the banks in the world using a special credit card Von Drake invented to allow people to get whatever money they needed.
Ludwig Von Drake has co-starred many times in the children's television series Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
[edit] Von Drake around the world
Ludwig Von Drake is known by different names in other languages:
- Danish: Raptus von And, though he is not related to Scrooge McDuck, who is named Joakim von And in Danish.
- Croatian: Staja Patak
- Dutch: Otto van Drakenstein
- Finnish: Taavi Ankka
- French: Professeur Donald Dingue
- German: Primus von Quack
- Italian: Pico de Paperis
- Norwegian: Raptus von Rupp
- Portuguese: Professor Ludovico Von Pato
- Serbian: Staja Patak (Deda Staja)
- Spanish: Ludwing Von Pato
- Swedish: Ludwig von Anka, though he is not related to Scrooge McDuck, who is named Joakim von Anka in Swedish.
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