Jack Mercer

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Jack Mercer
Jack Mercer
Born	January 13, 1909 New York City, New York
Died	December 4, 1984 Queens, New York
Years active	1933-1979
Spouse(s)	Margie Hines (1939? - 1942?) (divorced) Virginia Mercer (? - 1984)(his death)
Notable roles	voice of Popeye

Jack Mercer (January 13, 1909 – December 4, 1984), was an American animator and voice actor. He is best known as the voice of Popeye.

Mercer began his work in cartoons as an "inbetweener", an apprentice animator at Fleischer Studios. When William Costello, the original cartoon voice of Popeye (1933-35), became difficult to work with, he was dismissed. Several individuals filled the role of Popeye until Lou Fleischer heard Mercer singing the Popeye song. Mercer's first cartoon was "King of the Mardi Gras" (1935). Mercer continued to voice the one-eyed sailor for the Fleischers, for Paramount's Famous Studios cartoons (1942-57), for a series of television cartoons for King Features Syndicate, and for a Saturday morning cartoon show (1978), produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Mercer also did other cartoon voices, including all the voices for a series of Felix the Cat cartoons produced in 1959-60. Mercer also did the voices of Wimpy, Poopdeck Pappy, Popeye's nephews, King Little in Fleischer's Gulliver's Travels (1939), and a number of voices for Fleischer's Mister Bug Goes to Town (1941).

Mercer also wrote hundreds of scripts for various cartoon series, including a number of "Popeye" episodes, animated cartoons produced for Paramount Pictures, Deputy Dawg and Milton the Monster.

Originally a resident of New York City, Mercer moved to Miami, Florida when Flesicher Studios relocated there. When Famous Studios took over the Popeye cartoons, Mercer moved back to New York. In the late 1970s he lived briefly in Los Angeles, but moved to Queens, New York where he died in 1984.^[1]

Mercer's first wife was Margie Hines, who provided the voice of Olive Oyl from 1939 to 1944.^[2]