Billie Mae Richards
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Billie Mae Richards (1921- ) is a Canadian voice actress best known for playing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in the 1964 television special, and Tenderheart Bear in the first two Care Bears movies, as well as the television series.
Richards has been disappointed with her involvement in the Rudolph special. Despite the fact that Canadian actors at the time of its premiere had a very agreeable union to a three-year buyout via contract, she feels more residuals should have come her way. [1] Despite any misgivings she had about her involvement with the show, she also voiced Rudolph again in two other Rankin-Bass productions, 1976's Rudolph's Shiny New Year and 1979's summertime sequel Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July.
Richards' two other appearances in Rankin-Bass productions were in Willie McBean and his Magic Machine and The Daydreamer (both from the mid-1960s). About that same time, she appeared in the original Spider-Man television series.
She also starred in 1981's Pennies from Heaven (with Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters). More recently, she starred in the 2001 short Bluehair.
