Jimmy Weldon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jimmy Weldon (born December 23, 1923) is an American voice actor, ventriloquist, and former television host.
He is best known as the voice of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Yakky Doodle Duck and the host and ventriloquist in the locally-produced television series, "The Webster Webfoot Show".
[edit] History
Weldon began his career as a disc jockey at KWCO in Oklahoma City from 1946 to 1950. He made his television debut in 1950, as "Uncle" Jimmy (himself) and the voice of the puppet, Webster Webfoot Duck on "The Webster Webfoot Show", that was locally produced by Dallas station WFAA-TV.
Weldon then moved to California in the 1950s and continued to make television appearances while in Hollywood. In 1959, he and Webster Webfoot returned to the air again as the hosts of "HI, MOM" on NBC affiliate WRCA-TV after Shari Lewis left. They would continue performing their show on KJEO-TV in Fresno throughout the 1960s.
It was thanks to Weldon's "quacky" voice that he earned the voice-over for the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character, Yakky Doodle Duck. Yakky Doodle made frequent appearances on the Yogi Bear cartoons, and then got his own show, "The Yakky Doodle Duck Show", from 1960 to 1962.
Weldon has also made numerous television appearances in acting on shows such as Dragnet, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Waltons, Dallas, and Diff'rent Strokes. He also continued to do voice-overs for various television shows and cartoons.
He is currently a member of the Premiere Speakers Bureau and is promoting his own motivational book, Go Get 'Em Tiger, which has sold 30,000 copies via his internet website.
