| Billy Bletcher | |
|---|---|
| Born | William Bletcher September 24, 1894 Lancaster, Pennsylvania U.S. |
| Died | January 5, 1979 (aged 84) Los Angeles, California U.S. |
| Years active | 1914–1971 |
| Spouse | Arlyn Roberts |
William "Billy" Bletcher (September 24, 1894 – January 5, 1979) was an American actor, comedian, and voice artist, a native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
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The diminutive (5-foot-2-inch (1.57 m)) Bletcher appeared on-screen in films and later television from the 1910s to the 1970s, including appearances in several Our Gang and The Three Stooges comedies.
Bletcher was also famous as a voice actor. Uncharacteristically for someone of his size, his voice was a deep and strong-sounding baritone. He provided the voices of various characters for Disney (Black Pete and the Big Bad Wolf in Three Little Pigs and its spin-offs), MGM (Spike the Bulldog and in some occasions even Tom, in Tom and Jerry), and Warner Bros. (many characters, most notably the Papa Bear of Chuck Jones' The Three Bears after Mel Blanc had performed the role in the initial entry). He appeared opposite Blanc in Little Red Riding Rabbit, where he played another famous wolf. Bletcher's booming voice can also be heard as "Dom Del Oro" the Yacqi Indian god in the 1939 Republic serial, Zorro's Fighting Legion. He provided voicework for Warner Brothers rival Ub Iwerks as the Pincushion man in 1935's Balloon Land. He also voiced Owl Jolson's disciplinarian violinist father in the 1936 short subject based on the song I Love to Singa and the menacing spider in Bingo Crosbyana. Both he and Mel Blanc did voice acting in the 1944 Private Snafu WWII training film "Gas", where Bletcher plays the villainous Gas Cloud (with Mel Blanc voicing Private Snafu and a cameo of Bugs Bunny) as an opponent of Snafu. Bletcher also played The Captain in Captain and the Kids with MGM cartoons.
Bletcher died on January 5, 1979 at the age of 84 in Los Angeles, California.