| Lennie Weinrib | |
|---|---|
| Born | Leonard Weinrib April 29, 1935 The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA |
| Died | June 28, 2006 (aged 71) Santiago, Chile |
| Occupation | Actor, comedian, voice actor |
| Years active | 1959–1994 |
Lennie Weinrib (April 29, 1935 – June 28, 2006) was an American actor, voice actor and writer. He is best known for playing the title role in the children's television show H.R. Pufnstuf, the title role in Inch High, Private Eye, the original voice of Scrappy-Doo on Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, Hunk and Prince Lotor in Voltron, and Bigmouth in The Smurfs.
He was also known as Lenny Weinrib, Leonard Weinrib, and Len Weinrib. Woody Allen's character in 1995's Mighty Aphrodite was named "Lenny Weinrib."
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A native of the Bronx, Weinrib got his start in show business working with Spike Jones, then later in The Billy Barnes Revue. He made guest appearances on The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Burke's Law and The Munsters.
Weinrib is probably best known for his voice acting work. Starting with The Jetsons, Weinrib provided numerous voices for such animated series as Inch High, Private Eye, The New Adventures of Batman, Tarzan and the Super 7, and Hong Kong Phooey. He was the voice for both Roland and Ratfink in that series of cartoon shorts. He also provided the voice of Timer in the 1970s Time for Timer series of educational spots shown on ABC. In Voltron: Defender of the Universe, he voiced Hunk and the villain Prince Lotor in the "Lion Voltron series" as well as Captain Newley and Cliff in the "Vehicle Voltron" series. He also voiced a secretary bird and a king lion in the animated sequence of Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Another Disney role Weinrib voiced was an evil sorcerer named Zorlok on a notable episode of Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears.
He voiced Davey Jones' uncle Sedgwick, Shaggy's great-uncle Nathaniel, and Redbeard on The New Scooby Doo Movies and Cap'n Noah Smitty in Yogi's Ark Lark. He also voiced Scrappy-Doo in the original Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo TV series before Don Messick took over the role in future media.
Weinrib played H.R. Pufnstuf throughout the show's entire run from 1969 through 1971, and he also wrote every episode of the series. In The Krofft Supershow he played the title character in Magic Mongo. He also appeared as H.R. Pufnstuf when he was a guest on The Dating Game in Christmas 1972 and on one episode of the TV show CHiPs in 1977. He did the voices for Moonrock and Sergeant Boulder on The Flintstone Comedy Show. In 1986, he was the original voice of Freddy Flintstone on The Flintstone Kids, before Scott Menville replaced him the following season. In 1991, he voiced Max the Mole on the all-star Hanna-Barbera animated series Yo Yogi!.
Weinrib retired from acting in the 1990s and moved to Santiago, Chile.
Family Guy executive producer Seth MacFarlane, who had a reputation of parodying cartoon characters using their original voice actors on his show, had approached Weinrib with an offer to spoof his role of "Time for Timer" in the episode "Petarded". However, Weinrib declined, stating that he failed to have a strong enough memory of Timer to reprise the role.
Weinrib's directing career consists of three feature films, all in the beach party genre: Beach Ball for Paramount in 1965, and Wild Wild Winter and Out of Sight, both for Universal in 1966. Weinrib alao co-wrote the popular 1963 joke book The Elephant Book.
Lennie Weinrib died in a hospital near his home on June 28, 2006, after suffering a stroke.
His elder daughter Linda Weinrib and grandchildren Lauren Bendik and Steven Bendik are voice actors.
His younger daughter Heidi Weinrib has performed as part of the ensemble cast of Rojo de Chile, a Chilean talent competition broadcast by Television Nacional de Chile.