RIP, Gary Owens, the original Space Ghost

[GeorgeC]

http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/gary-ow ... 201433731/

Gary Owens passed away this Thursday from complications due to diabetes. He had been diabetic since age 8.


Here's a snippet of what he did in his voice-over career for just animation alone --

From Variety: "Owens also lent his voice to more than 3,000 cartoons, providing the voice of “Space Ghost” as well as Blue Falcon, Roger Ramjet, Powdered Toast Man and even Batman. He was animated as himself in “Garfield and Friends,” “The Fantastic Four,” “Eek the Cat” and “Bobby’s World.”"

He was best known to generations of kids as the original voice of "Space Ghost." He also did the voice of Batman for an episode of "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" not that many years ago.

On top of that, he was the announcer and a cast member of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In comedy/variety series. That's probably his most famous role... Certainly more adults would recognize him from Laugh-In even if the animated shows he was in have been repeated in syndication far more often than Laugh-In has since its original run....

This is a big loss across multiple media... I don't think there's been many other voice actors as well-known that have passed on in recent. There are only a couple that might have been bigger names undoubtedly Mel Blanc who was the best voice-over artist in American radio and film. There are not a lot of the classic voice-over artists left. I think Frank Welker (Freddie Jones, the original Ice Man, latest Scooby Doo) might be one of the few who was part of the 1960s/1970s H-B that's still alive.

Another legend from my childhood has passed on...

[droosan]

As a kid, I'd often watch Gary Owens announce that Laugh-In was broadcast from "Beautiful Downtown Burbank." Little did I know then that I'd end-up living in that town for most of my adult life..!

Mr. Owens' marvelous booming voice could pop-up anywhere: radio, tv, cartoons, commercials .. and was by turns earnestly serious, or side-splittingly hilarious, as the situation warranted. Occasionally, both:



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as for 1960s voice talents .. Janet Waldo and Stan Freberg are still kickin'.

[Randall]

What a wonderfully distinctive voice, instantly recognizable. I loved his Space Ghost and Blue Falcon, and geeked out when i watched that brave and the Bold episode, thinking, "It's great that someone thought to let him finally do Batman while he's still alive!" There's no doubt that Blue Falcon was a Batman riff, and it was so cool to hear him actually do the caped crusader.

Sad to see him go, but he had a full life, especially considering he lived with diabetes for so long.

Another voice actress still living is, of course, June Foray--- though her H-B work was limited, she was on The Smurfs and was memorably in The Man Called Flintstone as Tanya.