RIP Janet Waldo

backpackmina

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Another voice from my childhood gone, along with Gary Owens, Joe Alaskey, Christine Cavanaugh and Casey Kasem. I took a look at her filmography and WOW, she had been in the biz for at least 60 years, covering radio, TV and movies (animated and live-action)! I also learned that she was in one my favorite "I Love Lucy" episodes "The Young Fan" as the girl who had the crush on Ricky

RIP
 

MuppetSpot

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Do they have a replacement line up for her for the Hanana Barbera cinematic movie series thing?
 

Drtooth

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Another voice from my childhood gone, along with Gary Owens, Joe Alaskey, Christine Cavanaugh and Casey Kasem. I took a look at her filmography and WOW, she had been in the biz for at least 60 years, covering radio, TV and movies (animated and live-action)! I also learned that she was in one my favorite "I Love Lucy" episodes "The Young Fan" as the girl who had the crush on Ricky
With the exception of Christine, who died sadly young, here's the thing that's really depressing when you think about it. These actors made their debuts mostly in cartoons going back over a half a century. Inevitability takes us all, and I think we forget exactly how old these cartoon shows are. Alan Young recently died as well, but he was in his 90's. Then I remember the story of George Jetson's voice actor dying during the production of the Jetsons Movie, and even that was almost 30 years ago.

I don't know if Janet was the last surviving Jetson's voice cast member, but if you think about it we lost one before the Jetsons movie, 2 during, John Stephenson last year (was well into his 90's too) and now the last of the original voice cast, Janet Waldo. I'm a huge Flintstones fan, don't get me wrong, but Jetsons was a superior show in every way. While the Flintstones was a nice, sitcomy series, the Jetsons had an air of "^%%#! Even in the future, nothing works!" satire before everything became a thing. Sure, it didn't predict the internet or smart phones, but it did predict that we'll always have problems no matter how much tech we get to make things easier. It's a real shame that we no longer have anyone involved with the voice cast around anymore. They were a very talented bunch that made the show as high quality as most of HB's historic output. Janet, as well as the entire rest of the cast surely will be missed as real live people you can meet, but unforgettable as the iconic animated characters they helped create.
 

C to the J

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It's strange how voice actors don't get enough attention, particularly on the news. It would appear to me that Janet never was involved in anything containing lewd/obscene/controversial material, which is why I have utmost respect for her.
 

mr3urious

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It's strange how voice actors don't get enough attention, particularly on the news. It would appear to me that Janet never was involved in anything containing lewd/obscene/controversial material, which is why I have utmost respect for her.
In other words, she kept her private life private.
 

Drtooth

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It's strange how voice actors don't get enough attention, particularly on the news.
That much I'll agree with, as more mainstream viewers don't know or care about who does what guy's voice unless it's a Kid's movie with celebrity voice actors in it. That's why you see a lot of "You'll never guess who voiced such and such" articles online that more savvy cartoon watchers have known for years, and thus there's nothing new, shocking, baffling, or interesting about them.

Thing that gets my goat is that voice actors don't get recognition when they die when it comes to award ceremonies. Producers and production company heads that no one has ever heard of do, but when it comes to voice work, it's all...pffft...forget it. While a puppeteer and not a voice actor, I always thought it was bullcrap that Jerry Nelson didn't get any recognition the Oscar broadcast following his passing. He was in a lot of movies, which should have made made him more recognizable, but in the end, some interim script production guy who no one has ever heard of unless they follow Hollywood production to the letter gets more recognition. Same goes with voice actors.
 

snichols1973

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Janet's other notable character voice roles have included:

Penelope Pitstop, Pearl Slaghoople (1964-66, and the Flintstones TV movies I Yabba Dabba Do! and Hollyrock-a-Bye-Baby, et al.), Josie from Josie and the Pussycats /...In Outer Space, Morticia Addams from the short-lived 1973 animated version of The Addams Family, etc.

R.I.P. Janet Waldo
 
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