sorry I'm late to the punch, but this was probably the biggest blow I've gotten from a celebrity death in... well not too long, considering last year, as we all know, was an absolute beast for these deaths. Last one I can remember really screwing me over was Carrie Fisher. (And adding to my misery, I got a stomach bug the day after Carrie died and had to be quarantined in my room, but that's another story.)
To paraphrase something I wrote on my Tumblr: when someone like June dies, someone who has been a part of your life for as long as you can remember, whose work you've connected with during good and bad times and you can almost see yourself in... then it's like losing a member of your own family. I'm reminded now of the Glee episode where Sue's sister died and she gave a speech likening their kinship to an invisible tether where you can almost feel someone no matter how far away they are. And then they die and take a part of you with them. It's sort of like that.
June's name first became familiar to me when I was 10 and would constantly watch the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie - which, looking back on it now, wasn't a masterpiece, but I remember being fascinated with Rocky's voice. There was just something about it that made me mentally adopt him as one of my earliest smol beans. Then I got older and I was intrigued to find out that in addition to her voice acting duties, she was partially responsible for animation being taken a bit more seriously by awards shows and the like. She cofounded the Annie Awards and fought not only for the Oscars to keep their Animated Short category, but to introduce the Animated Feature category. And that she had been doing voice acting since
1943. Now she's up there with Carrie (among others) on my list of my most amazing women.
Since voice actors (much like Muppeteers) tend to fly under the radar 90% of the time (even if she did trend on Twitter for at least a few hours), I'm pleased at the outpouring of love and memories from all these people. That said, I doubt that she'll be included in the "In Memoriam" clip reels for the Emmys or Oscars (as Jerry was cruelly snubbed from after his death, Daytime Emmys notwithstanding), but if someone on either show at least brings her up during an acceptance speech or something then I'll probably be satisfied.
My religious views are kind of complicated, but I just know that June is someplace special right now. And that she knows about all the love everyone is sending her.
tl;dr June's passing has been hard for me to process. She is one of my inspirations. Rest in power, babe. <3
(Also, if you're curious, there's going to be a public memorial for June in Beverly Hills in September!
Here's a bit of info about it.)
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Well, I suppose watching Rocky and Bullwinkle won't be the same now.
