Frank_Graham_(voice_actor)

Frank Graham (voice actor)

Frank Graham (voice actor)

American actor and radio announcer (1914–1950)


Frank Lee Graham (November 22, 1914 – September 2, 1950) was an American radio announcer and voice actor.

Quick Facts Born, Died ...
So Much for So Little, an Oscar-winning short documentary film narrated by Frank Graham

Biography

Graham was born on November 22, 1914, in Detroit, Michigan, to Frank L. Graham and opera singer Ethel Briggs Graham. He later traveled with his mother on tour.[1]

He attended the University of California for one year and left to begin his acting career in Seattle, both on the stage and in radio. He was brought to Hollywood in 1937 to join KNX Radio. He had been married two years before to Dorothy Jack of Seattle. He was the star of Night Cap Yarns over CBS from 1938 through 1942 and was the announcer of dozens of programs, including the Ginny Simms, Rudy Vallee and Nelson Eddy shows.[citation needed]

He starred in Jeff Regan, Investigator[2] and co-developed the radio drama Satan's Waitin' with Van Des Autels. Graham was also The Wandering Vaquero, the narrator of The Romance Of The Ranchos radio series (1941–1942), also on the CBS network.

One of his few live-action roles was portraying the title character in the film Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher (1943). He had also served as a writer for the radio program upon which the film was based.

Graham voiced numerous characters in animated films for Walt Disney, MGM, Columbia and Warner Bros. He voiced the Wolf in Tex Avery's Droopy cartoons, as well as the Mouse in King-Size Canary at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He provided the voices of the Fox and the Crow in the shorts of the same name at Columbia.

He was found dead at age 35 in his convertible in the carport of his home in Hollywood on September 2, 1950, with a photograph of Mildred Rossi by his side.[3][4] Rossi had ended a relationship with him weeks earlier.[5] A coroner declared he had committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.[6]

Filmography

More information Year, Title ...

References

  1. Gilmore, Art; Middleton, Glenn (1946). Radio Announcing. Hollywood, CA: Hollywood Radio Publishers. p. 113. "Frank comes by his talent naturally, having toured with his famous singing mother, Ethel Briggs Graham."
  2. "Main Street" (PDF). Radio Daily. October 18, 1949. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  3. 'Radio Star Graham Commits Suicide', Los Angeles Times, September 4, 1950.
  4. "Frank Graham" (PDF). Broadcasting. September 11, 1950. p. 82. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  5. O'Meara, Mallory (2019). The lady from the black lagoon : Hollywood monsters and the lost legacy of Milicent Patrick. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ISBN 9781335937803. OCLC 1080884379.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. "Graham Suicide Letter Interrupted by Friend: Filing of Will Discloses Last Writing by Radio Producer Resumed After He Had Caller". Los Angeles Times. September 19, 1950. p. A8. ProQuest 166134820. The producer ended his life last Sept. 2 by inhaling monoxide gas in his automobile outside his home, 9115 Wonderland Ave.
  7. "MGM's "The Night Before Christmas" (1941) With Tom & Jerry". cartoonresearch.com. 23 December 2015. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  8. ""Hello All You Happy Tax Payers": Tex Avery's Voice Stock Company". cartoonresearch.com. 10 February 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  9. "Snafu Special: For the Boys". cartoonresearch.com. 27 October 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  10. "Disney's "Chicken Little" Cartoon from 1943". cartoonresearch.com. 22 June 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  11. Beck, Jerry (2020). The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes. Insight Editions. p. 15. ISBN 978-1647221379.
  12. Scott, Keith (3 October 2022). Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2. BearManor Media.
  13. "Norm McCabe's "Honesty Is The Best Policy" (1946)". cartoonresearch.com. 20 August 2018. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  14. "AVERY.... Vol. 2??? WELL, IMAGINE THAT!". cartoonresearch.com. 7 December 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2020.

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