Joe Alaskey

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Joseph Francis Alaskey III (April 17, 1952 – February 3, 2016) was an American actor and comedian. He was one of Mel Blanc's successors at the Warner Bros. Animation studio until his death. He alternated with Jeff Bergman, Greg Burson, Jim Cummings, Bob Bergen, Maurice LaMarche and Billy West in voicing Warner Bros. cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester, Tweety, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepé Le Pew, Marvin the Martian, Speedy Gonzales, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner and Taz, among many others. He also voiced Plucky Duck on Tiny Toon Adventures from 1990 to 1995. Alaskey was the second actor to voice Grandpa Lou Pickles on the Nickelodeon cartoon Rugrats (taking over after David Doyle's death in 1997). He voiced Lou again in the Rugrats spin-off series All Grown Up!.

Early life

Alaskey was born in Troy, New York, on April 17, 1952 to Joseph Francis Alaskey Jr. and Domenica "Dorothy" De Sorrento De Luca Alaskey.<ref name="NBC">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Obituary"/> At age three, he was looking for a pair of sunglasses or people's cigar butts so that he could portray different characters.<ref name="Split">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Alaskey was interested in archeology at the age of ten.<ref name="Split"/> After archeology, he was interested in becoming a priest and an English teacher.<ref name="Split"/> Alaskey moved to New York City in the 1970s, where he worked in insurance while preparing to become an actor.<ref name="Split"/>

Career

After moving to New York City, Alaskey began his show business career as a stand-up comedian and broadcaster.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was occasionally seen onscreen impersonating Jackie Gleason, with whom he shared a physical resemblance.<ref name="Split"/> In the 1980s, Gleason personally chose Alaskey to re-record selected dialogue from the "lost episodes" of The Honeymooners found in Gleason's private collection.<ref name="times">Template:Cite news</ref> After Gleason died in 1987, the project was shelved.<ref name="Split"/> In 1985, Alaskey provided various voices for Galtar and the Golden Lance. Alaskey was in several television shows including Night Court, Head of the Class, Back to the Future, and Spitting Image: The 1987 Movie Awards. His first major film was Who Framed Roger Rabbit as Yosemite Sam.<ref name="ET"/> Alaskey provided a vocal Gleason impersonation in the "Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy" episode of Bakshi-Hyde Ventures' Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures in 1988, and a Cary Grant impersonation in "The Bride of Mighty Mouse" episode from the same season.

Although best known for his ability to successfully impersonate Looney Tunes characters,<ref name="AniMag">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Alaskey did voice work for non-Warner Bros. characters as well. He has voiced Grandpa Lou Pickles on Rugrats (inheriting the role after David Doyle's death in 1997).<ref name="NBC"/><ref name="Metro">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He voiced Lou again in the Rugrats spin-off series, All Grown Up!. He also created the voice of Thomas Timberwolf for the internet series TimberWolf, created by animation legend Chuck Jones. He was heard briefly as a voice-over announcer for the Toon Disney channel (and sometimes Dcom extras on Disney Channel). He was the voice of Curt Connors in the Spider-Man 2 video game and Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man: Friend or Foe. Alaskey was in the independent film The Legend of Sasquatch and voiced Mermaid Man in the video games SpongeBob SquarePants: Lights, Camera, Pants! and SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab. He voiced Stinkie in Casper as well as that film's 1996 animated spin-off, The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper. Alaskey played Beano Froelich in Out of This World but left the show early in its final season, making only infrequent appearances in a few episodes. In the 1980s, he worked as the original announcer on the short-lived game show Couch Potatoes, hosted by Marc Summers. Alaskey made several onscreen appearances, portraying the show's "next door neighbor". For the show's final weeks, he was replaced by Jim McKrell and the "next door neighbor" concept was dropped. During this time, he was also a panelist on The New Hollywood Squares, hosted by John Davidson.<ref name="HollySquare1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="HollySquare2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2003, he took over the roles of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck in the film Looney Tunes: Back in Action.<ref name="ET">Template:Cite magazine</ref> He also, at times, provided the voices for Sylvester, Tweety, and other Looney Tunes characters.<ref name="ET"/> Alaskey was the primary voice for Plucky Duck on Tiny Toon Adventures.<ref name="ET"/>

In 2008, Alaskey participated in a unique interview conducted by Logan Leistikow and released by TheYellowMic.com. He answered questions and told his story, then went out onto Hollywood Boulevard and talked to people on the street who wanted to hear his famous voices. This was the first time Alaskey had performed in public in this manner.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref>

In 2014, Alaskey started narrating the television documentary series Murder Comes to Town, which airs on the Investigation Discovery Network.

Alaskey's only leading role in a live-action film was as lovable loser Ron Douglas in the black comedy Lucky Stiff, directed by Anthony Perkins and co-starring Donna Dixon and Jeff Kober.

Death

Alaskey died in his apartment in Green Island, New York, from cancer with his brother by his side on February 3, 2016, at the age of 63. Five days later, his funeral was held at St Patrick's Cemetery in Watervliet.<ref name="Obituary" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Filmography

Film

List of voice performances in feature and direct-to-video films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Who Framed Roger Rabbit	Yosemite Sam	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1990	Spaced Invaders	Dr. Ziplock
	The Jungle Book	Kaa
1991	Bugs Bunny's Lunar Tunes	Daffy Duck, Marvin the Martian	Direct-to-video
	A Wish for Wings That Work	Truffles, The Ducks
1992	Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation	Plucky Duck, Elmer Fudd, Tupelo Toad, Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon	Direct-to-video<ref name="btva"/>
1995	Casper	Stinkie	<ref name="btva"/>
	Carrotblanca	Daffy Duck, Sylvester	Short
	Another Froggy Evening	Marvin the Martian	Short
1996	Marvin the Martian in the Third Dimension	Duck Dodgers, K-9, Martian Commander	Short
1997	Father of the Bird	Sylvester	Short
1998	Bugs Bunny's Silly Seals	Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Henery Hawk, Sylvester Junior, Wile E. Coyote, Slowpoke Rodriguez<ref name="btva"/>	Direct-to-video
	Looney Tunes Sing-Alongs	Daffy Duck, Tweety
	Quest for Camelot Sing-Alongs	Daffy Duck, Tweety
	The Rugrats Movie	Grandpa Lou Pickles	<ref name="btva"/>
2000	Tweety's High Flying Adventure	Tweety, Sylvester, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Pepé Le Pew, Marvin the Martian, Henery Hawk, Colonel Rimfire	Direct-to-video
	Rugrats in Paris: The Movie	Grandpa Lou Pickles	<ref name="btva"/>
2001	Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase	Officer Wembley<ref name="btva"/>	Direct-to-video
2002	Balto II: Wolf Quest	Hunter, Nuk<ref name="btva"/>	Direct-to-video
2003	Rugrats Go Wild	Grandpa Lou Pickles<ref name="btva"/>
	Looney Tunes: Stranger Than Fiction	Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Sylvester Jr., Tweety, Marvin the Martian	Direct-to-video
	Looney Tunes: Reality Check	Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Tweety, Wile E. Coyote, Cecil Turtle, Beaky Buzzard
	Looney Tunes: Back in Action	Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Beaky Buzzard, Mama Bear	Nominated - Annie Award for Voice Acting in a Feature Production<ref name="btva"/>
2004	Hare and Loathing in Las Vegas	Bugs Bunny	Short
	Daffy Duck for President	Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck
2006	The Legend of Sasquatch	Dave
	Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas	Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Marvin the Martian, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepé Le Pew<ref name="btva"/>	Direct-to-video
2007	Elf Bowling the Movie: The Great North Pole Elf Strike	Santa Claus, Bagger, Chief Manamana	<ref name="btva"/>
2008	Justice League: The New Frontier	Bugs Bunny<ref name="btva"/>	Direct-to-video
2009	The Haunted World of El Superbeasto	Erik the Newscaster, Van Sloan<ref name="btva"/>
2011	Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz	The Wizard of Oz, Butch, Droopy Dog<ref name="btva"/>
2012	Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse	Friar Tuck, Droopy Dog<ref name="btva"/>
2013	Tom and Jerry's Giant Adventure	Droopy Dog, King Droopy<ref name="btva"/>
2015	Tom and Jerry: Spy Quest	Droopy Dog<ref name="btva"/>
2016	Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz	The Wizard of Oz, Butch, Droopy Dog	Posthumous release Direct-to-video (final film role), dedicated in memory.<ref name="btva"/>

Television

List of voice performances in television shows

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures	Sourpuss	6 episodes
1990–1992	Tiny Toon Adventures	Plucky Duck, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, Marvin the Martian, Speedy Gonzales, Wile E. Coyote, Roger Rabbit, Hugo the Abominable Snowman, Additional voices	Main Role 85 episodes
1991	Back to the Future	The Sheriff	2 episodes
	Where's Waldo?	Additional voices	13 episodes
	Tom & Jerry Kids	Mouse Scarlet	Episode: "Jerry Hood and His Merry Meeces/Eradicator Droopy/Tyke on a Hike"
1992	The Little Mermaid	Lobster Mobster	3 episodes
	The Plucky Duck Show	Plucky Duck, Plucky's Dad, and Wade Pig	Main Role 13 episodes
1993	Bonkers	Flaps the Elephant, Arnie and Silas Stork	4 episodes
1994–1996	Duckman	Dream Sequence Criminal	3 episodes
1995–2002	The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries	Sylvester, Tweety, Daffy Duck, and Marvin the Martian	52 episodes
1995	The Baby Huey Show	Baby Huey	Season Two only<ref name="btva"/>
1996	Life with Louie	Johnny Love	Episode: "A Fair to Remember"
1996–1998	The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper	Stinkie and Gorey Narrator	Recurring Role 52 Episodes
1997	Extreme Ghostbusters	Sturt	3 episodes
1997–2004	Rugrats	Grandpa Lou Pickles, Additional voices	49 episodes
1998	The Drew Carey Show	Daffy Duck	Episode: "My Best Friend's Wedding"
1999	Timon & Pumbaa	Little Jimmy	2 episodes
	Hey Arnold!	German Major and Soldier #2	Episode: "Veterans Day"
	Men in Black: The Series	Short Bug and Truck Driver	Episode: "The Mine, Mine, Mine Syndrome"
2000	Buzz Lightyear of Star Command	Soda Vendbot and Newspaper Vendbot	Episode: "The Slayer"<ref name="btva"/>
2001	Johnny Bravo	Jean Paul, Piney, and Platypus	Episode: "Lumberjack Johnny"<ref name="btva"/>
	Time Squad	Robin Hood, Wilbur Wright, Samuel F. B. Morse	Episode: "If It's Wright, It's Wrong/Recruitment Ad/Killing Time"
	Samurai Jack	General and Alien #3	Episode: "Episode VII"<ref name="btva"/>
2003	Teamo Supremo	Chief	Episode: "The Chief of Cheer"
	Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law	Peter Potamus, FEAR #1, and Employee	2 episodes<ref name="btva"/>
2003–2005	Duck Dodgers	Captain Duck Edgar Dumas Aloysius Dodgers, Additional voices	Main role, 39 episodes<ref name="btva"/>
2003	My Life as a Teenage Robot	Ivan, Storeowner #3, and Eyedrop Salesman	Episode: "See No Evil"<ref name="btva"/>
2003–2008	All Grown Up!	Grandpa Lou Pickles and Rustler #2	15 episodes
2006–2007	Avatar: The Last Airbender	Dealer and Broadsword Man	2 episodes
2006	Codename: Kids Next Door	Principal Smelling	Episode: "Operation R.E.C.E.S.S."
2006–2007	Loonatics Unleashed	Melvin the Martian, Sylth Vester, The Royal Tweetums, and Stoney the Stone	5 episodes<ref name="btva"/>
2008–2013	The Garfield Show	Additional voices	5 episodes
2009	Looney Tunes: Laff Riot	Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck	Unaired pilot for The Looney Tunes Show<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Replaced by Jeff Bergman

Video games

List of voice performances in video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Sylvester and Tweety in Cagey Capers	Sylvester
1995	Daffy Duck in Hollywood	Daffy Duck	Sega Genesis version
1996	Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster and the Beanstalk	Plucky Duck	Credited as Joe Alasky
1997	Dilbert's Desktop Games	Phil The Prince of Insufficient Light, Accounting Troll
	The X-Fools
1998	Microshaft Winblows 98	Additional voices
	Rugrats Adventure Game	Grandpa Lou Pickles	<ref name="btva"/>
	Rugrats: Search for Reptar
	Tiny Toon Adventures: The Great Beanstalk	Plucky Duck	Uncredited
1999	Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time	Marvin the Martian, Rocky and Mugsy	<ref name="btva"/>
	Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace	Important Merchant, Interpreter, Watto's Flunky
	Tiny Toon Adventures: Toonenstein	Plucky Duck
	Rugrats: Studio Tour	Grandpa Lou Pickles	<ref name="btva"/>
2000	Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption
	Duck Dodgers Starring Daffy Duck	Daffy Duck, Marvin the Martian, Dr. I.Q. Hi	<ref name="btva"/>
	Escape from Monkey Island	Digg the Lucre Lawyer, Judge Edd
	Looney Tunes Racing	Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Gossamer, Rocky, Marvin the Martian, Tweety, Smokey the Genie, Evil Scientist	<ref name="btva"/>
	Looney Tunes Space Race	Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Marvin the Martian, Tweety	<ref name="btva"/>
	Bugs Bunny & Taz: Time Busters	Count Blood Count, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Bubba Chop	<ref name="btva"/>
2001	Sheep, Dog 'n' Wolf	Daffy Duck, Marvin the Martian, Gossamer, Phantom	<ref name="btva"/>
2002	Rugrats: Royal Ransom	Grandpa Lou Pickles	<ref name="btva"/>
	Loons: The Fight for Fame	Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Rocky and Mugsy
	Taz: Wanted	Daffy Duck, Tweety
	Hot Wheels Velocity X	Rupert, Backroads, Opponent	<ref name="btva"/>
	Tiny Toon Adventures: Defenders of the Universe	Plucky Duck	Cancelled Game
2003	Looney Tunes: Back in Action	Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Mr. ACME Chairman, Sylvester, Marvin the Martian
2004	Spider-Man 2	Dr. Connors, Thug	<ref name="btva"/>
	The Dukes of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee
2005	Fantastic Four	Additional voices	Credited as Joe Alasky
	SpongeBob SquarePants: Lights, Camera, Pants!	Mermaid Man	<ref name="btva"/>
2006	Gothic 3		English Dub
	SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab	Mermaid Man
	The Sopranos: Road to Respect
	Superman Returns	The Citizens of Metropolis
2007	Spider-Man: Friend or Foe	Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus	<ref name="btva"/>
	Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck	Daffy Duck
	Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal	Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Marvin the Martian	<ref name="btva"/>
2008	Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor	Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Barnyard Dawg, Marvin the Martian, Road Runner, Speedy Gonzales, Sylvester	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	White Knight Chronicles	Drisdall	English Dub<ref name="btva"/>
2011	Looney Tunes Click 'N READ Phonics	Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, Sylvester, Tweety, Tasmanian Devil	citation	CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref>
2014	Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham	Green Loontern

Live-action

List of acting performances in television and feature films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Night Court	Thomas Dobbs	Episode: "Author, Author"
1987	Head of the Class	Jack	Episode: "Ode to Simone"
1987–1988	Super Password	Himself	10 episodes
1987–1991	Out of this World	Beano Froelich	68 episodes
1988	Lucky Stiff	Ron Douglas
1989	Couch Potatoes	Himself, The Neighbor	9 episodes
1992	Nurses	Trekker #1	Episode: "Eat Something"
	The Golden Palace	Mr. Smith #3	Episode: "Camp Town Races Aren't Nearly as Much Fun as They Used to Be"
1993	Bank Robber	Night Clerk #2
	The Waiter	Producer	Short
1994	Forrest Gump	President Richard Nixon (voice)	<ref name="btva"/>
2015	Murder Comes to Town	Narrator (voice)	Investigation Discovery true crime television series Episode: "Cowboys from Hell"
	Dark Seduction	Fatman

Theme parks

List of voice performances in theme park attractions

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Looney Tunes River Ride	Daffy Duck Sylvester Speedy Gonzales	<ref name="btva" />
1992	Yosemite Sam and the Gold River Adventure!	Daffy Duck Sylvester Speedy Gonzales
1993	The Toonite Show Starring Bugs Bunny	Daffy Duck Foghorn Leghorn
1995	The Bugs Bunny Wacky World Games	Daffy Duck
1999	Looney Tunes: What's Up, Rock?	Daffy Duck Sylvester
2000	The Looney Tunes Rockin' Road Show	Daffy Duck Sylvester
2010	Looney Tunes Dance Off	Bugs Bunny Daffy Duck Sylvester Tweety Bird

Web series

List of voice performances in web series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Timber Wolf	Thomas Timber Wolf

External links

• Official website (archived copy)
• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0016085

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• Joe Alaskey Template:Webarchive at TV.com Template:Webarchive