Otis Harlan was an American comedian, actor, and voice actor, known for appearing in Irving Berlin's ragtime musicals. For Disney, he was the original voice of Happy in the 1937 Disney animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He also voiced Uncle Smiley in the Donald Duck short Self Control.
Early life and career[]
Harlan was born in Zanesville, Ohio and later became the uncle of the silent film era leading man, Kenneth Harlan.
In 1893, he appeared in Victor Herbert's The Magic Knight as well many vaudeville shows by 1911 such different ragtime musicals by Irving Berlin. Some other famous roles he play were Cap'n Andy in the first, part-talkie film version of Show Boat (1929) where he was also seen as the Master of Ceremonies in the sound prologue that accompanied the film, Starveling in Max Reinhardt's 1935 film version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Hiram Jenks in the Our Gang short Roamin' Holiday. His other film credits included Galloping Fury, The Shepherd of the Hills, Dames Ahoy!, Captain of the Guard, The King of Jazz, The Big Shot, King Kelly of the U.S.A., The Hoosier Schoolmaster, Hitch Hike Lady, and The Texans.
Harlan died on January 21, 1940, at the age of 74. He is buried in the Greenlawn Cemetery section of New South Park Cemetery in Martinsville, Indiana.
Roles[]
Trivia[]
- With 1865 as his birth year, Harlan is the earliest born actor to have voiced a Disney character.
- Contrary to popular belief, Harlan did not voice Mr. Mole in Bambi, but story director, Perce Pearce did.
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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia page Otis Harlan. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. Text from Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. |