Disney trivia: Who was the singing voice of Scar - really?

I was listening to a podcast yesterday featuring actor Jeremy Irons, who currently plays Batman's butler Alfred in the DC Extended Universe. I didn't know until around the time that "Batman v Superman" came out that Irons also provided the voice for the villainous Scar in Disney's "The Lion King," back in 1994.

The man has an incredible voice. As I listened to his silky smooth stylings on the podcast, my mind wandered a bit and I started to wonder whether Irons did the singing for Scar, as well. I find those facts interesting. I Googled it and, to my surprise, saw that the initial search result credited legendary voice actor Jim Cummings as the singing voice of Mufasa's evil brother. Cummings, who you might recognize from his work as Darkwing Duck, Goofy's nemesis Pete, Monterrey Jack of the Rescue Rangers, Winnie the Pooh (and Tigger, too), also did the voice for Scar's moronic henchman, Ed.

According to disneywikia.com, it turns out that Irons and Cummings actually both sang "Be Prepared" in "The Lion King." Irons' voice reportedly gave out at one point during the song, and Cummings replaced Irons through the end of the number.

Take a look and give a listen, and see if you can determine when Cummings tags in. Hint: if you listen closely, you'll be able to hear a little bit of Winnie the Pooh or Tigger in his voice. Check it out:


First of all, let's just take a second to appreciate how brilliant Tim Rice's lyrics are. That is some impressive stuff.

Well, did you catch it? You'll notice, around the 2:34 mark, after Irons shouts, "You won't get a sniff without me!", Cummings comes in with an almost indistinguishable imitation of Irons' British accent. I certainly never would have known. I'm not sure why they didn't just cut the scene, give Irons a glass of water and tell him to come on back the next day to finish the recording - it's not like they had to perform it live - but isn't that an interesting fact? The more you know!...

Coincidentally enough, as I was writing this blog, I found a rare video showing Irons, Cummings and others behind-the-scenes, recording "The Lion King." The clip includes footage of Irons, Whoopi Goldberg and Cheech Marin performing portions of "Be Prepared," and is definitely worth a look. You can watch that video by clicking here and scrolling about half way down the article.

Furthermore, you can check out my Salt Lake Comic Con FanXperience interview with the extraordinarily talented Jim Cummings in 2015 by clicking here.