FanX 15 - Jim Cummings: The Voices of a Generation

Since the mid-1980s, Salt Lake Comic Con FanXperience 2015 guest Jim Cummings has been the voice of a generation, providing some of the most iconic voices in all of animation. His vocal presence was practically unavoidable in throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, lending the sound behind classic cartoon characters like Disney’s infamous Pete, the Tazmanian Devil of Looney Tunes fame, the Rescue Rangers’ Monterrey Jack, TaleSpin villain Don Karnage and a slew of deep-voiced announcers and narrators. He also provided voices for major characters in animated series like “Bonkers,” “Sonic the Hedgehog,” “CatDog,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “The Tick,” “Earthworm Jim,” “Timon & Pumbaa,” “House of Mouse” and, literally, hundreds more. But of his 438 credited roles on IMDb, Cummings is best known for his legendary portrayal of Winnie the Pooh (and Tigger, too).

When asked whether creating and performing so many different voices was difficult, Cummings told Salt Lake Comic Con, “Well, we are schizophrenic and, uh… we are, too, so we don’t mind it at all. We have a good time with it and the voices in my head are all nodding up and down. They’re all smiling,” he said with a laugh. “So, I think it’s good. I think the answer is – what is it like? – pretty darn good.”

Cummings began developing his skill at a very young age. “I’ve been terminally annoying since the age of four, so I’m really getting good at this,” he said. “It’s just one of those things that I just fell into and people started laughing, and I figure, ‘Well, that’s better than having them beat the heck out of me…’ So I just stuck with it.”

If his experience with live-action performance is any indication, Cummings will be sticking to doing voice work for the foreseeable future. He recalled one of his first impressions of Hollywood: hanging out with Bob Hoskins and Robert Zemeckis on the set of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, for which he helped develop several of the Weasels, originally, and later ended up as the voice for “Bullet #2.” During this experience, he realized that the live-action work seemed to be a lot of “Hurry up” and “Wait…”, noticing that actors would often sit in their trailers for three hours before heading to the set to recite four lines.

He specifically remembered rehearsing one exhausting scene on the set at Griffith Park in Los Angeles until 4:00 in the morning – and then, to his disappointment, the entire scene was cut from the film! At that point, chuckling, Cummings thought, “Hand me the microphone, please. I don’t have to be in my trailer; my trailer is everywhere!”

Cummings landed the role that, arguably, has defined his career in the late-‘80s when ABC and Disney sought out to find the next voice of Winnie the Pooh. He described that life-changing experience:

“At the time, it was 1987 and there hadn’t been any ‘Winnie the Pooh’ since the early ‘60s. But the original two or three that they made that were really great and everybody loved them – they won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short, I guess – [but then] they went away for like 25 years. So, at that point, Winnie the Pooh wasn’t as prevalent, if you will. But then ABC and Disney got together and started casting for it and Sterling Holloway (God rest his soul – he’s no longer with us), well, he had retired; he was very old – close to 90, I believe – so he wasn’t coming back to drive all the way up to Hollywood to do that (or Burbank). So they cast out a net and they caught me and I’m so proud and happy and the rest is sort of history.

“At that time, Paul Winchell was still doing Tigger (and, you know… rest in peace, as well) and he had been going back and forth… He was quite something; he was an inventor, an innovator, he came up with the prototype for the artificial heart, you know, and Tigger. Of course, it’s a logical career progression. He was doing research and going back and forth, so I was Tigger half the time and then, bless his heart, he had a terrible stroke […] and he just couldn’t do it anymore, so they said, ‘All right, you’re Tigger, too.’ So I got Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, too.”

Cummings and the voices in his head were an enormous hit at FanX ’15, as he and fellow voice actors Jess Harnell and Rob Paulsen rose to superstar status in Salt Lake City. Their first combined panel, a Harry Potter script reading, was filled to capacity and prompted Salt Lake Comic Con co-founder Dan Farr to book an encore performance in the South Ballroom on Saturday. The ballroom was packed as Harnell, Paulsen and Cummings read lines from The Sorcerer’s Stone in the voices of their most beloved characters, including a show-stopping portrayal of the evil Lord Voldemort, done in the voice of the innoncent, hunny-loving Winnie the Pooh.

Cummings said that he enjoyed his time in Utah. “It’s been fantastic,” he said. “I love the hotel, love the staff, love the Con. Everybody putting it on is great and I say, ‘Full speed ahead!’” Then he closed his remarks in the style of the world’s most famous crime-fighting mallard: “If Darkwing Duck were here, he would say, ‘I am the terror that flaps in the night – and it’s good to get out and flap in the day every now and then, so I’d just say, ‘Keep flappin’!... for justice, of course.’ But… let’s get dangerous!”

Where Are They Now?: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

Well, at least they're not aliens.

That was the rumor surrounding Michael Bay's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot, which finally hit theaters this weekend. After an enormous public backlash from adults who didn't want their childhoods ruined, Mr. Bay (a notorious ruiner of childhoods) decided, apparently, to make sure the Turtles were, in fact, turtles, after all. I just saw the reboot this morning and, well... It wasn't as bad as everyone said it would be. It certainly didn't ruin my childhood or make me want to kill myself or anything. (I've honestly seen a review that said that.) And, you know what? If the new TMNT movie actually did ruin your childhood or make you want to kill yourself, you need to grow the heck up. Seriously. Like, stop going out to movies before somebody gets hurt. The new movie was all right, considering that my expectations were about knee-high, so there's that. I probably wouldn't recommend that you run out and see it, though, especially if you haven't seen "Guardians of the Galaxy" yet... because that movie rocked.

Anyway, all this turtle talk got me thinking: Whatever happened to the original live-action Ninja Turtles? I loved that movie back in 1990, but I can't for the life of me remember any of the actors who starred in it. Therefore, I took to the Internet this evening to discover the truth. A quick glance at IMDb will tell us everything we need to know. Let's get the run-down in the first-ever installment SotT: Underground's newest feature: "Where Are They Now?"

Movie: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

Name: Judith Hoag
Role: April O'Neil
Where are they now?: After starring in a lead role in TMNT, Hoag would continue to have what we'll call a "busy" career in Hollywood, at the very least. She is presently one gig shy of hitting the illustrious "100 credit" mark on IMDb, having appeared in 99 different roles thus far. She landed sporadic spots on popular '90s TV shows like "Quantum Leap;" "Roseanne;" "Melrose Place;" "Walker, Texas Ranger;" "The Nanny;" "Nash Bridges;" "The X-Files" and "Touched by an Angel." In the new millennium, Hoag has been spotted in episodes of "Boston Public," "ER," "Without a Trace," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "7th Heaven," "JAG," "Bones," "The Ghost Whisperer," "Grey's Anatomy," "Sons of Anarchy" and "The Mentalist." Now, that sounds like a lot, but, considering that she only ever appeared in more than one episode of "Melrose Place" and "Grey's Anatomy" (two episodes, each), that's really not that great. She did appear in three episodes of "Private Practice," 13 episodes of "Big Love" and 34 episodes of "Nashville," however, so she's raising the bar as she goes, which is nice. Other movie roles you may or may not recognize her from include her turn as Denise in 1998's "Armageddon," Rebecca in "Salt" (...Oh wait... not the Angelina Jolie movie? There was another "Salt"? I guess nobody cares, then...), and Sarah's Mom in "I am Number Four." Hey! I actually saw that movie. I had no idea it was her. Wow. Also, upon further reflection, I totally remember April O'Neil being way hotter...

Name: Brian Tochi
Role: Voice of Leonardo
Where are they now?: Tochi would go on to voice Leonardo in TMNT II and III. Post-half shell, Tochi would also provide his voice for a plethora of other characters on television. His robust resume includes work as a fighting hyena in "The Lion King" and additional voices in "The Prince of Egypt," "The Iron Giant" and "Mulan II." He has also lent his talent to characters on "Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm," "Dexter's Laboratory," "Batman Beyond," "Johnny Bravo," "Kim Possible," "Static Shock," "Family Guy" and "Avatar: The Last Airbender."


Name: Corey Feldman
Role: Voice of Donatello
Where are they now?: Well, right off the bat, IMDb's list of roles that Feldman is best known for doesn't include anything after 1987, so... He was apparently not the voice of Donny in TMNT II, although he did reprise the role for TMNT III, which is really a shame because that movie was weird. He was a bank robber in "Maverick," a guy named Vic in 10 episodes of a show called "Dweebs" in 1995, and, uh, the next big role he got wasn't until 2004, when he was SPRX-77 in 52 episodes of "Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!" Wow, this guy is pathetic. It is of note, I suppose, that he returned to the turtle scene last year, providing the voice of Slash in the most recent "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" animated series. In other words, this guy hasn't done anything cool in the past quarter-century. Disappointing.

Name: Josh Pais
Role: Voice of Raphael
Where are they now?: Miraculously, it looks like Pais was able to break away from voice acting after leaving the soggy slums of his TMNT upbringing and star in some actual live-action roles. He showed up in a couple episodes of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" in the late '90s and would soon thereafter appear in an episode of "Sex and the City." He played a guy who probably got slashed to bits in "Scream 3" in 2000 and similarly probably got riddled with bullets when he spent a one-episode stint with "The Sopranos." He was an attorney in 16 episodes of "Law & Order" between 1990 and 2009 and has also been seen in six episodes of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" in the past 14 years. Currently, he can be seen as Stu Feldman on that "Ray Donovan" show that I keep seeing commercials for and still refusing to watch. As a side note, growing up as a big time "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" fan, Raphael was always my favorite, regardless of his "cool but rude" personality and his angsty moments in the 1990 film.

Name: Robbie Rist
Role: Voice of Michaelangelo
Where are they now?: Wow. You have GOT to check out this guy's IMDb picture. Haha. What is up with that?? This former child star (allegedly) scored the pizza-eating role of a lifetime when he was the voice of the sewer's resident party dude, Michaelangelo. After that, he was the voice of Star in 1995's animated rip-off of "Iron Will," "Balto," but then didn't really do a heck of a lot that I recognize until he provided the vocal stylings of a character on "Jackie Chan Adventures" in 2005. Admittedly, I never watched that show, either, but Jackie Chan is a famous guy, so Mr. Rist is successful by association. He looks like a pretty important character in the "Naruto" animated series, but I don't think my keyboard is properly equipped to type out that very foreign-looking name, so I won't try. He recently provided the voice for Stuffy on the popular children's program "Doc McStuffins." I have no idea who that is, but I bet my little nephews love him.

Name: Elias Koteas
Role: Wayne Gretzky Casey Jones
Where are they now?: Ok, I know I said Raphael was my favorite, but I freaking love Casey Jones. The dude was the original baller. Who in the world gets confused for the greatest hockey player of all time - while wearing regular clothes?! Casey Jones does, that's who. Koteas was in a bunch of junk (likely) that I've never heard of through the remainder of the 1990s, then he probably got blown to heck with Michelangelo on an episode of "The Sopranos." (Basically, I just assume that anybody who ever appeared on "The Sopranos" got whacked.) Other than that, it looks like he's been in a bunch of horror films ("Shutter Island" and "Zodiac," to name a couple) and he was also in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" in 2008. Most recently, you may (or may not) have seen him in 13 episodes of "Combat Hospital" and/or 12 episodes of "The Killing" and/or 16 episodes of "Chicago P.D." But, if nothing else, he was Casey Jones. And he broke April O'Neil's swing.

Name: James Saito
Role: Shredder/Oroko Saki
Where are they now?: Shredder was a freaky, freaky dude. He was a constant thorn in the sides of our heroes, plus, he had that horrendously scarred face and perfected the art of the hand-popping-out-of-the-rubble technique. But who was the man behind the mask? Why, James Saito, of course! Yes, that same James Saito who was Chinese Mob Boss in "Home Alone 3," Korean Proprietor in "Die Hard with a Vengeance" and Korean Man in an episode of "Sex and the City." Skipping through a bunch of other minor appearances, you may remember him as Dr. Frank Chen in 26 episodes of "Eli Stone" or Judge Lee in the TV series "One Life to Live." I got all excited when I saw that he was in "Life of Pi," but "Older Insurance Investigator" really doesn't ring any bells for me. That was all awfully generic and nationality-specific. Hmm. Surely I'll find somebody with an exciting, memorable role sooner or later, right??

Name: Kevin Clash
Role: Voice of Splinter
Where are they now?: THIS GUY IS THE VOICE OF ELMO! HE IS ALSO THE VOICE OF BABY SINCLAIR FROM THE "DINOSAURS" TV SHOW! "Not the mama!!" Oh my gosh, Splinter wins!!!!! (Note: I have been reminded by Andrea Chapman that Kevin Clash has been in the news lately for... less-than-ideal circumstances. Touche. But still, at least he went on to do something with his career!)

Deep breaths. In and out. I'm sorry. I just got so excited that I found a TMNT alumnus with a couple big roles that I actually recognized.

I'll do one more, just for the heck of it... because you are never going to guess a billion, trillion years, who walked away from 1990's cult classic "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"  as the biggest star with the most recognizable face. It was none other than...

Name: Sam Rockwell
Role: Head Thug
Where are they now?: Sam Rockwell, who I didn't have any idea was even in this movie in the first place, landed a breakout role as Guy Fleegman in the hilarious 1999 film "Galaxy Quest." If you haven't seen "Galaxy Quest," go see it. Right now. Go. Rockwell was Eric Knox in the big-screen adaptation of "Charlie's Angels" in 2000 and appeared as Zaphod Beeblebrox in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" in 2005. My fingers hurt after typing that last character's name. Rockwell has also picked up big roles in movies in the past decade, such as "Moon," "Frost/Nixon," "Iron Man 2" and "Cowboys & Aliens." And get this - he will star in the lead role of the rebooted horror classic "Poltergeist," which is currently in post-production and slated to be released in 2015.

So there you have it! Tell your friends you learned something new today. Who were your favorite characters from the original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"? Are you planning on seeing the Michael Bay reboot? Let us know by leaving a comment below. Now share this blog with your buddies and order yourself a pizza. Cowabunga, dudes!