RIP Alan Young ( 1919-2016)

Alan Young ,the voice of Disney’s tycoon gazillionaire Scrooge McDuck, has died last night of natural causes at the age of 96.

While we all know him in that role, he has had quite a long career from having his own comedy radio series on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) early in his career. In 1944, he moved to American radio with The Alan Young Show, NBC’s summer replacement for Eddie Cantor’s show. He switched to ABC two years later, then returned to NBC before its cancellation.

He was quite a fan of H.G. Wells work as he appeared in the 1960 version of Time Machine and appeared in a small role in the 2002 “Time Machine” remake starring Guy Pearce and directed by Simon Wells, a direct descendant of H.G. Wells.

But his big breakout role was starring in the 1960s television series Mr. Ed as the reluctant owner of the titular talking horse. In the late 1960s, after the cancellation of Mr. Ed,  he retired from acting for several years until a certain duck popped in his life.

In 1973, he wrote and pitched a Mickey Mouse version of the famous novel A Christmas Carol  to Disneyland Records , it featured such characters as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck , Merlin, the Wicked Witch , Willie , Foulfellow , Gideon and of course Scrooge McDuck as the titular role.

A Scottish accent was one of Young’s special talents since his radio days as he decided to used it for the Scrooge role as the previous two actors for the tycoon used such an accent in records ( Dallas McKneown) and 1967’s Scrooge McDuck and Money (Bill Thompson).

The only time he didn’t reprise the role was in the 1986  Disney special Sport Goofy in Soccer Mania. Young was confused when he first watched the special and called Disney wondering why he wasn’t asked to resume the role. He was then casted in Duck Tales as an apology.

While he mainly voiced Scrooge McDuck for Disney, he also played Mr.Flaversham in the 1986 film The Great Mouse Detective. He was also known in the animation world as Farmer Smurf on The Smurfs, 7-Zark-7 and Keyop in Battle of the Planets. He also guest starred on The Incredible Hulk, The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show , The Ren and Stimpy Show and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.

His last work as Scrooge McDuck was for two cameos in the 2013 Mickey Mouse series of shorts in the episodes Goofy’s First Love ( January 10 2015) and No ( January 9 2016). He also voiced him in the 2013 video games Duck Tales Remastered and  Duck Tales: Scrooge’s Loot.

.      You were smarter than the smarties and tougher than the toughies, Mr.Young

Alan Young 1919-2016