Hal Smith

Harold John "Hal" Smith (August 24, 1916 - January 28, 1994) was an American character actor and voice-over artist.

Life and work

Smith was best known as Otis Campbell, the town drunk on The Andy Griffith Show and as the voice of the Disney cartoon character Goofy after Pinto Colvig died. He provided the voice of Owl in many of the Winnie the Pooh shorts and features. In the 1960s he provided the voices for many characters in Davey and Goliath. From 1960 to 1961 he was the voice of Elmer Fudd after Arthur Q. Bryan died. In 1983, he reprised his role as Owl and also voiced Winnie The Pooh in Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore. It was the first and only time he provided the voice of Pooh. In 1988's The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh TV series, Jim Cummings took over as Pooh while Smith again played Owl.

He did much work in Hanna-Barbera cartoons in the 1970s, and in the early 1960s, he voiced Taurus, the Scots-accented mechanic of the spaceship Starduster for the series Space Angel. In 1977, he was the voice of Grandpa Josiah in the cartoon TV special, Halloween is Grinch Night. For Disney's DuckTales he was the voice of Scrooge McDuck's rival Flintheart Glomgold and absent-minded scientist Gyro Gearloose.

From 1987 to 1994, he was the voice of John Avery Whittaker on the Focus on the Family radio drama Adventures in Odyssey.

He was born in Petoskey, Michigan. Smith spent a significant part of his early years in Massena, New York^[1]

He died in Woodland Hills, California of a heart attack, at age 77.

References

1. ^ [2004] (2004) in Michaud, John D. III: More than Otis: No Bull! A Salute to Hollywood Actor Hal J. Smith, 1st edition, Massena, New York: Stubbs Printing. 

External links

• Hal Smith at the Internet Movie Database
• Find-A-Grave profile for Hal Smith

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