Lionel Wilson (voice actor)

As stage actor

Lionel Wilson's interest in acting on the stage began at an early age—his first professional stage performance was in 1936 at the age of twelve. A few years later he was selected for the 1942 Barter Theatre Scholarship, which included summer in a kind of boot camp for aspiring thespians.^[2] Over the course of his career he played in at least 25 professional stage productions, including four on Broadway:

• Dodsworth, as bellboy and as a lost boy. 1936.^[3]
• Macbeth, as a witch and as a messenger. 1940.^[4]
• The Merry Widow, as Nish. 1942, 1955, and 1958.^[5]
• Janie, as Scooper Nolan (replacement), and Deadpan Hackett (replacement). Broadway, 1943–44.^[6]
• The Male Animal, as Wally Meyers. 1944.^[7]
• Good Morning Corporal, as Alvin Stacey. Broadway, 1944.^[8]
• Kiss and Tell, as Dexter Franklin (replacement). Broadway, 1945–46.^[9]
• My Sister Eileen, as Frank Lippincott. 1945–46.^[10]
• Tenting Tonight, as Elliott Smollens. 1947.^[11]
• Joan of Lorraine, as one of Joan's brothers. 1947.^[12]
• John Loves Mary, as Fred Taylor. 1948.^[13]
• Waltz me Around Again, as Rick. 1948.^[14]
• The Intruder, as Tommy. 1952–53.^[15]
• High Button Shoes, as Mr. Pontdue. 1954.^[16]
• Fragile Fox, as Corporal Jackson. Broadway, 1954.^[17]
• Rio Rita, as Chick Bean. 1955.^[18]
• Wonderful Town, as Valenti. 1955.^[19]
• Harvey, as Elwood P. Dowd. 1956.^[20]
• Girl Crazy, as Slick Fothergill. 1956.^[21]
• Once in a Lifetime, as Rudolph Kammerling. 1964.^[22]
• How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, as Bud Frump. 1965–66 and 1968^[23]
• The Fantasticks, as Henry Albertson. 1967–1969.^[24]
• Sweet Charity, as Oscar Lindquist. 1968.^[25]
• Cactus Flower, as Harvey Greenfield. 1969.^[26]
• A Midsummer Night's Dream, as Francis Flute playing Thisbe. 1973.^[27]
• The Soldier's Tale, as the devil. 1984.^[28]

As TV actor

Although his primary interest continued to be the stage, the unpredictability of that line of work led him to also undertake supporting roles in several TV series. Since supporting roles are sometimes not credited, the following list is almost certainly not complete:^{[29][30][31] [32]}

• Martin Kane, Private Eye, unidentified episode, 1949. NBC TV.

• The Silver Theater, as a snooper in “Till Death Do Us Part”, 1949. CBS TV.

• Armstrong Circle Theater, as a clerk in “The Jackpot”, season 1, episode 2, 13 June 1950. NBC TV.

• The Magic Cottage, as Father Time, 28 December 1950 and an unidentified 1954 episode. Unfortunately, most episodes have apparently been lost, along with the credits. DuMont TV.

• The Aldrich Family, as George Bigelow, occasional unidentified episodes, 1952–53. NBC TV.

• Broadway Television Theatre, as Kiwi in The Hasty Heart, season 3 episode 4, November 1953; as Scooper in Janie, season 3 episode 5, November 1953; as Leo Davis in Room Service, season 3 episode 14, January 1954. WOR-TV (New York City).

• Valiant Lady, unidentified episodes, 1953–1957. CBS TV.

• The Ed Sullivan Show, scene from Fragile Fox, November 7, 1954. CBS TV.

• Search for Tomorrow unidentified episodes. CBS TV.

As voice actor

An early venture in voiceover performance was in 1950, in episode 2 of the NBC radio show Top Secret, “The Admiral's Strange Identity”, playing Admiral Strassner voicing Karen Gaza.^[33] To provide a more stable income he took on more voiceover work in the 1950s with television commercials.^[34] In 1957 Gene Deitch invited him to work at Terrytoons, voicing all the characters for the innovative cliffhanger cartoon series Tom Terrific,^[35][36][37] including Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog and memorable baddie Crabby Appleton. The series consisted of 26 storylines, each of which had five 5-minute episodes. While at Terrytoons he also voiced characters in the John Doormat series,^[38] A Bum Steer, the Clint Clobber Theatrical Series, Gaston le Crayon, and The Sidney the Elephant series of 19 episodes, one of which, Sidney's Family Tree, was nominated for an Academy Award as best short subject in 1959.^[39] In 1963, the Sidney the Elephant series was repeated on The Hector Heathcote Show.^[40] Starting in 1965 Wilson played Possible Possum, Macon Mouse, Owlawishus Owl and Billy Bear (pronounced "B'ar") and other minor characters in the Possible Possum series of 37 Terrytoons shorts. In 1966-67 he portrayed Rope Man, Cuckoo Man, and James Hound in the animated series of 20 seven-minute episodes of The Mighty Heroes, Ralph Bakshi's spoof of super avengers for Terrytoons.^[41]

In 1965 he voiced Jester, Minstrel, Royal Mathematician, and Royal Wizard in Many Moons, which was later used as one segment of Alice of Wonderland in Paris.^[42] In 1965–1970 he voiced Astronut in two episodes of The Astronut Show(1965–1970), Martian Moocher in one episode, and Cuckoo Man and Rope Man in one episode.^[43] In 1968 he dubbed Hannibal Mouse, Mayor, and Watchdog in The World of Hans Christian Andersen.^[44] In 1969 he provided all voices in the 52-episode revival of Winky Dink and You! ^[45] He was one of the voice performers in the Australian 1972 full-length cartoon Marco Polo Junior Versus the Red Dragon.^[46] In 1981 he dubbed the voice of Glikko in the English-language release of the Japanese anime Enchanted Journey.^[47] From 1983–1985 he was the narrator of Odd Card Out / Safari Solitaire and Mysteriosos / The Riddler in the six episodes of Braingames,^[48] and in 1984 he dubbed the voice of Jason Jetter in episodes 53-77 of Star Blazers, the English adaptation of the Japanese anime series Space Battleship Yamato. ^[49][50] In 1998 he voiced unidentified characters in the feature cartoon The Secret of Mulan.^[51]

In 1999, at the age of 75, Wilson landed the role of Eustace Bagge, the main antagonist on the Cartoon Network animated series Courage the Cowardly Dog,^[52] and he played the same role in the Cartoon Network's Staylongers series in the summer of 2000.^[53] Having completed 33 Courage episodes, in June 2002 Wilson retired because of illness and was replaced by Arthur Anderson^[54].

As audiobook narrator

In between his other activities, he narrated or helped narrate over 100 children's audiobooks.^[55]

As author

Wilson wrote a dozen books for children,^[56] the scripts for several of his audiobooks such as the Clifford series,^[57] and authored or co-authored the plays Pocket Full O'Rye (with Stanley Schacter),^[58] Simon Says (with Fred Ebb),^[59] Oh Where Have You Been, Billy Boy (with Lawrence N. Kasha),^[60] Come And Be Killed,^[61] and The Mischief on Merry Mountain.^[62]