Dick Beals Dead, Voice of Gumby Dies at 85
Dick Beals, the voice of the animated characters Gumby and Speedy Alka-Seltzer, died on Tuesday at 85 years old.
The radio and television voice-over star's death was reported by his friend Peter Gorman, who told the Los Angeles Times that Beals died in the San Diego community of Vista.
Beals did the voice for the character known as Gumby in the late 1950s in the animated series "The Gumby Show."
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He also lent his voice to over 3,000 commercials during his life as a pitchman for companies such as Oscar Mayer and Campbell's Soup.
He was frequently hired as a voice actor due to his ability to sound like a child. Beals voice was perfect for these types of roles since it had not changed since he was in elementary school. This was because he suffered from a glandular condition that prevented his voice from maturing.
His condition not only affected his voice, but stunted his growth as well making him stand just 4-feet-6-inches tall, weighing 70 pounds for most of his life.
Beals got his start in voice-acting during the 1940s in radio shows such as "The Lone Ranger," "The Green Hornet," and "Dragnet." Aside from "The Gumby Show," Beals also was the voice for Davey in another stop-motion animation show, "Davey and Goliath."
Ron Simons, curator of TV and Radio at the Paley Center for Media in L.A., called Beals one of the greatest voice actors of all time in a statement he made to the Los Angeles Times.
"He was one of those anonymous people who pioneered what animation would become today," said Simon to the newspaper.
Beals had no immediate survivors and his cause of death has not yet been reported.
