Dick Beals

Richard Beals (March 16, 1927 – May 29, 2012) was an American actor and radio performer, who performed many voices in his career, which spanned the period from the early 1950s into the 21st century. Beals voiced "dozens of children, both male and female", according to Mark Evanier's obituary of him.

Perhaps his most recognizable characterization was the voice of the stop-motion animation figure called "Speedy Alka-Seltzer", featured in television commercials for more than 50 years.

Early life Beals was born in Detroit, Michigan, on March 16, 1927, and graduated in 1949 from Michigan State University (MSU), where he majored in radio broadcasting and puppetry.

Career In 1935, an old schoolmate of Beals' mother who was working for the Jam Handy studios, which was producing advertising motion pictures and other film short subjects, was looking for small children to appear in their feature films.

In 1952, after performing in an episode of The Green Hornet, WXYZ station manager Jack McCarthy referred Beals to Forrest Owen of Wade Advertising. Owen showed Beals a rendering of a proposed product spokesman for their client, Alka-Seltzer and had him record a voice audition. Four months later, Beals was notified that he had been selected as the voice for Speedy Alka-Seltzer as well as the voice of Sticky, the Vaseline mascot.

In 1952, Beals was hired to do the voice for Andy Panda and Oswald The Lucky Rabbit in the animated short Team Play produced by Walter Lantz for Autolite. The following year, Beals voiced Ralph Phillips, a Walter Mitty-type boy in From A to Z-Z-Z-Z by Warner Bros. Cartoons. The cartoon was nominated for an Academy Award.

Beals continued doing voices for Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films, often as uncredited secondary characters. When Hanna-Barbera started with The Flintstones, and then The Jetsons, Beals provided many of the children's voices on those shows, He did not do any voices for that series after 1965, when Norma MacMillan replaced him as Davey.

Although several sources say that Beals voiced Gumby in the 1960s series, Beals himself refuted this claim in a 2001 interview.

Beals provided voices for both the characters "Yank" and "Dan" of the "American Eagles" troupe in the mid-1960s cartoon series Roger Ramjet. In 1967, Beals was the singing voice of child actor Bobby Riha as "Jack" in the NBC-TV special Jack and the Beanstalk starring Gene Kelly. He was the voice of Buzz Conroy, the boy scientist on Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles, and Richie Rich's mischievous cousin, Reggie Van Dough on Richie Rich. Beals was also the voice of Birdboy on Birdman and the Galaxy Trio as well as the voices for Buzzer Bell, Jasper N. Parks and on rare occasions sharing the voice role of Nancy Wible as Shrinking Violette on The Funny Company. He also provided the voice for the recurring villain Tiny Tom in the 1966–1969 cartoon series The Lone Ranger. In 1968, he was the singing voice (for Teddy Eccles) in The Little Drummer Boy.

In 1955, Beals appeared in an episode of The Bob Cummings Show, where he played a convincing 10-year old brat.

In 1996, Beals provided the voice of the Pinocchio puppet in the horror film Pinocchio's Revenge.

Beals continued doing occasional voice acting, appearing as a guest at Old Time Radio conventions and as a motivational speaker. He was active as an alumnus of Michigan State University and in his spare time he enjoyed spending time on his yacht Think Big.

He retired from voice acting in late 2005, his final voice acting role was Baby-Faced Moonbeam in the animated television series Duck Dodgers.

Personal life Beals wrote in his autobiography, Think Big, that his high voice and boyish appearance were due to a glandular problem; he did not go through puberty (much like Walter Tetley, who had provided the voice for Sherman on The Bullwinkle Show). Beals was 4 foot 7 inches (just under 140 cm) tall and weighed just under 70 pounds (about 31 kg). Despite his short stature, he flew planes using modified controls.

Death Beals died on May 29, 2012, at Vista Gardens Memory Care in Vista, California, at the age of 85.

Filmography Film

Television

Radio

Commercials YearTitleRoleNotes 1953–1976 Alka-Seltzer Speedy Alka-Seltzer Voice