Billy Bletcher

The diminutive (5feet 2inches/1.57 meters) Bletcher appeared on-screen in films and later television from the 1910s to the 1970s, including appearances in severalOur GangandThree Stoogescomedies.Bletcher was also famous as a voice actor. Uncharacteristically for someone of his size, his voice was a deep and strong-soundingbaritone. He provided the voices of various characters forDisney(Black Peteand theBig Bad WolfinThree Little Pigsand its spin-offs),MGM(Spike the Bulldogand in some occasions even Tom, inTom and Jerry), andWarner Bros.(many characters, most notably the Papa Bear ofChuck Jones'The Three BearsafterMel Blanchad performed the role in the initial entry). He appeared opposite Blanc inLittle Red Riding Rabbit, where he played another famous wolf. Bletcher's booming voice can also be heard as "Dom Del Oro" the Yacqi Indian god in the 1939 Republic serial,Zorro's Fighting Legion. He also voiced Owl Jolson's disciplinarian violinist father in the 1936short subjectbased on the songI Love to Singaand the menacingspiderinBingo Crosbyana. Both he and Mel Blanc did voice acting in the 1944Private SnafuWWII training film "Gas", where Bletcher plays the villainous Gas Cloud (with Mel Blanc voicing Private Snafu and acameoof Bugs Bunny) as an opponent of Snafu. Bletcher also played The Captain inCaptain and the Kidswith MGM cartoons.