Foray into England
In May 1988 legendary voice actress June Foray made a visit to London, when the National Film Theatre brought her over to introduce a selection of cartoons in their season of animation production Behind The Lines. Here’s how her seminar was described on page 36 of the May 1988 NFT booklet:
CARTOON VOICING
Sun May 22 4.00
June Foray in Person
June Foray is Tweety Pie’s granny, she’s Witch Hazel, she’s Rocky in Rocky and Bullwinkle, she’s voiced such well-known features as Cinderella, Peter Pan and The Phantom Tollbooth and she’s now a mainstay of TV animation, starring in the Smurfs, Gummi Bears and Teen Wolf series. Ms Foray will introduce a short programme of her starring roles, from the Chuck Jones classic, Broomstick Bunny, to the brand new Freckle Juice (based on Judy Blume), demonstrate the art of cartoon voicing and answer children’s questions (and challenges!)
In addition to this event, June Foray was also celebrated during this season with a screening of Cinderella, double-billed with an episode of The Cartoon Adventures of Teenwolf, on Sunday the 1st and Monday the 2nd of May; The Phantom Tollbooth, shown with the 1959 Bugs Bunny/Witch Hazel cartoon A Witch’s Tangled Hair, on Sunday the 8th of May; and Peter Pan, showing with the 1952 Disney cartoon Trick Or Treat, on Saturday the 14th and Sunday the 15th of May.
While June Foray was in the country, the British Film institute decided to take advantage of this opportunity by offering her out to other institutions for interviews. It’s not known if anyone took them up on this offer, but here is the press release the BFI sent out.
NFT PRESS RELEASE
Press and Promotions Susan Santini 928 4114 + 928 3535 ext 413/4/5
Press notice Release immediate 11 April 1988
JUNE FORAY
Here is the voice that launched a thousand characters. As legendary as the animation producers she has worked with (including Walt Disney and Chuck Jones). June Foray was working on stage, TV and film when Capitol Records put her under contract to do comedy records. Disney soon signed her to voice characters in their films (including Cinderella and Peter Pan). Warner Bros also discovered her talents, and she began working in dozens of their shorts (most notably, Tweety Pie’s Granny and Witch Hazel).
June Foray has done hundreds of voices for TV animation (Jokey Smurf, Grammi Gummi, Grandma Howard in ‘Teen Wolf’, Magica De spell and Ma Beagle in Disney’s ‘Duck Tales’, Rocky and Flying Squirrel [sic]). She has also written, produced and narrated her own animated short film, ‘You Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks’. June is on various boards, including serving her fifth term of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
TV shows (such as Entertainment Tonight, Hollywood Close-Up) have done on-camera profiles of her in regards to her popularity as Rocky (in The Rocky and Bullwinkle shows). In addition, Foray has been invited to speak all over the world; from Russia to France, Yugoslavia, Japan, England and across the map of North America.
June Foray is available for interview during her stay in Britain. Because of her fame as voice actress and her long standing love for the art form, she will certainly delight adults and children alike.
Demo tape, stills and further information are available on request.
June Foray’s NFT event was audio-recorded, and a tape is available for listening in the BFI Library. Oh, and has anyone ever seen You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks?
