Vance DeBar "Pinto" Colvig (September 11, 1892 – October 3, 1967) was a American vaudeville, actor, radio actor, newspaper cartoonist, prolific movie, voice actor, circus performer whose schtick was playing clarinet off-key while mugging.
Personal life[]
Colvig was born Vance DeBar Colvig in Jacksonville, Oregon, the son of William M. and Adelaide Birdseye Colvig. He graduated from Oregon State University in 1911 at age 18. A lifelong smoker, Colvig was one of the pioneers in advocating warning labels about cancer risk on cigarette packages in the United States. He was also the father of the late actor Vance Colvig who died on March 3, 1991.
Career[]
Colvig is probably best known as the voice of Disney's Goofy and the original Bozo the Clown, a part he played for a full decade beginning in 1946. He is also the second known voice of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Other notable characters he voiced include Practical Pig, the pig who built the "house of bricks" in the Disney short Three Little Pigs, as well as both Sleepy and Grumpy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and the barks for Pluto the dog. Colvig worked for not only the Disney studio, but also the Warner Bros. animation studio, Fleischer Studios (Bluto, Gabby), and MGM, where he voiced a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz and starred in many MGM cartoons. He helped in the Looney Tunes 1942 cartoon, Conrad the Sailor.
Colvig first joined the Walter Lantz Studio in 1928 during it's establishment, where he created the character Bolivar, the Talking Ostrich. Eventually, Colvig was hired as an animator, story writer and voice actor at the studio who animated many of the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons after his boss, Walter Lantz gained the rights to the character.
In 1941, Colvig returned to Walter Lantz Productions, where he occasionally provided vocal sound effects for various characters in cartoons including Wild and Woody!, and Drooler's Delight. However, he was forced to leave the studio during the 1948 lay-off and did not return to Walter Lantz Productions full time when the studio reopened in 1950.
Death[]
Colvig died of lung cancer on October 3, 1967, in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, at age 75. He was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.
Filmography[]
- Blue Notes (1928) - Bolivar the Talking Ostrich
- Hells Heels (1930) - Singing Skull, Walrus Conductor
- My Pal Paul (1930) - Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (one line)
- Not So Quiet (1930) - Private McGoofus, Private Gensburg
- Spooks (1930) - Hippo
- Cold Feet (1930) - Goat, Bull, Peak
- Henpecked (1930) - Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
- The Singing Sap (1930) - Hippo, Hiccups
- The Fowl Ball (1930) - Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
- The Navy (1930) - Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (singing)
- Mexico (1930) - Pete (laughing)
- Africa (1930) - Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, King
- Alaska (1930) - Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Pete, Walrus, Deadpan Singer
- Mars (1930) - Pete, Martian Creature
- The Farmer (1931) - Dance Caller
- The Bandmaster (1931) - Baby Hippo (some laughs)
- Northwoods (1931) - Pete (first male voice)
- Radio Rhythm (1931) - Horse, Radio Tube
- The Hunter (1931) - Dog, Fox
- Soup to Mutts (1939) - Dogs
- Man's Best Friend (1941) - Hunter, Snoozer
- Pass the Biscuits Mirandy! (1943) - Singing Barton, Foy #2, Foy with Hot Foot
- Wild and Woody! (1948) - Wheezy Sheriff, Wild Bill Hiccup, Devil, Vocal effects
- Drooler's Delight (1949) - Radio Hiccups