Dudley Do-Right is a fictional character created by Alex Anderson,

Chris Hayward Christopher Robert Hayward (June 19, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American television writer and producer. He was the co-creator, with Allan Burns, of the television shows ''The Munsters'' (1964) and ''My Mother the Car'' (1965), and the cr ...

Allan Burns Allan Pennington Burns (May 18, 1935January 30, 2021) was an American screenwriter and television producer. He was best known for co-creating and writing for the television sitcoms ''The Munsters'' and ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show''. Early life ...

Jay Ward Joseph Ward Cohen Jr. (September 20, 1920 – October 12, 1989), also known as Jay Ward, was an American creator and producer of animated TV cartoon shows. He produced animated series based on such characters as Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bul ...

, and Bill Scott, who appears as the main protagonist of "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties", a segment on ''

The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' (commonly referred to as simply ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'') is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the American Broadca ...

.'' The segment parodies early 20th-century

melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...

and

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

(the " Northern"), using only a

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

as a musical background. Dudley Do-Right's first appearance specifically incorporates silent film tropes such as

intertitles In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dialo ...

and iris shots, as well as incorporating a similar plot to 1921 silent film '' O'Malley of the Mounted'', starring

William S. Hart William Surrey Hart (December 6, 1864 – June 23, 1946) was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is remembered as a foremost Western star of the silent era who "imbued all of his characters with honor and integ ...

Overview

Dudley Do-Right is a dim-witted, but conscientious and cheerful Canadian Mountie who works for Inspector Fenwick. Do-Right is always trying to catch his nemesis,

Snidely Whiplash Snidely Whiplash is a fictional character who originally appeared as the main antagonist in the ''Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties'' segments of the animated television series ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show''. He is the archenemy of Dudley Do-Ri ...

, and rescue Inspector Fenwick's daughter,

damsel-in-distress The damsel in distress is a recurring narrative device in which one or more men must rescue a woman who has either been kidnapped or placed in general peril. Kinship, love, or lust (or a combination of those) gives the male protagonist the motiv ...

Nell Fenwick, with whom Do-Right is deeply infatuated. He usually succeeds only by pure luck or through the actions of his horse, named "Horse." A

running gag A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are not ...

throughout the series is Nell Fenwick's disinterest in Do-Right; instead, she appears to be infatuated with his horse. She is shown to kiss the horse rather than Do-Right, and when Do-Right leaves the Mounties she is only upset about the horse leaving. In Do-Right's first appearance, the narrator states,

Dudley loved Nell. Unfortunately, she loved his horse.

In the standard intro, Do-Right jumps on Horse and furiously rides him backwards as titles appear. While riding, he comes across Whiplash tying Nell Fenwick to a railroad track. He tips his hat to the two, before realizing what is going on and rights himself in time to save the day. Dudley Do-Right made a cameo in a "Rocky and Bullwinkle Fan Club" segment as the hero in "She Can't Pay the Rent", a play staged by

Boris Badenov Boris Badenov is an antagonist of the 1959–1964 animated cartoons ''Rocky and His Friends'' and ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, The Bullwinkle Show'', collectively referred to as ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show'' for short. He was originall ...

. Rocky and Bullwinkle also appeared as cameos in "Mountie Bear".

''The Dudley Do-Right Show''

''The Dudley Do-Right Show'' is an animated television series assembled by P.A.T. Film Services, consisting of cartoons produced by

Jay Ward Productions Jay Ward Productions, Inc. (sometimes shortened to Ward Productions) is an American animation studio based in Costa Mesa, California. It was founded in 1948 by American animator Jay Ward. The Jay Ward Productions library and rights were previou ...

and Total Television that aired Sunday mornings on

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Cali ...

(ABC) from April 27, 1969, to September 6, 1970. Each half-hour show included two segments each of "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties" and "

The World of Commander McBragg Commander McBragg is a cartoon character who appeared in short segments (usually 90 seconds) produced by Total Television Productions and animated by Gamma Productions. These segments first appeared in 1963 on the animated series ''Tennessee Tuxedo ...

", along with one segment each of "Tooter Turtle" and "The Hunter". ''Dudley Do-Right'' was a Jay Ward production, while the other segments were products of Total Television. Both companies used Gamma Productions, a Mexico-based animation studio. The U.S. syndicated version of ''The Dudley Do-Right Show'', called ''Dudley Do Right and Friends'', follows the same format but features different episodes. The syndicated package features "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties", "The World of Commander McBragg", "The King and Odie", and "The Hunter". The latter two originally appeared as part of ''

King Leonardo and His Short Subjects ''King Leonardo and His Short Subjects'' (also known as ''The King and Odie Show'') is a 1960–1963 American Saturday-morning animated television series that aired on NBC, sponsored by General Mills. It was created by Total Television (which wou ...

'', a series that aired between October 15, 1960, and September 28, 1963, on NBC-TV. Twenty-six new segments of both series were produced for CBS-TV's ''

Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales ''Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales'' is an animated television series that originally aired Saturday mornings on CBS from 1963 to 1966 as one of the earliest Saturday morning cartoons. It was produced by Total Television, the same company that pr ...

'' in 1963, and these later segments are included in the syndicated ''Dudley Do Right and Friends''. Actors (voice overs) included: * Bill Scott — Dudley Do-Right *

June Foray June Foray (born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American voice actress. She was best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer from Disney' ...

— Nell Fenwick *

Hans Conried Hans Georg Conried Jr. (April 15, 1917 – January 5, 1982) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for providing the voices of George Darling and Captain Hook in Walt Disney's ''Peter Pan'' (1953), Snidely Whiplash in Jay Ward's ''Dudle ...

— Snidely Whiplash *

Paul Frees Solomon Hersh "Paul" Frees (June 22, 1920November 2, 1986) was an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and vaudevillian. He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass, and Walt Disney theatrical cartoons during ...

— Inspector Fenwick/Narrator *

William Conrad William Conrad (born John William Cann Jr., September 27, 1920 – February 11, 1994) was an American actor, producer, and director whose entertainment career spanned five decades in radio, film, and television, peaking in popularity when he s ...

did several (but not all) of the narrations. *Evan Cox - cameo in ''The Actors Challenge''

Segments

Season 1

#The Disloyal Canadians #Stokey the Bear #Mortgagin' the Mountie Post #Trap Bait #The Masked Ginny Lynn

Season 2

#The Centaur #Railroad Tracks # Fireclosing Mortgages #Snidely Mounted Police #Mother Love #Mountie Bear #Inspector Dudley Do-Right #Recruiting Campaign #Out of Uniform #Lure of the Footlights #Bullet-Proof Suit # Miracle Drug # Elevenworth Prison #Saw Mill #Finding Gold #Mountie Without a Horse #Mother Whiplash's Log Jam #Stolen Art Masterpiece

Season 3

#Mechanical Dudley #Flicker Rock #Faithful Dog #Coming-Out Party #Robbing Banks #Skagway Dogsled-Pulling Contest #Canadian Railway's Bridge #Niagara Falls #Snidely's Vic Whiplash Gym #Marigolds #Trading Places

Season 4

#Top Secret #The Locket #The Inspector's Nephew #Matinee Idol #Snidely Arrested One segment originally seen on '' The Bullwinkle Show'', "Stokey the Bear", was withheld from all reissues of the series for several decades because the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

objected to the image of a bear that ''started'' forest fires, even though he had been hypnotized by Snidely to do so. The segment was released on home video by

Sony Wonder Sony Wonder (founded as Sony Kids’ Music) is the kids and family entertainment label of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and the former record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Despite the similarity in name, Sony Wonder is not direct ...

and

Classic Media Classic Media, LLC, doing business as DreamWorks Classics, is an American entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation, which is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures and a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was founded as Classic Media ...

in 2005.

Legacy

On May 28, 1999,

Universal's Islands of Adventure Universal's Islands of Adventure (also known as Islands of Adventure or IOA), originally called Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is th ...

opened Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls, a

log flume A log flume is a watertight flume constructed to transport lumber and logs down mountainous terrain using flowing water. Flumes replaced horse- or oxen-drawn carriages on dangerous mountain trails in the late 19th century. Logging operations pre ...

ride based on the cartoon segments. Guests enter a queue themed to resemble a theater, with Dudley, Nell, Snidely, and Horse presented as actors. Riders board cartoon logs and journey "into" the story, where Snidely has cruelly captured Nell Fenwick. Horse and Dudley make their first appearance in front of a

cyclorama A cyclorama is a panoramic image on the inside of a cylindrical platform, designed to give viewers standing in the middle of the cylinder a 360° view, and also a building designed to show a panoramic image. The intended effect is to make vie ...

backdrop, theatrically "charging" to the rescue. The ride system contains three drops, the last and steepest of which is seventy-five feet. It is a hybrid flume/coaster that utilizes steel track to not only shoot guest-filled logs down the final drop, but under the water's surface and over a bunny hill. The ride system was designed and built by Mack GmbH. On August 27, 1999,

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

released a comedy live-action film based on the character, titled ''Dudley Do-Right''. It starred

Brendan Fraser Brendan James Fraser ( ; born December 3, 1968) is an American-Canadian actor known for his leading roles in blockbusters, comedies, and dramatic films. Having graduated from the Cornish College of the Arts in 1990, he made his film debut in '' ...

Sarah Jessica Parker Sarah Jessica Parker (born March 25, 1965) is an American actress and television producer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including six Golden Globe Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 1 ...

, and

Alfred Molina Alfred Molina (born Alfredo Molina; 24 May 1953) is a British-American actor known for his work on the stage and screen. He first rose to prominence in the West End, earning a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Pla ...

. It received negative reviews and was a box-office failure, grossing less than $10 million domestically against a 22 million budget. In 2000, music historian

Irwin Chusid Irwin Chusid (born April 22, 1951 in Newark, New Jersey) is a journalist, music historian, radio personality, record producer, and self-described "landmark preservationist". His stated mission has been to "find things on the scrapheap of history t ...

claimed that scat singer

Shooby Taylor William "Shooby" Taylor (September 19, 1929 – June 4, 2003) was an American jazz vocalist famous for scat singing over various records, including those of the Ink Spots, the Harmonicats, Johnny Cash, Miles Davis, Mozart, and Cristy Lane, in a ...

's voice reminded him of Dudley Do-Right's "virile

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

." Premiering in 2013, the Canadian adult animated series ''

Fugget About It ''Fugget About It'' is a Canadian adult animated sitcom created by Nicholas Tabarrok and Willem Wennekers for Teletoon's late night block, Teletoon at Night. The show is rated 14A for sexuality, violence, and profanity, which makes it the first ...

'' features a dimwitted yet well-meaning Mountie character, Strait McCool. McCool exhibits similar appearance, voice acting, behavior, and personality to Do-Right (except for the addition of sexual and drug references). It may be inferred that the character of McCool is a parody of Do-Right.

References

External links

Dudley Do-Right
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on May 5, 2016. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dudley Do-Right Television characters introduced in 1961 1969 American television series debuts 1970 American television series endings 1960s American animated television series 1970s American animated television series 1960s American police comedy television series 1970s American police comedy television series American Broadcasting Company original programming American children's animated comedy television series Comedy film characters Fictional Canadian people Fictional Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers Jay Ward Productions Male characters in animation Rocky and Bullwinkle characters Television shows adapted into films General Mills