John Donald Wilson (June 5, 1904 – January 26, 1984) was a radio and film writer, producer, and voice actor, born in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

. He created the title character in the radio series ''

The Whistler ''The Whistler'' is an American radio mystery drama which ran from May 16, 1942, until September 22, 1955, on the west-coast regional CBS radio network. The show was also broadcast in Chicago and over Armed Forces Radio. On the west coast, it w ...

'', a show that he wrote. His other radio writing, producing, and directing work included ''

The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe ''The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe'' is a 1950–51 American radio drama series starring Sydney Greenstreet as Rex Stout's fictional armchair detective Nero Wolfe. Based on Stout's principal characters but not his stories, the series aired Octobe ...

'', '' The Adventures of Bill Lance'', and '' Dark Venture.'' He did voice work in radio in the 1930s. He voiced

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

in select 1938 broadcasts of ''

The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air ''The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air'' was a 1938 musical-variety radio series for children, sponsored by Pepsodent and heard on NBC on Sunday afternoons, featuring Mickey Mouse and other characters from Walt Disney cartoons. There were a total o ...

'' as well as other characters in Disney productions such as '' The Reluctant Dragon''. He was the announcer on ''

Strange As It Seems ''Strange as It Seems'' appeared as a syndicated cartoon feature published from 1928 to 1970, and became a familiar brand to millions around the globe for its comic strips, books, radio shows and film shorts. Created by John Hix, ''Strange as It S ...

'' and ''

Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan was conceived as an alter ...

''. After more than a decade of acting on radio, he became production head of ABC and later was promoted to vice president. In 1952, Wilson produced ''Mystery Theater'', a Friday night television program in Los Angeles. In the era of live TV, when holding TV programs to their intended durations was a problem, Wilson was noted for keeping ''Mystery Theater'' on time by using techniques that he had practiced with radio programs. Reading scripts aloud ahead of time and marking where optional cuts could be made provided the ability to adapt if a program began to run long. He was known for his work on films such as ''

'' and '' Key Witness''. He inverted his first and middle names so as not to be confused with Don Wilson, the announcer on ''

The Jack Benny Program ''The Jack Benny Program'', starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th century American comedy. He played one role throughout his radio and televis ...

''. In 1938, it was announced that he had adopted the name Norman Wilson, but at some point he went back to J. Donald Wilson. He was married to Loraine Wilson, who sued him for divorce in 1948 over numerous affairs, including one with his secretary Tania Karl. Wilson was later married to

Christine McIntyre Christine Cecilia McIntyre (April 16, 1911 – July 8, 1984) was an American actress and singer who appeared in various films in the 1930s and 1940s. She is mainly remembered as the beautiful blonde actress who appeared in many of The Three St ...

. He reportedly suffered a

nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

in 1946, but was soon back at work. He died in 1984.

Filmography

References

External links

*
J. Donald Wilson
on

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J. Donald Wilson
on the RadioGOLDINdex 1904 births 1984 deaths American radio producers American radio writers Disney people Writers from Kansas City, Missouri {{US-radio-bio-stub