Elmer "Len" Dresslar Jr. (March 25, 1925 – October 16, 2005) was an American

voice actor Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

and

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

. He is best known as the deep

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

voice of the Jolly Green Giant in commercials for

General Mills General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...

Early life

He served as a gunner's mate in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. After serving in the navy, he moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to study voice. While there, he gradually built up a reputation both in

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

circles (as a member of The Singers Unlimited, he recorded 15 albums) and as a voice actor. He recorded jingles and other spots for many well-known brands including

Amoco Amoco () is a brand of fuel stations operating in the United States, and owned by BP since 1998. The Amoco Corporation was an American chemical and oil company, founded by Standard Oil Company in 1889 around a refinery in Whiting, Indiana, a ...

, Dinty Moore, Marlboro, and

Rice Krispies Rice Krispies (known as Rice Bubbles in Australia and New Zealand) is a breakfast cereal, marketed by Kellogg's in 1927 and released to the public in 1928. Rice Krispies are made of crisped rice (rice and sugar paste that is formed into rice ...

cereal.

Career

Len Dresslar charted the hits "Chain Gang" (not to be confused with the Sam Cooke song) and "These Hands" on Mercury 70774. Prior to his 1970s stand in the Singers Unlimited, he was a member of

the J's with Jamie The J's with Jamie was an American musical group specializing in commercial jingles in the 1950s and 1960s. The group's core members were Jamie and Joe Silvia, a married couple who played with a number of session musicians and other singers. The ...

Personal life

After retiring from advertising, he moved to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

in 2005.

References

* 1925 births 2005 deaths People from St. Francis, Kansas United States Navy sailors Singers from Chicago American male voice actors American jazz singers Deaths from cancer in California 20th-century American singers Jazz musicians from Illinois {{US-jazz-singer-stub