Len Maxwell (8 August 1930 – 13 May 2008), born Lenny Maxwell, 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
announcer
An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event.
Television and other media
Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narration ...
.
Career
Prior to his career in voice-overs, Len was a stand-up comedian.
He appeared on
The Tonight Show
''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...
several times, a
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
special called, ''The Nut House'' and an
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
special called ''The Future Lies Ahead'' while also appearing in night clubs and theaters in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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and
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
with entertainers including
Frank Sinatra,
Peggy Lee,
Lena Horne,
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...
to name but a few. During this time, he dabbled in management, helping to launch
Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka (; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collabo ...
's solo career.
[Archived a]
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
At an engagement at New York's
Copacabana, a producer for an advertising agency approached Len and asked him if he would be willing to do some of the voices in his act on a series of commercials. Len agreed. Two weeks later, when he received a check for the few hours of what was an easy and enjoyable experience, Len was shocked at the large amount of the check. He called the advertising agency, saying there had to be some mistake. They said they would look into it. Two days later, a representative of the agency called back and apologized for the error and said they would send Len the rest. It was at that moment that Len decided to make voice-overs his career.
During Len's career in voice-overs, he recorded over 25,000 commercials, including the voice for "Punchy" the iconic
Hawaiian Punch
Hawaiian Punch is a brand of fruit punch currently manufactured by Keurig Dr Pepper, originally invented in 1934 by A.W. Leo, Tom Yeats, and Ralph Harrison as a topping for ice cream. It was started from an original syrup flavor called Leo's Hawa ...
mascot - plus dozens of animated cartoons, and voice-overs in motion pictures.
Len won the advertising industry's coveted CLIO award for best voice-over actor/announcer. He co-wrote and co-produced the short animated film ''The Crunch Bird'' in which he did all five voices. The film won the
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for best animated short. He also directed the sound track for the film. He also provided several voices for the 1970
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
animated special, ''
The Night the Animals Talked''.
He supplied the voices of Karate and The Chief in the children's
cartoon series
An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have either ...
''
Batfink
''Batfink'' is an American animated television series, consisting of five-minute shorts, that first aired in April 1966.David Mackay published a filmography of Batfink in the Sept. 1993 issues oFarmes per Second magazine, and also provided a comp ...
'', and the
judge in the animated feature ''
Hugo the Hippo
Hugo or HUGO may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese
* Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback
* Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on ...
''.
Len wrote some comedy with
Woody Allen
Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...
. He appeared with Allen on screen in Allen ’s ''
What's Up Tiger Lily'', and did the voices of most of the main characters in that film. Voice-overs in Allen’s ''
Take the Money and Run
''Take the Money and Run'' is a 1969 American mockumentary comedy film directed by Woody Allen. Allen co-wrote the screenplay with Mickey Rose and stars alongside Janet Margolin. The film chronicles the life of Virgil Starkwell, an inept bank ro ...
'' and ''
Sleeper'' followed. He and Allen remained friends until his death.
He was also the voice of the color analyst
Nick Diamond in the
MTV animated series ''
Celebrity Deathmatch
''Celebrity Deathmatch'' is an adult stop-motion claymated series created by Eric Fogel and produced by John Worth Lynn Jr. for MTV. A parody of sports entertainment programs, ''Celebrity Deathmatch'' depicted various celebrities engaging in ...
'' from 1998-2002. He was credited in most episodes as Barry Manos.
In 1964, Maxwell released the Christmas/Monster-themed LP, "A Merry Monster Christmas". This album entertained families for decades with its head-on collision of classic movie monsters with traditional Christmas observances. The album became difficult to find until Maxwell updated and re-released it on CD in 2005.
He was the voice of The Story Teller on the Verve comedy LP "The New First Family 1968," using a voice very similar to the one he used for the series of Kix cereal commercials featuring various monsters (Gzork, Zilch, Cologne, etc).
Death
Len Maxwell died on May 13, 2008 in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. His birthplace was
Inglewood, California. He had been in bad health for a long time and had been hospitalized since December 2007.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maxwell, Len
1930 births
2008 deaths
American male voice actors
Actors from Inglewood, California
Comedians from California
American stand-up comedians
American comedy writers