Almy Purves "Purv" Pullen (February 2, 1909 – October 18, 1992), later known by the stage name Dr. Horatio Q. Birdbath (or simply Dr. Birdbath), 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 ...

. He was known for mimicking the sounds of animals and birds.

Early life

Pullen was born on February 2, 1909, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Growing up on a farm, he began imitating bird-calls. He incorporated bird-calls into his first job as a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

, and at other radio stations.

Career

Pullen began performing as a voice actor in films in the 1930s. He was the voice of Cheetah in

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

films and produced the bird sounds in

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...

'' (1937). Pullen's vocal contributions appear in many cartoons featuring Mickey Mouse, Betty Boop, and

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cine ...

's 1935 film ''

The Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

'', and the squawks and jungle sounds for

Martin Denny Martin Denny (April 10, 1911 – March 2, 2005) was an American pianist and composer best known as the "father of exotica." In a long career that saw him performing up to 3 weeks prior to his death, he toured the world popularizing his brand of l ...

's 1951 pop instrumental "

Quiet Village "Quiet Village" is an orchestral pop instrumental that was written and originally performed by Les Baxter in 1951 and an instrumental album from 1959 by Martin Denny. In the liner notes to his album, '' Ritual of the Savage (Le sacre du sauvage)' ...

". In 1945, Pullen began a collaboration with

Spike Jones Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader specializing in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with gun ...

, providing sound effects and other comic gimmicks on many of the classic Jones recordings. Jones gave Pullen the stage name "Dr. Horatio Q. Birdbath." Pullen was the voice of Pierre the Parrot in

Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room is an attraction located in Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort and in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, and previously in Tokyo Disneyland at Tokyo Disney Resort. First opened on June 23, 1963 at the Disneyl ...

Disneyland Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...

and

Disneyworld The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, t ...

. He was also heard in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

as the voice of Roscoe the Dog on the

Dr. Don Rose Don Rose (born Donald Duane Rosenberg; July 5, 1934 – March 30, 2005), also known as "Dr. Donald D. Rose" or just "Dr. Don," was an American radio personality on KFRC AM 610 in San Francisco, California from October 1973 to 1986. Prior to joi ...

show on KFRC. Pullen also appeared in nightclubs as a

ventriloquist Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is ve ...

with a dummy named Johnny. He appeared on a 1958 episode of ''

What's My Line? ''What's My Line?'' is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panelis ...

'' as the mystery guest.

Personal life

Pullen was a longtime resident of

Vacaville, California Vacaville is a city located in Solano County in Northern California. Sitting approximately from Sacramento and from San Francisco, it is within the Sacramento Valley. As of the 2020 census, Vacaville had a population of 102,386, making it t ...

, where he performed puppet shows at the Nut Tree in the 1970s and 1980s and where he appeared with "Roscoe the Dog," a supposedly invisible dog puppeted by means of a stiffened dog leash.

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pullen, Purv 1909 births 1992 deaths American male voice actors Animal impersonators Male actors from Philadelphia People from Vacaville, California