Wayne Allwine

Wayne Anthony Allwine (February 7, 1947 – May 18, 2009) was an American voice actor, sound effects editor and foley artist for The Walt Disney Company. He is best remembered as the 3rd official voice of Mickey Mouse. He is the longest-tenured actor to voice the character, having held the role for 32 years. He was notably married to Russi Taylor, who voiced Minnie Mouse.

Early life

Allwine was born in Glendale, California, on February 7, 1947. He is a graduate of John Burroughs High School.

Career

In 1966, Allwine started work in the mailing room at the Disney studios, before working in the sound effects department under Jimmy MacDonald.

After auditioning for the role, Allwine became the voice of Mickey Mouse in 1977. He replaced Jimmy MacDonald, who in 1947 had taken over from Walt Disney himself, who had performed the role since 1928 as well as supplying Mickey's voice for animated portions of the original ''The Mickey Mouse Club'' television show (ABC-TV, 1955–1959).

Allwine's first appearance as Mickey was voicing the animated lead-ins for ''The New Mickey Mouse Club'' in 1977. His first appearance as Mickey for a theatrical release was in the 1983 featurette ''Mickey's Christmas Carol''. In the same film, he voiced a Santa Claus on the street appealing for charity donations at the start of the movie, Moley (who appears with Ratty) "collecting for the poor", and one of the two weasel undertakers in the Christmas future scene.

He also starred in films such as ''The Great Mouse Detective'' (1986), ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' (1988), ''The Prince and the Pauper'' (1990) and '' Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers'' (2004), and the TV series ''Mickey Mouse Works'' (1999–2000), ''Disney's House of Mouse'' (2001–2003), and ''Mickey Mouse Clubhouse'' (2006–2012). He has provided Mickey's voice in the popular ''Kingdom Hearts'' series of video games prior to '' Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep'', which was done in collaboration with Japanese video game company Square Enix. ''Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days'', which was the last game that used his voice (mainly with Mickey as a playable character in Mission Mode), would leave a message in his memory as the game was released in North America several months after his death.

In addition to his voice work, Allwine had also been a sound effects editor on Disney films and TV shows including ''Splash'' (1984) and ''Three Men and a Baby'' (1987); as well as ''Innerspace'' (1987), ''Alien Nation'' (1988), and '' Star Trek V: The Final Frontier'' for other studios.

He played rhythm guitar and briefly toured with the band Davie Allan & the Arrows, including on the 1967 single "Cycle-Delic". He was also an accomplished Dixieland jazz drummer, occasionally sitting in with Firehouse Five Plus Two alumni George Probert's ''Monrovia Old Style Jazz Band''.

Personal life

In 1991, he married Russi Taylor, who voiced Minnie Mouse from 1986 to 2019, and they were named Disney Legends in 2008; they remained married until his death in 2009. Allwine also has four children from previous marriages.

Death

Allwine died of hypertensive crisis caused by complications from acute diabetes at the age of 62 on May 18, 2009, at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. His prospective understudy, Bret Iwan, assumed the role of voicing Mickey Mouse.
His final performance was in the ''Mickey Mouse Clubhouse'' episode "The Golden Boo-Boo" (which premiered posthumously on September 28, 2012) and the English-language version of ''Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days'', which are dedicated to his memory, dying twelve days before the game's Japanese release, along with the ''Mickey Mouse Clubhouse'' television movie "Choo-Choo Express". In 2013, his voice was used in the English-language version of ''Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix'', and in 2014, his voice was again used in the English-language version of '' Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix'' via archive audio from his previous work in ''Kingdom Hearts'', ''Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories'' and ''Kingdom Hearts II''. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Theme parks

Crew work

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Allwine, Wayne
1947 births
2009 deaths
Male actors from Glendale, California
American male video game actors
American male voice actors
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Disney people
Male actors from Los Angeles
Primetime Emmy Award winners
Deaths from diabetes
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors