Chuck McCann

Charles John Thomas McCann (September 2, 1934 – April 8, 2018) was an American actor, comedian, puppeteer, commercial presenter and television host. His career spanned over 70 years. He was best known for his work in presenting children's television programming and animation, as well as his own program ''The Chuck McCann Show'' and he also recorded comedy parody style albums.

Career

Early life and career

McCann was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Valentine J. McCann (whose father had performed in '' Buffalo Bill’s Wild West'') and the former Viola Hennessy. McCann started doing radio voiceovers at the age of six. By the time he was 12 years old, he founded a fan club for Laurel and Hardy and did impressions of Oliver Hardy. He worked his way up to regional star status by apprenticing on a number of children's shows, such as ''Captain Kangaroo''. McCann got his big break performing on ''The Sandy Becker Show'' on WABD after the original host vacationed to South America. The best-selling '' The First Family'', an early 1960s LP record album which lampooned the newly elected United States President John F. Kennedy and his family, included McCann among its voices.

Variety shows and voice work

Until 1975, McCann hosted comedy/variety TV puppet shows in the New York area wit
Paul Ashley
featuring th
Paul Ashley Puppets
Together, they did ''The Puppet Hotel'' for WNTA-TV, Channel 13; then ''Laurel & Hardy & Chuck'', ''Let's Have Fun'', and ''The Chuck McCann Show'' for WPIX, Channel 11; and finally, ''The Chuck McCann Show'', ''The Great Bombo's Magic Cartoon Circus Lunchtime Show'', and ''Chuck McCann's Laurel and Hardy Show'' for WNEW-TV, Channel 5. In addition, Chuck was the comedy sidekick on WPIX's long-running rock music showcase, '' The Clay Cole Show''. During this time, McCann appeared at many New York area venues, including Palisades Amusement Park and Freedomland U.S.A., to meet and entertain children. At Freedomland, McCann hosted a yo-yo contest, filmed several Halloween specials, filmed a WPIX Freedomland special with other children's show hosts and appeared with Clay Cole at the park's Moon Bowl entertainment venue that featured celebrity singers and other performers. McCann's ties to Freedomland are featured in the book ''Freedomland U.S.A.: The Definitive History'' (Theme Park Press, 2019).

By the end of the 1960s, he had appeared in the 1968 film ''The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter'' and performed regularly on CBS's '' The Garry Moore Show''.

He began an animation acting career, doing everything from Bob Kane's '' Cool McCool'' to Sonny the Cuckoo Bird in commercials for General Mills. He had even been one of the stars of '' Turn-On'', producer George Schlatter's offshoot of ''Laugh-In''.

1970s television

In the 1970s, McCann's life and career shifted west, and he relocated to Los Angeles. He made frequent guest appearances on network television shows including ''Little House on the Prairie'', ''Bonanza'', ''Columbo'', '' The Rockford Files'' and '' The Bob Newhart Show''. He appeared in the 1973 television film '' The Girl Most Likely to...'' and was a regular on Norman Lear's '' All That Glitters''.

In addition, he co-starred with Bob Denver in CBS's Saturday-morning sitcom '' Far Out Space Nuts'', which he co-created. The 1970s also brought him fame in a long-running series of commercials for Right Guard antiperspirant: he was the enthusiastic neighbor with the catch phrase "Hi, guy!" who appeared on the other side of a shared medicine cabinet, opposite actor Bill Fiore.

McCann appeared as Wally Stone in the ''Starsky & Hutch'' season 2 episode "Murder on Stage 17", in which he played an ex-comedian turned murderer. In this episode, McCann's talent as an actor was spotlighted, and he was able to portray various characters throughout the episode.

McCann impersonated Oliver Hardy in commercials for various products (teaming with Jim MacGeorge as Stan Laurel), and for a few years, he played the holiday-season recurring role of Kris Kringle on the NBC soap opera '' Santa Barbara''. In 1965, he and John McCabe were two of the five founding members of the now worldwide society of The Sons of the Desert, an appreciation club for the works of Laurel and Hardy. He had a role in ''Kojak'' in 1974.

Film

After ''The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter'', McCann's motion picture career took a turn back into comedy with many supporting roles and a co-starring turn (with Tim Conway) in '' They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way'' (1978).

His most notable post-''Hunter'' films were '' The Projectionist'' (1971), '' Jennifer on My Mind'' (1971), '' Linda Lovelace for President'' (1975), '' Foul Play'' (1978), '' C.H.O.M.P.S.'' (1979), '' The Comeback Trail'' (1982), '' Hamburger: The Motion Picture'' (1986), '' Thrashin''' (1986) and ''Herbie Rides Again'' (1974), where he played Loostgarten, president of Loostgarten Wrecking Company.

McCann had a supporting role in the 1988 horror film '' Cameron's Closet'' as well as minor roles in the Mel Brooks films '' Robin Hood: Men in Tights'' (1993) and '' Dracula: Dead and Loving It'' (1995).

Return to roots

In 1980, McCann and Paul Ashley were reunited for a pair of TV show pilots: ''Tiny TV'', a satirical/variety puppet series aimed at adults for the cable market, and '' LBS Children's Theater'', a children's film anthology show where McCann and the Paul Ashley Puppets were to introduce reruns of primetime animated TV specials and theatrical cartoons from Europe. However, Paul Ashley was forced to leave the projects when he proved to be suffering from Alzheimer's disease. ''Tiny TV'' never reached fruition, but ''LBS Children's Theater'' was picked up for national syndication in 1983. McCann emceed the series alone because Ashley did not live long enough to see the show, having died on September 3, 1984.

In the 1980s, McCann reprised a number of his best sketches from his New York television days as interstitial material for a two-hour presentation of cartoons on KCOP-TV, Channel 13 in Los Angeles, assisted by Bob Ridgely. McCann also voiced characters for various projects by The Walt Disney Company, such as Dreamfinder in the theme park attraction Journey Into Imagination, and several characters including Duckworth, Burger Beagle and Bouncer Beagle in the 1987 animated series ''DuckTales''.

In 1989, McCann returned to daily children's television one more time with ''Chuck McCann's Funstuff,'' produced by fellow New York kid show legend Sonny Fox. ''Chuck McCann's Funstuff'' was seen weekday mornings on KHJ-TV from Monday, September 18, 1989, until Friday, October 13, 1989.

1990s

In the 1990s, McCann co-founded and participated in Yarmy's Army, a group of comedians and character actors of his generation who gathered regularly to cheer up Don Adams' brother Dick Yarmy, who was dying of cancer. A group with a massive array of comic talent, its members included Harvey Korman, Shelley Berman, Tim Conway, and many others.

After Yarmy's death, the group stayed together to cheer themselves up since increasing age and health problems made it increasingly more difficult for them to get steady work. In addition to having monthly dinners, they performed in various group-directed shows in select venues around the country.

McCann continued voice work for cartoons, playing Jollo, Bookworm, Bump-On-A-Log, and Woof in 1992's '' King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow''. One of his best-known voiceover roles was The Thing in the ''Fantastic Four'' and ''Hulk'' animated series, as well as the villain Blizzard in ''Iron Man''.

He also played Heff Heffalump in Disney's '' The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh''. He was also the voice of Leatherneck on the second season of '' G.I. Joe''. Throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium, he has been in commercials at Christmas time, he has played Santa Claus for one product or another—and TV/film gigs (''Sabrina, the Teenage Witch'').

2000s–2010s

In the 2000s, McCann appeared in ''They Call Him Sasquatch'' (2003) and ''Dorf da Bingo King'' (with his old pal, Tim Conway). He supplied voices for '' The Powerpuff Girls'' and '' Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas''. He moved into the field of video games, providing voices for '' True Crime: New York City''. He made an appearance in '' The Aristocrats'' (2005), with an animated rendition of a "clean" version of the "dirty" joke that serves as the film's subject.

In 2006–07 he made appearances on '' The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd'' as Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Floyd's father. He has also made multiple appearances as a judge on '' Boston Legal'', including the two-hour series finale in December 2008. In 2007, McCann played the villain Dalton Kern on the radio drama '' Adventures in Odyssey'' and also Navarro and Buck in '' Random! Cartoons''.

In 2013, McCann voiced Moseph "Moe" Mastro Giovanni on an episode of ''Adventure Time'', Mayor Grafton on '' The Garfield Show'', and reprised Duckworth, Bouncer Beagle and Burger Beagle in ''DuckTales Remastered''. In 2016, he reprised the role of the Amoeba Boys in the 2016 reboot of ''The Powerpuff Girls''. In 2017, McCann recorded a comedy podcast program, "Trump: The Last Family" with Kevin Sean Michaels, a modern send-up to the best-selling '' The First Family'' LP of the 1960s.

Personal life

McCann married Suzanne Conner in 1958 and had a son. They divorced in 1966 and he later married model Eileen Somerstrad and had 2 daughters. They divorced in 1977 and he married his agent Betty Fanning, whom he remained married to until his death. He was a close friend of Hugh Hefner and a regular at the Playboy Mansion.

Death

McCann died on April 8, 2018, of congestive heart failure, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was cremated and his remains are in Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

He is survived by his third wife, Betty Fanning; and by two daughters from his second marriage. His son from his first marriage, Sean, died in 2009.

Selected filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

External links

*
*
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Paul Ashley Puppets
* November 2006 interview o
The Zigory Show (SOLID VOX Network)
* Trump: The Last Family on Friend Or Fo
(Stitcher)

Chuck McCann profile
Aveleyman.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCann, Chuck
1934 births
2018 deaths
American male voice actors
American male radio actors
American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male television actors
American male child actors
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Male actors from Brooklyn
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors