Yakky Doodle

Reason #347 that I love my life: I just had an voiceover audition with an actor named Jimmy Weldon. Jimmy's from Dale, Texas, and has done a great many roles —and he’s been on shows like “Dallas,” “The Waltons,” and in the 50s, he worked on “Dragnet” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.”

I didn’t know any of that—never heard of the guy. We just read this script, which called for a real authentic feller from a 1940s or 50s western. He nailed it.

In the script, I believe he was rasslin’ a varmint.

Doesn’t matter. Anyway, I told him what a great read he’d done. Somebody mentioned that he was "the famous Jimmy Weldon," and he broke into the voice that he’s probably best known for—Yakky Doodle, a little duck who used to appear with his pal, a big dog named Chopper, in their cartoons on “The Yogi Bear Show.” He still does the voice perfectly all these years later. After the audition, I told him, “It’s pretty remarkable to meet someone who’s been making you happy since before you could even thing straight.” We hugged.

He’s a joyful guy, and you gotta love the duck!