# Wayne Allwine

Wayne Anthony Allwine (February 7, 1947 – May 18, 2009) was an American voice actor, sound effects editor and foley artist. He was best remembered as the third official voice of Mickey Mouse in English (following Walt Disney and Jimmy MacDonald) and the first official casting following the establishment of Disney Character Voices International in 1988. To date, he holds the record for the longest-running voice actor to play Mickey Mouse, having performed the role for 32 years. He was notably married to Russi Taylor, who voiced Minnie Mouse.

## Early life

Wayne Anthony Allwine was born in Glendale, California, on February 7, 1947. He is a graduate of John Burroughs High School, where he was particularly active in the school's musical theater department. His father was a barbershop quartet singer.
While in high school, he formed his own acoustic music group, The International Singers, which performed in clubs and colleges throughout the state. After graduating, he briefly toured with the instrumental rock band Davie Allan & the Arrows. In addition to playing rhythm guitar, he can also be heard on harmonica and sax mouthpiece on the 1968 track "Cycle-Delic". He later became an accomplished Dixieland jazz drummer, occasionally sitting in with Firehouse Five Plus Two alumni George Probert's Monrovia Old Style Jazz Band.

## Career

In 1966, Allwine started work in the mailing room at the Disney studios, before working in the sound effects department with Jimmy MacDonald.
After working in the sound effects department for seven years, Allwine got a call from Disney for an open audition for the role of Mickey Mouse in late 1976, after a previous actor failed to show up. Upon auditioning for the role, Allwine became the third official 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), 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 spent much of his career as a sound effects editor and foley artist for Disney films and TV shows, including Splash (1984), Three Men and a Baby (1987); as well as Innerspace (1987), Alien Nation (1988), and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier for other studios. In 1986, he was awarded a group Primetime Emmy Award for his sound editing contributions to Steven Spielberg's anthology television series Amazing Stories.

## 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 up until his death in 2009. Allwine fathered three biological children and one adopted child from previous marriages.

## Death

Allwine died of complications of 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. Allwine is now interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1983 | Mickey's Christmas Carol | Mickey Mouse/Weasel Gravedigger/Beggar Dog | Short film |
| 1985 | The Black Cauldron | Henchman | |
| 1986 | The Great Mouse Detective | Thug Guard #2 | |
| 1988 | Who Framed Roger Rabbit | Mickey Mouse | |
| 1990 | The Prince and the Pauper | Mickey Mouse/Prince | Short film |
| 1995 | A Goofy Movie | Mickey Mouse | Cameo |
| 1995 | Runaway Brain | Mickey Mouse | Short film |
| 1998 | The Spirit of Mickey | Mickey Mouse | Direct-to-video |
| 1999 | Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas | Mickey Mouse | Direct-to-video |
| 1999 | Fantasia 2000 | Mickey Mouse | Segment: "Pomp and Circumstance" |
| 2001 | Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse | Mickey Mouse | Direct-to-video |
| 2002 | Mickey's House of Villains | Mickey Mouse | Direct-to-video |
| 2004 | Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers | Mickey Mouse | Direct-to-video |
| 2004 | Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas | Mickey Mouse | Direct-to-video |
| 2007 | Mickey's Great Clubhouse Hunt | Mickey Mouse | Special |
| 2009 | Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Choo Choo Express | Mickey Mouse | Special; posthumous release, "In Loving Memory of" dedication |
| 2009 | Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey's Adventures in Wonderland | Mickey Mouse | Special; posthumous release |
| 2010 | Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Road Rally | Mickey Mouse | Television film; posthumous release |
| 2011 | Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Space Adventure | Mickey Mouse | Final television film; posthumous release |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1977–1979 | The New Mickey Mouse Club | Mickey Mouse | 11 episodes |
| 1983 | Mousercise | Mickey Mouse | |
| 1985 | Ludwig's Think Tank | Ludwig Von Drake | Television special |
| 1987 | D-TV Doggone Valentine | Mickey Mouse | Television film |
| 1987 | D-TV Monster Hits | Mickey Mouse | Television film |
| 1988 | Totally Minnie | Mickey Mouse | Television film |
| 1988 | Mickey's 60th Birthday | Mickey Mouse | Television film |
| 1988 | Here's to you, Mickey Mouse | Mickey Mouse | Television film |
| 1989 | Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color | Mickey Mouse | 2 episodes |
| 1990 | The Muppets at Walt Disney World | Mickey Mouse | Television film |
| 1990 | Disney Sing-Along Songs: Disneyland Fun | Mickey Mouse | Direct-to-video |
| 1992 | Mickey's Nutcracker | Mickey Mouse | Uncredited Television special |
| 1993 | Bonkers | Mickey Mouse | Episode: "I Oughta Be in Toons" |
| 1994–1995 | Mickey's Fun Songs series | Mickey Mouse | |
| 1995 | Mickey: Reelin' Through the Years | Mickey Mouse | Television film |
| 1999–2000 | Mickey Mouse Works | Mickey Mouse | 30 episodes |
| 2001–2003 | House of Mouse | Mickey Mouse | 52 episodes |
| 2006–2012 | Mickey Mouse Clubhouse | Mickey Mouse | 100 episodes |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1998 | My Disney Kitchen | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2000 | Mickey's Speedway USA | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2000 | Mickey Mouse Preschool | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2000 | Mickey Mouse Kindergarten | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2000 | Mickey Mouse Toddler | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2001 | Disney Learning: Phonics Quest | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2002 | Disney Learning Adventure: Search for the Secret Keys | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2002 | Kingdom Hearts | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2002 | Disney's Magical Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2002 | Disney Golf | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2002 | Disney Sports Soccer | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2002 | Disney Sports Skateboarding | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2002 | Disney Sports Football | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2002 | Disney Sports Basketball | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2003 | Disney's Party | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2003 | Disney's Hide and Sneak | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2003 | Toontown Online | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2006 | Kingdom Hearts II | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2008 | Disney Think Fast | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2008 | Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2009 | Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days | Mickey Mouse | |
| 2013 | Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix | Mickey Mouse | (Kingdom Hearts Final Mix and RE:CoM) |
| 2014 | Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix | Mickey Mouse | (Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix) |
| 2017 | Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix | Mickey Mouse | (Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, RE:CoM and Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix) |

### Theme parks

| Year | Title | Role |
| 1991 | Muppet*Vision 3D | Waldo C. Graphic posing as Mickey Mouse |
| 1992 | Fantasmic! | Mickey Mouse |
| 2003 | Mickey's PhilharMagic | Mickey Mouse |

## Crew work

| Year | Title | Position | Notes |
| 1977 | A Christmas Carol | Sound effects editor | |
| 1979 | The Black Hole | Sound effects editor | |
| 1981 | The Fox and the Hound | Sound effects editor | Uncredited |
| 1983 | Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore | Sound effects editor | Uncredited |
| 1983 | Something Wicked This Way Comes | Sound effects editor | |
| 1983 | Mickey's Christmas Carol | Sound effects editor | Uncredited |
| 1984 | Country | Sound effects editor | |
| 1984 | Frankenweenie | Foley artist | |
| 1985 | Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend | Foley artist | |
| 1985 | The Black Cauldron | Sound editor | |
| 1985 | My Science Project | Sound editor | |
| 1985 | Amazing Stories | Sound editor | 1 episode |
| 1986 | Psycho III | Sound editor | |
| 1986 | The Great Mouse Detective | Sound editor | |
| 1987 | Innerspace | Sound editor | |
| 1987 | 3 Men and a Baby | Sound editor | |
| 1988 | Alien Nation | Sound editor | |
| 1988 | The Good Mother | Sound editor | |
| 1989 | Three Fugitives | Sound editor | |
| 1989 | Star Trek V: The Final Frontier | Sound editor | |

## Awards and nominations

Awards and nominations :
| Year | Award | Category | Title | Result |
| 1985 | Golden Reel Award (Motion Picture Sound Editors) | Best Sound Editing – Television Pilots and Specials | Amazing Stories: "The Mission" | Won |
| 1986 | Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series | Amazing Stories: "The Mission" | Won |
| 1987 | Golden Reel Award (Motion Picture Sound Editors) | Best Sound Editing – Animated Feature | The Great Mouse Detective | Won |
| 2008 | Disney Legend Award | Animation – Voice | | Won |