Junius Matthews

Junius Conyers Matthews was an American actor and radio performer, who became the original voice of Rabbit in Disney's Winnie the Pooh franchise, a role he played from 1966 to 1977. He also voiced Archimedes the owl in The Sword in the Stone and contributed to several Disneyland LP stories, such as All About Dragons.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Matthews was determined to become a performer and would get his start on Broadway with shows, such as Young Wisdom and Any House before landing the role of Bud Morgan in the silent film, . His acting career was briefly halted when he became a private in World War I. He returned to acting after the war.
Matthews worked primarily in stage shows in the 1920s, such as Pot Luck, , , and various productions of The Grand Street Follies, but found steady work in radio where he would continue to work for much of his life. One of his earliest radio roles was the in a production of . His other known roles included Wichita in 's and various characters in , , , and .
While appearing in movies, including , , , , and , Matthews appeared very little in film and television and was often uncredited in those roles. He would gain mainstream recognition with his contributions to Disney.
In 1977, Matthews suffered a stroke that nearly left him unable to work. He died at age 87 of natural causes in Los Angeles in 1978.
==Discography==
*1963 Walt Disney Presents The Story of The Sword in The Stone - Archimedes
*1963 All About Dragons - Archimedes
*1966 Thumper's Great Race - Performer
*1966 A Happy Birthday Party with Winnie the Pooh - Performer
*1974 Walt Disney Presents Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too - Rabbit
==Roles==
Archimedes.png|Archimedes(The Sword in the Stone and All About Dragons)
Rabbit-winnie-pooh.jpg|Rabbit(Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too)
Profile - Owl.jpeg|Owl(A Happy Birthday Party with Winnie the Pooh)
Profile - Friend Owl.jpeg|Friend Owl(Thumper's Great Race)
==Gallery==
Winnie the Pooh recording session in the 1960s.JPG|L-R: John Fiedler, Hal Smith, and Junius Matthews in a recording session for a Winnie the Pooh featurette.
==References==
==External links==
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Category:Males
Category:1800s births
Category:1970s deaths
Category:Deceased
Category:American people
Category:People from Illinois
Category:Radio actors
Category:Actors
Category:Voice actors
Category:The Sword in the Stone
Category:Winnie the Pooh
Category:The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Category:Walt Disney Animation Studios
Category:Bambi
Category:Walt Disney Records artists