Ludwig Von Drake

**Ludwig Von Drake** (originally voiced by Paul Frees and currently by Corey Burton) is an anthropomorphic duck scientist, professor and self-proclaimed the "world's wonderful genius". He first appeared in *Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color*. He is also the uncle of Donald Duck and brother-in-law of Scrooge McDuck.

## Background

Von Drake comes from Vienna, Austria, and has a fascination with knowledge. In Ludwig's second animated appearance, "The Hunting Instinct", Walt Disney explains that Von Drake comes from the paternal side of Donald's family—the Drakes, whom are a continental branch and the "eggheads" of the Duck family clan.

Ludwig is described as a scientist, world-traveler and psychiatrist. He has obtained degrees from such universities as Oxford, Cambridge, and Heidelberg, and, in one of his comic strip appearances, Ludwig himself claims that he has obtained "about 98 degrees" in total.[4] In *Fly with Von Drake*, Ludwig claims to have served in the air force in 1917, where he earned himself the dubious nickname of "Ludwig "Eddie Von Richthofen" Drake". During his first flight in combat, he shot down five planes--five planes from his own side, that is, with Ludwig remarking that he's been wearing glasses ever since. In *A Symposium on Popular Songs*, Von Drake credits himself for the creation of various musical fads including ragtime, the blues, and even rock-and-roll, throughout the 20th century.

### Personality

In spite of being a world-renowned scientist, psychiatrist, and lecturer, Ludwig is incredibly wacky, somewhat bumbling and, as he puts it, "Kooky!". He is often shown as having little social competence, however, and is often portrayed as being very forgetful, sometimes even somewhat senile. During many of his classic lectures, Ludwig would often get sidetracked rather quickly, with the end results being comical shenanigans. He would also sometimes say the wrong thing and then quickly realize what he said and say "What am I saying" before correcting himself.

Regardless, he is normally portrayed as extremely intelligent and more than likely to know nearly everything about a certain topic—ranging from science to music. A notable recurring goal for the professor has been to discover the source of his nephew Donald's temper tantrums, mostly for the sake of Donald's health. Outside of lectures and his studies in psychology, most of the professor's time is spent creating an array of magnificent inventions and therapies meant to make life easier for both himself and the rest of the world. More often than not, however, does one of the professor's creations go off the deep end.

Von Drake is rather pompous as a result of his genius. He prides himself in his intellect, and never hesitates to attempt to convince others of his genius, to the point where he can be somewhat of an egotist. He also has a habit of beginning the name of his inventions with "The Von Drake" heading.

His catchphrase is "Hello, there!", which he often shouts when greeting someone, or at the beginning of one of his cartoons.

### Voice

Von Drake's raspy, Austrian-accented voice was originated and provided by Paul Frees, who was also well-known as the voice behind the Ghost Host in Disneyland's *The Haunted Mansion* attraction. Walt gave Frees a hefty amount of freedom and liberty when it came to shaping Von Drake's personality, as ad-libbing was encouraged, much of which was added to the script. To achieve Von Drake's fast-paced voice, Paul Frees' recordings were sped up by about five or six percent.

Following Frees' retirement from acting in the 1980s, Von Drake's distinct voice was provided by Walker Edmiston, who was given Frees' blessing before assuming the role. Eventually, new home video projects came along of which Ludwig was to star. Auditions were held for a new actor to officially take the mantle from Paul Frees, but no one could emulate the voice. Corey Burton actually turned down the role five times, believing he couldn't possibly pull off the performance. However, the founder of the Disney Character Voices division believed in Burton's talent, and worked alongside the actor to recreate Frees' vocal mannerisms. Burton eventually assumed the role, and has been consistently voicing Von Drake for over three decades.

## Trivia

* Von Drake is the first Disney character made specifically for television.

* According to Walt Disney, Ludwig is the brother of Donald Duck's father. Disney identified the Drakes as the continental branch of the family, and the eggheads of the clan. In "The Donald Duck Story", before Ludwig was introduced, it had already been specified that the Drakes were Donald's paternal relatives, but Donald took his mother's maiden name, "Duck", instead. This relation was not carried over into the popular *Donald Duck* comic stories, and Ludwig was not included in the comic iteration of Donald's family tree. Instead, Ludwig's relation to the comic Duck family is inconsistent and has been altered on a number of occasions.

* Although Ludwig does not appear in the final version of the tree, Don Rosa originally wanted to include the professor on the Duck family tree as the husband of Matilda McDuck, one of Scrooge McDuck's sisters. However, this contradicts the fact that, in "Kids is Kids", Ludwig stated that he is a bachelor. The 2001 book *The Little Big Book of Disney*, went with Rosa's interpretation, though that book's family tree has a question mark next to the placement, referencing the ambiguity.
* Some 1960s Disney comics (including Tony Strobl's 6-pager *Barn Dance Doctor*, first published in 1961) state that Ludwig is Grandma Duck's cousin. This relationship was even further established in the German translation of *Duckburg, U.S.A* (first published in 1961). Here, Grandma reveals that Ludwig is the son of her maternal aunt and a certain Hofrat Von Drake. In contrast to these classic comics, a character profile poster of Ludwig in the German Disney comic magazine *Micky Maus Magazin*states that he is Grandma Duck's nephew rather than her cousin.

* Ludwig Von Drake guest star in Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventures Series.
* Ludwig Von Drake also hosted a few Disney Sing-Along Song video programs.

## Gallery

Ludwig with his nephew, DonaldLudwig with MickeyLudwig with ScroogeLudwig Von Drake in his debut episode, An Adventure in Color.Ludwig in DuckTales.Ludwig in Quack Pack.Ludwig in Mickey Mouse Works.This page is sourced from The Disney Wiki and Pooh's Adventures Wiki.

[1]

[2]