Clarence Nash

**Clarence Charles "Ducky" Nash** (December 7, 1904 – February 20, 1985) was an American voice actor. He is best known for the Disney cartoon character Donald Duck , whose distinctive voice he provided for 50 years. He was born in the rural community of Watonga, Oklahoma, and a street in that town is named in his honor. In 1993, he was posthumously made a Disney Legend for his contributions to Walt Disney films. He was also original voice for Tom in *Tom & Jerry*.

## ​Beginning his career

Nash made a name for himself in the late 1920s as an impressionist for KHJ, a Los Angeles radio station, on their show *The Merrymakers*. He was later employed by the Adohr Milk Company for publicity purposes. Dubbed "Whistling Clarence, the Adohr Bird Man", Nash rode the streets with a team of miniature horses and gave treats to the children. In 1932, Nash happened by the Disney Studio with his team of horses and decided to leave a copy of his Adohr publicity sheet with the receptionist. As it turns out, his name was recognized from a reprise appearance on *The Merrymakers* a few days before and Walt Disney himself had been impressed by Nash's vocal skills. He was asked to go to the Disney Studio for an informal audition.

## ​Donald Duck

Nash went through several of his voices and Walt Disney happened by when Nash gave his impersonation of a family of ducks. Disney declared Nash perfect for the role of a talking duck in their upcoming animated short *The Wise Little Hen*. The duck, of course, was Donald Duck , who Nash went on to voice for over 50 years.

Donald Duck went on to become one of the most famous cartoon characters in the world and a great part of this was due to Nash's distinctive voice. It may well be one of the most recognizable character voices in history. The voice is distinctive both for its duck-like quality and the fact that it is often very difficult for anybody to understand, especially when Donald flew into a rage (which happened fairly often). To keep Donald's voice consistent throughout the world, Nash dubbed Donald's voice into all the foreign languages that the Disney shorts were translated into (with the aid of the phonetic alphabet), meaning that Donald retained his same level of incoherency all across the globe. *Mad* magazine, in its 1950s comic-strip style satire of Disney characters ("Mickey Rodent" in issue #19), featured a "translation" of "Darnold" Duck's "quacky, incomprehensible" voice.

Nash's last feature films as the voice of Donald was in *Mickey's Christmas Carol* in 1983 and in *Donald Duck's 50th Birthday* in 1984, although he continued to provide Donald's voice for commercials, promos and other miscellaneous material until his death in 1985.

## ​Other Characters

In addition to Donald's voice, Nash also voiced Daisy Duck (in her earliest appearances, when she was little more than a female version of Donald), as well as Donald's nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie. He also voiced Figaro, Rough House Statue, and Donkeys in *Pinocchio*, P.J. in 'Bellboy Donald', Brutus & Nero in *The Rescuers*, Ichabod's Horse in *The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad*, and for a bullfrog in *Bambi*. Nash also provided the meows of Figaro the kitten in a handful of shorts and briefly voiced Jiminy Cricket after the death of Cliff Edwards in 1971. Nash made some cat noises for Sylvester Cat from 2 Looney Tunes cartoons *Tugboat Granny* and *Cat's Paw*. He did some dog sounds in *One Hundred and One Dalmatians* and vocal sounds for Shere Khan in *The Jungle Book* and the Bear in *The Fox and The Hound*. He also voiced Mickey Mouse in 'The Dognapper' and Pluto in 'Mickey's Surprise Party'. Several Tom and Jerry cartoons directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera featured a third main character, a duckling named Quacker; Hanna and Barbera would adapt Little Quacker into Yakky Doodle for television. As with most Hanna-Barbera productions, these characters used celebrity impersonations, in these cases an impersonation of Clarence Nash's Donald Duck voice. In these cases, Red Coffee and Jimmy Weldon provided the respective voices, although because both were so similar to Nash's voice they are often mistakenly attributed to Nash.

## ​Later years

When Disney shut down their shorts department in 1962, Nash continued to voice Donald in various projects over the next two decades.

Nash's performance as Donald in *Mickey Christmas Carol* made Donald the only character in that film to be voiced by his original voice actor.

In the late 1970s, Nash was known for often taking walks in the neighborhood around Fremont Elementary School in Glendale, California, entertaining children with his Donald Duck voice.

Despite lending his voice to hundreds of films, shorts and television programs, Nash made few appearances on camera, such as when he was a contestant in a 1954 episode of *What's My Line*, as a guest in a 1976 episode of *The Mike Douglas Show* and in a cameo in the 1984 TV special *Donald Duck's 50th Birthday*.

In 1985, Nash was interviewed for the *Donald Duck Story* on the VHS *Donald's Bee Pictures* and told a story of how he copied how his pet goats sounded at his farm before getting hired as the voice of Donald. He explained the rivals Donald Duck had including Spike the Bee and of how the bee foiled Donald and stung him. This would be his last Disney interview before his passing.

## ​Death

Clarence Nash died of leukemia in 1985 at the age of 80 and was interred in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California. The tombstone of the grave he now shares with his wife Margaret Nash (who died in 1993) depicts a carving of Donald and Daisy Duck holding hands.

## ​Successors

After Nash's death, Donald's voice was taken up by Disney animator Tony Anselmo , who was trained by Nash personally, probably because Nash knew that one day, he needed to be replaced.

Later characters whose voices owe considerable credit to Nash's duck voice have been voiced by actors such as Jimmy Weldon , Frank Welker , Sam Kwasman , Steve Blum , Daniel Ross , Luba Goy , and Red Coffey . The most prominent of these is Weldon's Yakky Doodle for Hanna-Barbera. Anselmo is also among the many voiceover artists to have also voiced Huey, Dewey, and Louie over the years.

## ​Roles

**Donald Duck** (1934-1985)**Daisy Duck** (1940)**Huey, Dewey, & Louie** (1938-1967)**Figaro** (*Pinocchio*, handful shorts)**Tom** (1940-1967)**Peter Pig** (*The Wise Little Hen*)**Mickey Mouse** (*The Dognapper*)**Pluto** (*Mickey's Surprise Party*)**Pete Jr.** (*Bellboy Donald*)**Jiminy Cricket** (briefly)**Louie the Mountain Lion** (1950)**Sylvester Cat** (cat noises)**Shere Khan** (vocal effects)**Lambert Lion****Bear** (*The Fox and the Hound*)**Alax the Gorilla** (working with Jimmy MacDonald)**Bat** (*The Flying Mouse*)**Rough House Statue** (*Pinocchio*)**Donkeys** (*Pinocchio*)**Cat Judge** (*Pluto's Judgement Day*)**Robins** (*Carousel of Progress*)**Brutus & Nero the Crocodiles****Giant Spider** (*Gulliver Mickey*)**Rover Boy** (*Dude Duck*)**Bullfrog** (*Bambi*)**Dogs** (*101 Dalmatians*)**Ichabod's horse** (*The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad*)**Butch** (*The Alley Cat*)**Toodles** (*The Alley Cat*)**Joe Cat** (*Ventriloquist Cat*)**Legs Sparrow** (*Who Killed Cock Robin?*)**Joey Hippo** (*Elmer Elephant*)**Tootsie the Penguin** (*Donald's Penguin*)**Donna Duck** (1937)**Mad Jack** (*Donkey Kong 64*)**Ducks** (*Chicken Little*)
## Sound clips for the characters

**Scrooge McDuck** (duck noises)**Dora Winifred Read** (imitating Donald Duck)**Francine Alice Frensky** (imitating Donald Duck)**Muffy Alice Crosswire** (imitating Donald Duck)**Sue Ellen Armstrong** (cat noises, imitating Donald Duck)**Vicita Molina** (imitating Donald Duck)**Fern Walters** (dog noises, imitating Donald Duck)**Ladonna Compson** (imitating Donald Duck)**Bud Compson** (imitating Donald Duck)**Prunella Deegan** (imitating Donald Duck)**Marina** (imitating Donald Duck)**Binky Barnes** (imitating Donald Duck)**Alan "Brain" Powers** (imitating Donald Duck)**Molly MacDonald** (imitating Donald Duck)**Catherine Frensky** (imitating Donald Duck)**George Lundgren** (imitating Donald Duck)**Nadine** (imitating Donald Duck)**Arthur Read** (imitating Donald Duck)**Slink** (imitating Donald Duck)**Buster Baxter** (imitating Donald Duck)**Timmy & Tommy Tibbles** (imitating Donald Duck)**Maria Pappas** (imitating Donald Duck)**Quack William-Cat** (imitating Donald Duck)**Manfred Frank** (vocal effects)**Los Dedos** (vocal effects)**Kermit the Frog** (frog noises)**Lor McQuarrie** (imitating Donald Duck)**Buttercup** (imitating Donald Duck)**Blossom** (imitating Donald Duck)**Bubbles** (imitating Donald Duck)**Brick** (imitating Donald Duck)**Boomer** (imitating Donald Duck)**Butch** (imitating Donald Duck)**Princess Morbucks** (imitating Donald Duck)**Numbuh 5** (imitating Donald Duck)**Numbuh 3** (imitating Donald Duck)**Numbuh 4** (imitating Donald Duck)**Cree Lincoln** (imitating Donald Duck)**Mandy** (imitating Donald Duck)**Angelica Pickles** (imitating Donald Duck)**Marie Kanker** (imitating Donald Duck)**Eddy** (imitating Donald Duck)**Helga** (imitating Donald Duck)**Rhonda** (imitating Donald Duck)**Phoebe** (imitating Donald Duck)**Gerald** (imitating Donald Duck)**Sid** (imitating Donald Duck)**Harold** (imitating Donald Duck)**Olga** (duck noises)**Big Patty** (duck noises)**Arnold** (imitating Donald Duck)**Horrid Henry** (imitating Donald Duck)**Jenny "XJ9" Wakeman** (imitating Donald Duck)**Ernie & Bert** (duck noises)**SpongeBob Squarepants** (duck noises)**Olive Oyl** (duck noises)**Little Audrey & Little Lulu** (imitating Donald Duck)**Charlie Brown** (duck noises)**Linus Van Pelt** (duck noises)**Lucy Van Pelt** (imitating Donald Duck)**Little Quacker****Yakky Doodle****Barnyard Dawg****Beebe Bluff** (version of Donald Duck)**Tessa & Vanessa** (version of Donald Duck)**Captain Caveman** (vocal effects, version of Donald Duck)**Docky the Blue Duck****Dacky the Black Duck****Animals from *Marc Brown's Arthur***