Frank Welker

**Franklin Wendell Welker** (born March 12, 1946) is an American actor, voice actor and former stand-up comedian with a career spanning nearly six decades. As of 2021, Welker holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits, making him one of the most prolific screen actors of all time. With a total worldwide box-office gross of $17.4 billion, he is also the third highest-grossing film actor of all time.

He is best known for voicing Fred Jones in the *Scooby-Doo* franchise since its inception in 1969, and Scooby-Doo himself since 2002. In 2020, Welker reprised the latter role in the CGI-animated film *Scoob!*, the original actor in the cast. He has also voiced Megatron and Soundwave in the *Transformers* franchise, Curious George in the *Curious George* franchise, Garfield on *The Garfield Show*, and Nibbler on *Futurama*, as well as numerous animal vocal effects in many works. In 2016, he was honored with an Emmy Award for his lifetime achievement.

He does the voice of Gary the Snail and the jellyfish along with Tom Kenny in the hit TV series *SpongeBob SquarePants*. He also does the most roles on the show, with a total of 275 characters (75 of which are not in the show), including speaking roles, being the stand-in for Paul Winchell and Bob Weighton, and most notably, 80% of the miscellaneous animal roles.

## Roles

**Disclaimer: Sorry, there were too many roles to list off, so we listed the more noteworthy roles this actor/actress does.**

* SpongeBob (speaking role from season 4 onwards/vocal effects/stand-in for Paul Winchell)
* Patrick (speaking role from *The Patrick Star Show* onwards/vocal effects/stand-in for Bob Weighton)
* Squidward (speaking role in the last 4 minutes of Club SpongeBob/vocal effects)
* Sandy (hibernating form)
* Gary
* Jellyfish (along with Tom Kenny)
* Potty (vocal effects/speaking role after Andrew Sachs’ death)
* Metal Beak the Owl (animal sound effects)
* Duck Bubbles
* Caterpillar Bubble
* Butterfly Bubble
* Dragon Bubble
* Mystery
* Clamu
* Baby Oyster
* Gorilla
* Sea Bear
* Howling Oysters (along with Bill Melendez)
* Incidental 4
* Incidental 13
* Don the Whale
* Incidental 81
* Sandals ("Walking Small")
* Manatees
* Junior
* Rrarrg
* Yeti Krab
* Abominable snow mollusk
* Alaskan Wereworm
* Frogfish
* King Fish
* Sea Monster (Goo Lagoon)
* Lodge leader
* King Jellyfish
* Iron Beak the Owl (animal sound effects)
* Dark Knight (deep voice)
* Dragon Jellyfish
* Jellyfish Monster
* Angry Jack
* SpongeGar
* Patar
* Prehistoric Gary
* Bully Snail
* Alley Snails (pink snail)
* Santa Claus (most appearances)
* Wormy (butterfly dragon and butterfly forms)
* Jelliens
* Jellien Leader
* Author of *Records Book*
* Craig Mammalton ("A Place for Pets")
* Pistachio
* Wolfworm
* Moose snail
* Flower-Shelled Snapping Turtle

## Trivia

* As of Paul Winchell’s absence from most of seasons 4 through 12, Welker and Rob Paulsen are the only actors to be credited and do voices in every episode.
	+ Of the two, Welker is the only one to appear in every international dub of the show.
	+ Welker is also the only actor to appear in every Nickelodeon animated show.
* He also worked with Paul Winchell on Hannah-Barbera shows such as *The Smurfs*, *Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch*, and *Yogi's Treasure Hunt*.
* At the Museum of Endangered Sounds, one of the exhibits confirms that the role of Squidward in the last 4 minutes of "Club SpongeBob" was meant for Skip Hinnant; however, the role went to Welker because Paul Winchell thought his performance was "funny enough so you could laugh **with** him, but serious enough so you could be worried for his mental state." The audio clip with Hinnant has since become the most popular sound at the museum.

* In addition to *SpongeBob*, Welker has also been voice director for shows like *Dexter's Laboratory* and *The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder* as well as being the assistant of Gordon Hunt for *AAAHH!!! Real Monsters*, *The Proud Family*, *Dave the Barbarian*, *Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi* and *Phineas and Ferb*, as well as the UK dub of the film adaptation of *The Magic Roundabout*.