Vance DeBar "Pinto" Colvig (September 11, 1892 – October 3, 1967) was a vaudeville actor, radio actor, newspaper cartoonist, prolific movie voice actor, and circus performer whose schtick was playing clarinet off-key while mugging.

[edit] Personal life

Colvig was born Vance DeBar Colvig in Jacksonville, Oregon, the son of William M. and Adelaide Birdseye Colvig. He graduated from Oregon State University in 1911 at age 18. A lifelong smoker, Colvig was one of the pioneers in advocating warning labels about cancer risk on cigarette packages in the United States. He was also the father of the late actor Vance Colvig who died on March 3, 1991.

[edit] Career

He is probably best known as the voice of Disney's Goofy^[1] and the original Bozo the Clown, a part he played for a full decade beginning in 1946.^[2] He also provided the voice for Practical Pig, the pig who built the "house of bricks" in the Disney short Three Little Pigs, as well as both Sleepy and Grumpy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and the barks for Pluto the dog. Colvig worked for not only the Disney studio, but also the Warner Bros. animation studio, Fleischer Studios (Bluto, Gabby), and MGM, where he voiced a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz.

[edit] Death

Colvig died of lung cancer on October 3, 1967 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California at age 75.^[3] He was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.

[edit] See also

• Mel Blanc

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Pinto Colvig at the Internet Movie Database
• ABC News Investigates Bozo's Origin (2001)
• ABC News: Bozo Finally Unmasked (2004)
• Associated Press: Who's the First Bozo? (2004)

This article about an American voice actor is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e

This article about an American theatre actor born in the 1890s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e