An Interview With Hollywood Actor Walker Edmiston

please note youtube this is my material and my personal interview. it has never been released until now to the public. I have hours of interviews with people that knew hal from hollywood that i need to preserve onto compact disc -- john

I have been told that walker is youtube's what the buck's grandfather -- I doubt that is true! but anyways, this movie is one of many times I interviewed walker over the phone. this interivew is from 2003 where he speaks about actor hal j. smith. walker worked with hal on many projects. the last was the focus on the family radio program.

walker was amazing. he could do the voice of mel brooks. he infact did the theatrical trailers for mel brooks film blazin' saddles. you can't tell its walker. it sounds just like mel brooks!


Mini Biography
Talented, prolific and versatile voice and character actor Walker Edmiston had a remarkable career in radio, movies and television that spanned over five decades. Walker was born on February 6, 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri. Edmiston discovered at an early age that he could perfectly mimic other people's voices; he used to entertain his family with his vocal impression of Lionel Barrymore. After World War II ended Walker went to Los Angeles to study acting at the Pasadena Playhouse. Edmiston was introduced to animation producer Walter Lantz while performing in a play. This in turn lead to his first steady job doing various incidental voices on the children's show "Time for Beany." In the 50s and 60s he hosted "The Walker Edmiston Show," a children's TV program broadcast in Los Angeles which featured puppets of Edmiston's own creation that included Kingsley the Lion and Ravenswood the Buzzard. Walker worked often for Saturday morning TV series creators Sid and Marty Krofft; he supplied the voices of Sparky the Firefly on "The Bugaloos," Dr. Blinkey and Orson the Vulture on "H.R. Puffnstuf," and Big Daddy Ooze on "Sigmund and the Sea Monsters." Moreover, Edmiston portrayed a crazy old Civil War prospector on "Land of the Lost" and had a recurring role as token benevolent and intelligent Sleestak Enik. He provided the scary grunts and growls for the ferocious Zuni fetish doll in the final and most frightening segment of the made-for-TV horror anthology "Trilogy of Terror." Walker did the voice of Inferno for the "Transformers" cartoon show. For twenty years Edmiston was the voice of both beloved "nice guy" Tom Riley and the notorious Bart Rathbone on the popular radio program "Adventures in Odyssey." In addition, Walker was the voice of Ernie the Keebler Elf in countless TV commercials for ten years. Among the TV shows he had guest spots on are "Maverick," "Thriller," "The Virginian," "Green Acres," "Get Smart," "Star Trek," "The Wild, Wild West," "Bonanza," "Mission: Impossible," "Gunsmoke," "Fantasy Island," "The Waltons," "Little House on the Prairie," "The Dukes of Hazzard," "Falcon Crest," and "Knots Landing." He appeared on several records with Spike Jones, looped actor's voices on numerous films (one of these jobs was doing the off-camera lines for Orson Welles in "Start the Revolution Without Me"), and even supplied many different voices on all five "Planet of the Apes" pictures (he's the voice of the talking baby chimp in "Escape from the Planet of the Apes"). Walker Edmiston died from complications from cancer at age 81 on February 15, 2007.

Category:

Film & Animation

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[TheTriangleChannel]

Cool Classic TV. Loved it.

[johnswackyworld]

thanks..i think its time to release some of my interviews with the real gumby voice!!!!

[STP43FAN1]

3:16

[Faustino818]

I loved this.. I have such special memories of Walker - he was my Dad's best friend and my Godfather :)

[gluband]

Odyssey isn't the same without him and Hal.

[laffpro1]

I used to watch his show when I was a very young kid ... I thought the puppets were real ! There was one puppet , a cat , who's name I think was Calico , who had a pet rock named " Ralph " ! I think this makes Walker the inventor of the pet rock ! What great memories of a very talented man !

[ScarlettHarlott]

Walker was a dear friend of mine and I miss him SO MUCH.

[ACcountryFan]

@LowellV100: oh I knew that...I misunderstood your earlier comment. I thought you were wondering if Walker ever did the Scooby voice and so I was making a clarification that Don Messick did the voice from the character's creation in 1969 until 1996. After re-reading your comment I assume you were wondering if Walker ever did any voices on the Scooby-Doo cartoons.

[LowellV100]

@ACcountryFan Don, Janet Waldo, Jean Van DerPyl Gerry Johnson, Bea Benaderet, Alan Reed, Mel Blanc and Daws Butler were all in the HB stable at one time or another

[ACcountryFan]

@LowellV100: Don Messick originated the Scooby-Doo voice in 1969 and continued in the role until his retirement in 1996. Don did the voice in all the various Saturday morning cartoons and made-for-TV cartoons. "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo", which ran in the late '80s into the early '90s, was the last weekly series Don appeared on as the voice of Scooby. Scott Innes took over the role for a period of years until current voice, Frank Welker, took over the role. Don did A LOT of characters.

[LowellV100]

@fucheduck Don't know if Walker ever did Scooby. The Early ones were done by Don Messick who was a utility voice man for HB.