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The voices of The Smurfs turned up all over classic television
You won't Smurfin' believe it.
Images: The Everett Collection
La la la-la la la, sing a happy song! The Smurfs cartoon was a staple for anyone who grew up in the 1980s. Who knew that a Belgian comic series would become one of the pop culture sensations of the decade? We even collected the little blue plastic figurines.
At the time, we did not realize that the voices behind The Smurfs were talented actors from M*A*S*H, Mork & Mindy, Happy Days, The Andy Griffith Show and more.
Let's take a peek behind the mushroom houses and see who those voices were.
1. Angel Smurf
William Christopher
Angel Smurf may not be the most popular Smurf — the winged Smurf only turns up in a handful of cartoon episodes — but the man behind the voice played one of TV's most beloved holy men. For 11 seasons, Christopher portrayed Father Francis Mulcahy on M*A*S*H (not to mention a couple seasons of AfterMASH).
2. Greedy Smurf
Hamilton Camp
Greedy Smurf is the one sporting a white chef's toque in the image up top. Hamilton Camp brought the little baker to life. In addition to the 164 episodes of The Smurfs he voiced, Camp turned up in loads of sitcoms, from The Monkees to WKRP in Cincinnati. He even briefly starred in his own comedy, He & She. We particularly loved his role on The Andy Griffith Show, where he played a prisoner who joins Andy's barbershop quartet in "The Barbershop Quartet." No wonder he also voiced the character of Harmony Smurf.
Image: The Everett Collection
3. Papa Smurf
Don Messick
We love it when you call him Big Papa. Messick was a cartoon legend, voicing iconic pooches Scooby-Doo and Astro, as well as Boo-Boo Bear, Muttley and dozens of other characters. All that animation credibility led him to be cast for a role in front of the camera, in the sitcom The Duck Factory, an MTM Enterprises production starring a young Jim Carrey. Oh, and the master of animal voices naturally did Azrael, Gargamel's cat, too.
Image: The Everett Collection
4. Grandpa Smurf
Jonathan Winters
The big, bizarre and lovable comedian was known for his surreal, Grammy-winning crank phone calls and the role of Mearth, Mork's full-grown child on Mork & Mindy. He even looks kind of like a Smurf in this photo.
Image: The Everett Collection
5. Gargamel
Paul Winchell
Winchell lived an unparalleled career. Who else can claim to be a pioneering ventriloquist and the inventor of the artificial heart? (No, really. He built and patented a mechanical heart for humans.) He came to fame working stages with his dummies, Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff (pictured here). Later, he would voice Tigger in Winnie the Pooh cartoons for Disney.
Image: The Everett Collection
6. Farmer Smurf
Alan Young
Wilbur! For 143 episodes, Young portrayed the owner of Mister Ed, the talking horse. He was so used to acting in and around a barn, he was an obvious choice to voice Farmer Smurf. He also gave voice to Miner Smurf and Scaredy Smurf.
Image: AP Photo
7. Brainy Smurf
Danny Goldman
Bespectacled in real life, Goldman, the voice of Brainy Smurf, had some live-action credits on his resume, too. Early in his career, he snagged a minor role in the MASH movie, and later landed regular roles on flop series The New Mike Hammer and Busting Loose. But he was most associated with Brainy, even voicing the blue brainiac in a few episodes of Robot Chicken.
Image: The Everett Collection
8. Scruple
Brenda Vaccaro
One Oscar nomination, three Golden Globe nominations (and one win), four Emmy nominations (and one win), and three Tony nominations. The voice behind Scruple, the redheaded brat disciple of Gargamel, had perhaps the most acclaimed acting career. Vaccaro stoles scenes in Midnight Cowboy alongside Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight. In the mid-1970s, she headlined her own TV show, Sara, about a schoolteacher in the Old West. That's a lot of credibility for an animated wizard.
Image: The Everett Collection
9. Smurfette
Lucille Bliss
Bliss may not have the onscreen acting credits to compete with her Smurf colleagues, but she did have the ultimate bragging rights. "The Girl With a Thousand Voices" began her career as the voice of Crusader Rabbit, the first cartoon character created especially for television. Period. This was first animated TV series ever. Jay Ward, the genius behind Rocky and Bullwinkle, created Crusader Rabbit in the late 1940s. Four decades later, Bliss was entertaining children as the blonde Smurfette.
Image: The Everett Collection
10. Vanity Smurf
Alan Oppenheimer
Very briefly, Oppenheimer portrayed Mickey Malph, the optometrist father of Ralph Malph on Happy Days. He was swiftly replaced with Jack Dodson, a.k.a. Howard Sprague of Mayberry. Oppenheimer also turned up in episodes of Bonanza, Bewitched, That Girl, Murphy Brown, Hogan's Heroes, Get Smart and The Andy Griffith Show. He was even the mayor of Raytown on Mama's Family.
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