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Pat Buttram — Mr. Haney from Green Acres — on his many Disney roles
"The animators at Disney love my voice," said Buttram.
"Walt Disney once said that the two most recognizable voices in the world were Pat Buttram and Orson Welles."
This is according to Pat Buttram himself in a 1982 interview with Tampa Tribune staff writer Greg Tozian.
Buttram was famous as the sidekick in nearly 200 TV and movie westerns with Gene Autry. Later, he would star as Mr. Haney on Green Acres, where he'd play the con-man character to much recognition.
While grown-ups recognize Pat Buttram's face from his many appearances onscreen, children might be more likely to know the actor's voice. Beginning with The Aristocats in 1970, Buttram voiced characters in six animated Disney movies, culminating in 1995's A Goofy Movie. Along the way, he was The Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood, a muskrat in The Rescuers, a dog in The Fox and the Hound, and an old Western bullet in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
While promoting the upcoming The Fox and the Hound back in '82, Buttram spoke about what it was like to have a face for cartoons.
"They want you to use your natural voice in the recording studio at Disney," Buttram said, "and then they pattern the characters after you. I do an old huntin' dog named Chief in the new movie and he's got my eyebrows and nose."
It was no coincidence that Buttram appeared in so many animated movies. He had one of the most distinct timbres in show business.
"The animators at Disney love my voice. And I love workin' with 'em, because kids not yet born will see these animated films 100 years from now; whereas everything else will be gone," he said.
While none of them are a century old yet, each of the movies Buttram worked on with Disney has already aged into classic status.
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