He was 99. Weldon was an emeritus chaplain at American Legion Post 43 in Hollywood when he died in Paso Robles, California, on Thursday.
Jimmy Weldon Cause of Death: Jimmy Weldon, a jovial actor, children’s television presenter, and ventriloquist who began voicing the endangered duck Yakky Doodle in early 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoons, has died. He was 99. Weldon was an emeritus chaplain at American Legion Post 43 in Hollywood when he died in Paso Robles, California, on Thursday.
Weldon hosted children’s television programmes in New York, Los Angeles, and communities in the San Joaquin Valley using the duck puppet Webster Webfoot, which he created in the 1940s. The Texan also appeared in The Waltons, S.W.A.T., Dragnet, B.J. and the Bear, The Rockford Files, Dallas, Diff’rent Strokes, It’s a Living, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents episodes.
During the 1961–1962 season of The Yogi Bear Show, Weldon provided the voice of Yakky Doodle, a yellow duckling with green wings who is continually rescued by his best friend, Chopper, a protective bulldog.
The youngest of three sons, Ivy Laverne Shinn was born in Dale, Texas, on September 23, 1923. His father owned a Texaco petrol station. As a paperboy, he encountered a man who did a fantastic impression of Donald Duck, and after much practise, he won a radio competition singing as the Disney icon.
During World War II, Weldon collaborated with General George Patton to liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp. After the service, he proceeded to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
Beginning in 1946, Weldon served as a disc jockey and announcer for KWCO in Chickasha, Oklahoma. He would converse with Webster, a man who resembled Donald Duck, while rotating records. Many times, callers would request to communicate with his assistant instead of him.
When he was granted permission to present The Webster Webfoot Show on WFAA-TV in Dallas, he demanded a puppet to accompany his duck voice. As a result, he eventually became an outstanding ventriloquist. Then he and Webster appeared on the Kate Smith programme on NBC.
MCA signed Weldon after he arrived in Los Angeles with the assistance of performing cowboy Jimmy Wakely. After hosting a programme for boys and girls on KLAC-TV (now KCOP), Ralph Edwards recruited him to host the NBC game show Funny Boners, a children’s version of Edwards’ Truth or Consequences.
Weldon revealed in a 2019 interview that Clarence Nash, the original voice of Donald Duck, was not pleased to have Weldon as a competitor in Los Angeles at the time.
Later, Weldon and Webster stood in for renowned ventriloquist Shari Lewis and her puppets on Hi Mom on NBC’s WRCA-TV (now WNBC) in New York City. He also hosted children’s programmes in Fresno, Salinas, and Bakersfield, California. In the 1980s, he voiced numerous additional characters for Hanna-Barbera.
Patriotic Weldon’s recent speech aimed “to instill in American youth a sense of civic, nonpartisan pride and a better understanding of our common heritage.” In 2019, he also published his autobiography, Go Get ‘Em Tiger: Becoming the Person You Want to Be, in addition to consistently performing I Am the Flag, an ode to Old Glory.
Weldon was married to Muriel Jones, an Englishwoman, from 1947 until her demise in 1988. If you wish to learn more about Jimmy Weldon, please let us know in the comment section.
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