Jack Mercer
Mercer in 1978
Born	Winfield Bennett Mercer[1] (1910-01-31)January 31, 1910 Worthington, Indiana, U.S.
Died	December 7, 1984(1984-12-07) (aged 74) New York City, U.S.
Occupations	Voice actor animator screenwriter
Years active	1932–1984
Notable work	Popeye the Sailor
Spouses	Margie Hines ​ ​ (m. 1939; div. 1950)​ Virginia Caroll ​ (m. 1950)​

Winfield Bennett Mercer^[1] (January 31, 1910 – December 7, 1984), known professionally asJack Mercer, was an American voice actor. He is best known as the voice of cartoon charactersPopeye the Sailor Man andFelix the Cat. The son ofvaudeville andBroadway performers, he also performed on the vaudeville and legitimate stages.

Mercer began his work incartoons as an "inbetweener", an apprentice animator atFleischer Studios. Mercer liked to imitate voices,^[2] including one close call when he mimicked the high-pitched and loud voice of the wife of one of the Fleischers after he mistakenly thought she had left the studio.

WhenWilliam Costello, the original cartoon voice of Popeye (1933–1935), became difficult to work with, he was dismissed. Mercer had begun imitating Costello's interpretation of Popeye, and he practiced it until his voice "cracked" just right and he had it down. Searching for a replacement for Costello,Lou Fleischer heard Mercer singing the Popeye theme song and gave him the job of doing the voice. Mercer's first cartoon was 1935'sKing of the Mardi Gras.

Mercer voiced Popeye for more than 40 years, first for the Fleischers, then forParamount'sFamous Studios cartoons (1942–1957), then for a series of television cartoons forKing Features Syndicate (1961), and finally for a Saturday-morning cartoon show (1978-1983) produced byWilliam Hanna andJoseph Barbera. Mercer also read the lines for the opening segment of the 1980the live action film; the film's regular role of Popeye was played byRobin Williams.

Mercer also did other cartoon voices. In thePopeye cartoons he also voiced Wimpy, Poopdeck Pappy, and Popeye's nephews. For Fleischer's feature filmGulliver's Travels he voiced King Little, Twinkletoes the carrier pigeon, and the bumbling spies Sneak, Snoop, and Snitch. He played supporting characters Mr. Bumble and Swat (the Fly) for Fleischer's second featureMister Bug Goes to Town. He was also regularly cast withPinto Colvig (who voicedGabby fromGulliver's Travels and thespinoffGabby film series). Mercer also played numerous supporting characters in Fleischer'sSuperman series of 1941–1942. Mercer's natural voice was relatively high-pitched for a man, and he was able to do some of the female voices as well.

Beginning in 1958 Mercer also provided all the voices for theFelix the Cat TV cartoons, including The Professor and Rock Bottom, produced by former Paramount animatorJoe Oriolo. Mercer later worked with Oriolo onThe Mighty Hercules.

In addition to his vocal talents, Mercer was also a prolific comedy writer. He wrote hundreds of scripts for various cartoon series atParamount, including a number ofPopeye episodes, as well as for television'sDeputy Dawg andMilton the Monster.

Jack Mercer appeared as himself on a 1973 episode ofTo Tell the Truth, receiving one of four possible votes.^[3]

Mercer's first wife wasMargie Hines, who provided the voice ofOlive Oyl from 1939 to 1944.^[4][5] They were divorced in 1950. He later married Virginia Caroll, and the couple remained married until Mercer's death in 1984.^[6]

Originally a resident of New York City, Mercer moved to Miami, Florida, when Fleischer Studios relocated there in 1938. After Famous Studios took over the Popeye cartoons, Mercer moved back to New York by early 1944. In the late 1970s he lived briefly in Los Angeles but moved back to New York City to live inWoodside, Queens.^{[citation needed]}

He died atLenox Hill Hospital inManhattan on December 7, 1984, afterstomach cancer-related problems.^[6]

• Grandinetti, Fred and Braun, Dan.I Yam What I Yam: The Works Of Jack Mercer, Popeye's Voice

• Jack Mercer atFind a Grave
• Jack Mercer atIMDb
• 1939 publicity photo of Mercer and Hines announcing their marriage
• Jack Mercer onTo Tell the Truth

• 1910 births
• 1984 deaths
• 20th-century American male actors
• 20th-century American screenwriters
• American male radio actors
• American male voice actors
• American television writers
• Animal impersonators
• Animators from Indiana
• Deaths from stomach cancer in New York (state)
• Famous Studios people
• Fleischer Studios people
• Hanna-Barbera people
• Male actors from Queens, New York
• Paramount Pictures contract players
• Popeye
• People from Woodside, Queens

• CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use American English from May 2024
• All Wikipedia articles written in American English
• Use mdy dates from May 2024
• Articles with hCards
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from October 2024