Jimmy MacDonald
Born	John James MacDonald (1906-05-19)May 19, 1906 Crewe,Cheshire, England
Died	February 1, 1991(1991-02-01) (aged 84) Glendale, California, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale
Citizenship	United Kingdom United States
Occupations	Foley artist voice actor
Years active	1934–1989
Spouse	Sarah Roberta Cullen ​ ​ (m. 1936)​

John James MacDonald (May 19, 1906 – February 1, 1991) was an English-Americanfoley artist and voice actor. He was the original head of theDisney sound-effects department and was also the second official voice ofMickey Mouse from 1947 to 1976 afterWalt Disney stopped playing the character and beforeWayne Allwine became the third voice of Mickey in 1977.^[7]

MacDonald was born on May 19, 1906, inCrewe,Cheshire.^[3][4] His parents were Richard William MacDonald and Minnie Hall. The family emigrated to America when MacDonald was a month old. They travelled via theSSHaverford fromLiverpool, England, arriving inPennsylvania 15 days later.

As a young man, MacDonald landed a job as a musician on the Dollar Steam Ship Lines, which in 1934 led to an opportunity to record music for a Disney cartoon. He went on to secure a permanent contract with Disney, becoming head of the sound department.

In addition to directing sounds for animated shorts as aurally complicated asMickey's Trailer (1938), he developed many original inventions and contraptions to achieve expressive sounds for characters such as Casey Jr., the circus-train engine fromDumbo (1941); Evinrude thedragonfly fromThe Rescuers (1977); the bees inWinnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966); and Buzz-buzz (later called "Spike"), the bee that gets the best ofDonald Duck in his 1950sshort films. He also made the sound effects of Tick Tock the crocodile fromPeter Pan (1953) and Dragon Maleficent fromSleeping Beauty (1959) by usingcastanets.

MacDonald also added voice effects, including on-screen humming forKirk Douglas in20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954).

Most of his effects are available onCartoon Trax Volume 1, from The Hollywood Edge, which was released in 1992. A few of his other effects showed up on other non-Disney sound libraries, such as the International Sound Effects Library, BBC Sound Effects Library, and the Hanna-Barbera Sound Effects Library, both fromSound Ideas. Some other releases containing MacDonald's sound effects include a few specialty sound-effect record releases fromDisneyland Records, most notablyChilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House.

At the time of his death, he was preparing to work on the sounds for the Splash Mountain attraction in Tokyo Disneyland and Walt Disney World.^[8][9]

James MacDonald did the first test yodeling for the dwarfs inSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) before they brought in professional yodelers^[10] as well as doing some sounds forDopey, such as his hiccupping and sobbing.^[11]

By 1947,Walt Disney was getting too busy and hoarse from smoking to continue voicingMickey Mouse, so he offered the job to MacDonald. MacDonald voiced Mickey Mouse until his retirement in 1976, when he was replaced by his sound-effects protégée,Wayne Allwine, forThe New Mickey Mouse Club.^[1][6] MacDonald returned to voice Mickey again, though, for an appearance at the50th Academy Awards in 1978 and the opening ofStar Tours at Disneyland in 1987.^[5] Despite formally retiring, MacDonald remained involved with several Disney productions; he voiced Evinrude fromThe Rescuers (1977) and was often consulted for sound-effects projects.^[12][8]

MacDonald was the original voice actor forChip, one half of the duo Chip and Dale. He provided the voice of Lumpjaw inFun and Fancy Free,Jaq and Gus the mice and Bruno the dog inCinderella (1950), theDormouse inAlice in Wonderland (1951),Humphrey the Bear, the howling of the dogs at the pound (along withThurl Ravenscroft) inLady and the Tramp (1955), the Wolf inThe Sword in the Stone (1963), and the hyena inBedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). He appeared in the filmToby Tyler (1960) as the Circus Band Drummer, but was uncredited^{[citation needed]} and appeared inFantasia (1940) as one of the musicians^[13]

MacDonald played drums in theFirehouse Five Plus Two jazz band. He played with the band on and off from its inception until it disbanded in the early 1970s. MacDonald also voiced Doc inSnow White's Enchanted Wish.

MacDonald married Sarah Roberta Cullen in 1936, they remained married until his death in 1991.^[12]

MacDonald died ofheart failure at his home inGlendale, California, on February 1, 1991, at the age of 84. He was buried in Glendale'sForest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.^[1]

• James MacDonald atIMDb
• Biography atDisney Legends website
• Jimmy MacDonald atFind a Grave
• The Voice of Mickey Mouse atThe Scotsman website
• The Voice of Mickey Mouse at BBC Radio Scotland

• 1906 births
• 1991 deaths
• 20th-century American male actors
• 20th-century British male actors
• American male voice actors
• Animal impersonators
• Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
• Dixieland drummers
• Firehouse Five Plus Two members
• Male actors from Cheshire
• People from Crewe
• British emigrants to the United States
• British male voice actors
• British sound designers
• Sound effects artists
• Walt Disney Animation Studios people
• American yodelers
• Motion Picture Sound Editors Career Achievement Award winners

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