Gloria Wood (September 8, 1923 â€" March 4, 1995) was an American
singer and voice actress. Her rare voice was in the four-octave range.
She was able to imitate other voices.Born in Medford, Massachusetts in
1923, her father was Robert E. Wood, a Boston radio singer in the
1920s, who with wife Gertrude Anderson-Wood, was the influence which
had encouraged both Gloria and her older sister Donna to cultivate
their vocal skills. Shortly after leaving high school in 1941, Gloria
joined Donna in The Horace Heidt Band. In 1947, Kay Kyser offered
Gloria the emotional problem of replacing Donna in his Campus Kids
vocal group when she died on April 8, 1947 at the age of 29. Wood also
became the lead singer for Kyser on occasion and enjoyed several hits.
She went on to become one of the members of The Rhythmaires vocal
group which worked with Bing Crosby for almost ten years. Crosby would
occasionally showcase her apart from the group, notably on the Philco
shows of March 17 and 31, 1948 when, in duet with him, she reprised
her Kyser success, "Saturday Date." They sang another of her Kyser
hits, "On a Slow Boat to China" on Philco June 1, 1949. She can also
be heard on Crosby's 1950 recording and subsequent air checks of
"Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," where she supplies the voice of
Rudolph. Her recording of "The Woody Woodpecker Song" with Kyser's
orchestra sold more than 4 million copies.Wood also had an extensive
film career as a ghost singer, her earliest venture in this field
being in Diamond Horseshoe. Uncredited, she is the voice of Adele
Jergens in The Bowery Boys movie, Blues Busters; and one of the voices
(with Trudy Stevens) of Vera-Ellen in White Christmas. Twice she was a
partial stand-in for Marilyn Monroe in River of No Return and Let's
Make Love. She appears in Gaby singing "Where or When," and sang for
one of the twins in The Parent Trap, Ladyfish in The Incredible Mr.
Limpet and Lucille Ball's young nephew in Mame.Wood recorded more than
2,500 singing commercials both on radio and television. One of the
best known of these was for Rice-A-Roni (…the San Francisco treat);
but she may be best remembered as the voice of the orbiting Tinker
Bell in the Peter Pan peanut butter ads. Wood was utilized on numerous
cartoons, beginning in 1948 in Walter Lantz's Wet Blanket Policy,
where she was heard singing the famous Woody Woodpecker Song. On
television, Wood supplied various voices for The Bugs and Daffy Show
and That's Warner Bros.!; as well as that of Minnie Mouse and other
characters on several Walt Disney programs. Wood wed in 1955, and it
was around this time that she joined The Johnny Mann Singers.
singer and voice actress. Her rare voice was in the four-octave range.
She was able to imitate other voices.Born in Medford, Massachusetts in
1923, her father was Robert E. Wood, a Boston radio singer in the
1920s, who with wife Gertrude Anderson-Wood, was the influence which
had encouraged both Gloria and her older sister Donna to cultivate
their vocal skills. Shortly after leaving high school in 1941, Gloria
joined Donna in The Horace Heidt Band. In 1947, Kay Kyser offered
Gloria the emotional problem of replacing Donna in his Campus Kids
vocal group when she died on April 8, 1947 at the age of 29. Wood also
became the lead singer for Kyser on occasion and enjoyed several hits.
She went on to become one of the members of The Rhythmaires vocal
group which worked with Bing Crosby for almost ten years. Crosby would
occasionally showcase her apart from the group, notably on the Philco
shows of March 17 and 31, 1948 when, in duet with him, she reprised
her Kyser success, "Saturday Date." They sang another of her Kyser
hits, "On a Slow Boat to China" on Philco June 1, 1949. She can also
be heard on Crosby's 1950 recording and subsequent air checks of
"Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," where she supplies the voice of
Rudolph. Her recording of "The Woody Woodpecker Song" with Kyser's
orchestra sold more than 4 million copies.Wood also had an extensive
film career as a ghost singer, her earliest venture in this field
being in Diamond Horseshoe. Uncredited, she is the voice of Adele
Jergens in The Bowery Boys movie, Blues Busters; and one of the voices
(with Trudy Stevens) of Vera-Ellen in White Christmas. Twice she was a
partial stand-in for Marilyn Monroe in River of No Return and Let's
Make Love. She appears in Gaby singing "Where or When," and sang for
one of the twins in The Parent Trap, Ladyfish in The Incredible Mr.
Limpet and Lucille Ball's young nephew in Mame.Wood recorded more than
2,500 singing commercials both on radio and television. One of the
best known of these was for Rice-A-Roni (…the San Francisco treat);
but she may be best remembered as the voice of the orbiting Tinker
Bell in the Peter Pan peanut butter ads. Wood was utilized on numerous
cartoons, beginning in 1948 in Walter Lantz's Wet Blanket Policy,
where she was heard singing the famous Woody Woodpecker Song. On
television, Wood supplied various voices for The Bugs and Daffy Show
and That's Warner Bros.!; as well as that of Minnie Mouse and other
characters on several Walt Disney programs. Wood wed in 1955, and it
was around this time that she joined The Johnny Mann Singers.
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