William H. Thompson (July 8, 1913 â€" July 15, 1971) was an American
voice actor, radio comedian and actor, whose career stretched from the
1930s until his death. He was a featured comedian playing multiple
roles on the Fibber McGee and Molly radio series, and was the voice of
Droopy in most of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer theatrical cartoons from
1943 to 1958.Thompson was born to vaudevillian parents and was of
Scottish ancestry. He began his career in Chicago radio, where his
early appearances included appearances as a regular on Don McNeill's
morning variety series The Breakfast Club in 1934 and a stint as a
choir member on the musical variety series The Sinclair Weiner
Minstrels around 1937. While on the former series, Thompson originated
a meek, mush-mouthed character occasionally referred to in publicity
as Mr. Wimple.Thompson soon achieved his greatest fame after he joined
the cast of the radio comedy Fibber McGee and Molly around 1936. On
Fibber McGee and Molly, Thompson brought back the Wimple voice in
1941, and essayed a variety of roles, including a boisterous conman
with a W. C. Fields voice, originally named Widdicomb Blotto but soon
re-christened Horatio K. Boomer, and Nick Depopulis, the Greek
restaurant owner. His two most famous roles on the series, however,
were as the Old Timer and Wallace Wimple. The Old Timer, introduced in
1937 was a garrulous old gent who dropped in and listened to McGee's
rambling stories and jokes. He inexplicably referred to McGee as
"Johnny", as in: "That's pretty good, Johnny, but that ain't the way I
heerd it!" This soon became a national catchphrase and surfaced in
Warner Bros. cartoon shorts, notably Tortoise Wins by a Hare in which
Bugs Bunny disguises himself as a bearded old man and tries to trick
the tortoise into telling him "how he beat that wabbit!")Wallace
Wimple, an expansion of Thompson's Breakfast Club role, was his most
enduring character. Wimple was a timid birdwatcher, appropriately
nicknamed "Wimp" by McGee, who lived in constant terror of his "big
old wife", nicknamed "Sweetie Face", who was often mentioned but never
heard. (The term wimp for an unmanly character was in common usage
already, as with the cartoon character J. Wellington Wimpy). The
character, whose greeting was a mild "Hello, folks", became very
popular, and inspired animation director Tex Avery to build a dog
character around the voice. This character, eventually named Droopy,
was also voiced by Thompson in most of his appearances. Thompson also
played the title role, an Adolf Hitler take-off, in Avery's Academy
Award-nominated short Blitz Wolf.
voice actor, radio comedian and actor, whose career stretched from the
1930s until his death. He was a featured comedian playing multiple
roles on the Fibber McGee and Molly radio series, and was the voice of
Droopy in most of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer theatrical cartoons from
1943 to 1958.Thompson was born to vaudevillian parents and was of
Scottish ancestry. He began his career in Chicago radio, where his
early appearances included appearances as a regular on Don McNeill's
morning variety series The Breakfast Club in 1934 and a stint as a
choir member on the musical variety series The Sinclair Weiner
Minstrels around 1937. While on the former series, Thompson originated
a meek, mush-mouthed character occasionally referred to in publicity
as Mr. Wimple.Thompson soon achieved his greatest fame after he joined
the cast of the radio comedy Fibber McGee and Molly around 1936. On
Fibber McGee and Molly, Thompson brought back the Wimple voice in
1941, and essayed a variety of roles, including a boisterous conman
with a W. C. Fields voice, originally named Widdicomb Blotto but soon
re-christened Horatio K. Boomer, and Nick Depopulis, the Greek
restaurant owner. His two most famous roles on the series, however,
were as the Old Timer and Wallace Wimple. The Old Timer, introduced in
1937 was a garrulous old gent who dropped in and listened to McGee's
rambling stories and jokes. He inexplicably referred to McGee as
"Johnny", as in: "That's pretty good, Johnny, but that ain't the way I
heerd it!" This soon became a national catchphrase and surfaced in
Warner Bros. cartoon shorts, notably Tortoise Wins by a Hare in which
Bugs Bunny disguises himself as a bearded old man and tries to trick
the tortoise into telling him "how he beat that wabbit!")Wallace
Wimple, an expansion of Thompson's Breakfast Club role, was his most
enduring character. Wimple was a timid birdwatcher, appropriately
nicknamed "Wimp" by McGee, who lived in constant terror of his "big
old wife", nicknamed "Sweetie Face", who was often mentioned but never
heard. (The term wimp for an unmanly character was in common usage
already, as with the cartoon character J. Wellington Wimpy). The
character, whose greeting was a mild "Hello, folks", became very
popular, and inspired animation director Tex Avery to build a dog
character around the voice. This character, eventually named Droopy,
was also voiced by Thompson in most of his appearances. Thompson also
played the title role, an Adolf Hitler take-off, in Avery's Academy
Award-nominated short Blitz Wolf.
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