Linda Gary

American voice actress (1944–1995)
Charles Howerton
(m. 1967)
Children3

Linda Gary (born Linda Gary Dewoskin, November 4, 1944 – October 5, 1995)[1] was an American actress.[2][3][4]

Career

Live-action appearances

Gary worked as a voice-over artist in animation and also appeared in two live-action films, 1977's Joyride To Nowhere with husband Charles Howerton and 1980's Cruising[3] with Al Pacino. She lent her voice in such movies as Wolfen[3] and Switch.[3]

Radio

Linda played Dr. Maura Cassidy on Lee Hansen's Alien Worlds.

Voice-over work

Early career

She got her start dubbing Italian films into English while living in Rome with her husband Charles Howerton, then returned to the U.S. in 1974.

Gary started going to voice acting classes taught by Daws Butler. She later claimed "When I got my first voice over job, I just sent Daws the check...He believed in me, and I really have him to thank for my career."[5]

Hanna-Barbera

Gary voiced different characters on several Hanna-Barbera television series: Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo; The Smurfs as Dame Barbara in one episode; Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats as Mrs. Vandergelt; The Pirates of Dark Water, where she did additional voices; and SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron as Doctor Abby Sinian. She voiced Queen Morbidia & Nekara in The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo.

ABC Weekend Specials

ABC Weekend Special was a Saturday morning TV series that aired from 1977 to 1997. It featured stories in both the live-action and animated realms. Gary's voice could be heard on Scruffy, The Puppy Saves the Circus, The Amazing Bunjee Venture, The Return of the Bunjee, The Velveteen Rabbit and The Magic Flute.[3]

Disney

During the 1980s and 90's, Gary did several guest voice-over appearances in such Disney television series as Darkwing Duck,[3] DuckTales, TaleSpin, The Little Mermaid and Bonkers. She voiced a gazelle and a hippo on The Lion King tie-in read-along cassette story The Brightest Star. She also voiced Maleficent and the opening narrator in Fantasmic!. She voiced Muffy Vanderschmere in TaleSpin and Blender, Floor Lamp and Green Car in The Brave Little Toaster.

Read-Alongs

She narrated Disney read-along stories in 1977: Three Little Pigs, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and It's a Small World. She also narrated a quartet of the Rainbow Brite read-along stories.

Sunbow/Marvel Productions

Gary voiced several additional characters on the 1984 Transformers animated series. She also voiced Raven, a Cobra Night Raven pilot in the G.I. Joe episode "In the Presence of Mine Enemies".

Marvel Productions

Gary voiced Colleen in an episode of the short-lived 1981 Spider-Man with Ted Schwartz as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, and voiced Aunt May in the first season of the 1994-1998 Spider-Man with Christopher Daniel Barnes as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. She was later replaced by Julie Bennett.

Filmation

Her voice acting was mostly for the Filmation studio. She voiced characters in several of Filmation's TV series such as The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam!, Blackstar, and as the title character in Web Woman.

Gary voiced Jane on an episode of Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle.

She also did voice work on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (initially miscredited as "Linda Gray"[6]) and She-Ra: Princess of Power. She was reunited with fellow voice-over actors Alan Oppenheimer and George DiCenzo from BlackStar.[4] She provided many of the female voices on He-Man such as Teela, Evil-Lyn, the Sorceress of Castle Grayskull and Queen Marlena as well as several from She-Ra like Madame Razz, Glimmer, Shadow Weaver, Scorpia and Entrapta.

She voiced several films for Filmation such as He-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword, Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night, He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special[3] and Happily Ever After[3] as Critterina and Marina.

Universal Cartoon Studios

Gary voiced the role of Grandma Longneck in The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure,[3] The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving[3] and The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists.[3] She was later replaced by Miriam Flynn.

Video games

In video games, she provided voices in several adventure games such as King's Quest VI as the Oracle, Red Chess Queen, Mother Ghost and Queen Allaria, Thayer's Quest as Lady in the Woodlands and Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers as Grandma Knight/Tetelo.

Personal life

Gary was born in Los Angeles, California, on November 4, 1944. She married actor Charles Howerton on December 21, 1967, and had two daughters, Alexis and Dana.[4] Gary was also stepmother to Howerton's daughter from his previous marriage, Lynn Howerton.[4] She died of heart failure and complications of brain cancer on October 5, 1995, at her home in North Hollywood, California, at age 50. She is buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Hollywood Hills.[1]

Filmography

Voice over roles

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1971 Lady Frankenstein Tania Uncredited
1981 Wolfen ESS
1984 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Queen Selena, Old Lady 1985 English dub; uncredited
1985 The Secret of the Sword Teela, Queen Marlena, Sorceress of Castle Grayskull, Shadow Weaver, Glimmer, Madame Razz
1985 He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special Teela, Queen Marlena Television special
1987 Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night Bee Atrice
1988 Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats Mrs. Vandergelt
1989 Happily Ever After Critterina / Marina
1991 Switch God
1993 The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Other Stories Narrator
1994 The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure Grandma Longneck
1995 The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving Grandma Longneck Posthumous release
1996 The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists Grandma Longneck Posthumous release, (final film role)

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1976–1980 Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle Jane
1981–1989 The Smurfs Dame Barbara (seasons 2 and 3), Chlorhydris (seasons 3–8) Name misspelled in credits as "Linda Gray."
1981 Blackstar Mara, Taleena, Amber, Storm, Leilanna
1981 Spider-Man Colleen
1983 The Dukes Additional voices (Season 1)
1983–1984 The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show Additional voices
1983–1985 He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Teela, Evil-Lyn, Queen Marlena, Sorceress of Castle Grayskull, additional characters
1985–1986 She-Ra: Princess of Power Scorpia, Entrapta, Madame Razz, Shadow Weaver, Glimmer, additional characters
1985–1986 The Transformers Chromia, Fairy-tale princess, Witch, Disco Girl #2
1991–1993 The Pirates of Dark Water Additional voices
1992-1994 Batman: The Animated Series Additional voices
1993-1994 SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron Dr. Abby Sinian
1994 Spider-Man Aunt May

Video games

Year Title Role Notes
1984 Thayer's Quest Lady in the Woodlands
1992 King's Quest VI Oracle, Red Chess Queen, Mother Ghost, Queen Allaria
1993 Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers Grandma Knight / Tetelo

Theme parks

Year Title Role Notes
1995 Disney's Fantillusion Maleficent
1998 Fantasmic! Maleficent, Opening Announcer

Live action roles

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1971 My Name Is Rocco Papaleo Jenny
1977 Joyride to Nowhere Boutique Clerk
1980 Cruising
1981 Smokey Bites the Dust Woman Sheriff
1996 Father Frost Storyteller

References

  1. ^ a b "OBITUARIES AND MEMORIALS: Linda Gary, SAG Board Member, 50". Back Stage. 36 (41): 54. October 13, 1995.
  2. ^ Sandra Brennan (21 November 2015). "Linda Gary Biography". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2015-11-21.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Linda Gary Filmography". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-11-17.
  4. ^ a b c d Kahn, Ellie (1987-03-12). "Linda Gary Breaths Life Into Characters With Off-Camera Acting". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-03-24.
  5. ^ "Versatility in Voice : Linda Gary Breaths Life into Characters with Off-Camera Acting". Los Angeles Times. 12 March 1987.
  6. ^ "He Man - Trivia - He Man in Hollywood!", He Man Official on YouTube, 23 April 2015.

External links

  • Linda Gary at IMDb
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International
  • VIAF
National
  • United States