Disneyland Commentary

A Mouse Loses His Voice

May 30, 2009

On Tuesday, May 19th, Disneyland websites, one by one, began to put up announcements on the passing of a man named Wayne Allwine.  Personally, I had never heard the name but as read each announcement, the voice of his character resonated in my head.  For 32 years, Wayne was the official voice of Mickey Mouse.  Any time you heard Mickey's voice in anything related to Disney - television, movies, theme parks, parades, it was always Wayne behind the voice.

Officially, Wayne was only the third voice of Mickey since the character was created in 1928.  Wayne took over the job from his mentor at Disney sound effects, Jimmy MacDonald who had been voice of Mickey the previous 30 years who had taken over from the original Mickey Mouse voice - Walt Disney himself.

Even though he had an inside track to the job, apparently Wayne still technically interviewed for the job and what impressed the people at Disney was his endearing love and respect of the little mouse and that being the voice of Mickey was an honor and privilege that would only last a limited amount of time for a character who would go on forever.  On website after website, I read one of his quotes that started with the words "You go to love the little guy.....".  Wayne truly did.

And his love extended to his wife, Russi Taylor, who had been his constant companion for the last 20 years.  Constant?  Yes, Russi Taylor is the voice of Minnie Mouse.

The two of them together made wonderful ambassadors for the Disney family.  As I looked through some photographs of the two of them taken at various Disney events through the years, you would always see the smile on their faces, and you could feel the joy they had in their hearts doing something the loved.  The tributes of the people who knew them were positively glowing.  And all this was done against the backdrop of Wayne's terminal case of diabetes which is what eventually took his life.

Wayne was 62 years old at the time of his death - a story that is wonderful, touching, and in the end, a little sad.  

It should be noted that through the years, the were other Mickey voices other than the 3 official voices of Wayne, Jimmy, and Walt but many years ago Disney made one of those corporate decisions born out of wisdom.  The visitors of Disneyland watching a Mickey parade simply could not hear a different voice from those watching Fantasmic in Disney World.  No matter where you are in the Disney universe, you always heard the exact same voice.  And for 32 years, that voice belonged to Wayne.