Clarence Nash

Nash at San Diego Comic Con 1982

Clarence Charles "Ducky" Nash (born December 7, 1904 in Watonga , Oklahoma , † February 20, 1985 in Burbank , California ) was an American vocal artist who became famous for his voice for Donald Duck . He joined the Walt Disney Company in 1932 after personally performing some of his animal voices in front of Walt Disney . The imitations led Disney to make Nash the voice of the newly created Donald Duck . Nash spoke this role among others until 1983.

A street is named after him in his hometown. He himself once said: "I wanted to be a doctor, but instead I became the greatest quack in the world!"

Life

Clarence Nash was born on December 7, 1904 in Watonga, Oklahoma, on his parents' farm. Even as a child, he passed the time imitating the animals on the farm. When Nash was nine years old, the family moved to Glasgow , Missouri , and a year later to Independence . By the age of twelve, he mastered the voices of dogs , cats , chicks , horses and raccoons, among other things . When he was given a little billy goat , he imitated that voice too and mixed words into the bleating.

In the next few years he first demonstrated his skills in the schoolyard before a school talent competition prompted him to perform in front of a larger audience. Already here he had great success with the voice of the sheep Mary . He later left school to tour the Midwest of the country as a mandolin player and animal imitator with the Red Path Chautauqua and Lydeum groups . The groups disbanded in the late 1920s, much to Nash's regret.

In 1930 he married his girlfriend Margie and promised her that he would give up show business in order to get a permanent job and a place to live. The search for a job led first to San Francisco , then to Los Angeles . There he was employed by the Adohr Milk Company , for which he advertised with the help of a moving milk cart. One day, he spontaneously auditioned at the Disney studios, whereupon the film producer found his sheep voice to be ideal for a new character, a little duck. The impersonator became Disney's 125th employee on December 2, 1933.

Some problems had to be solved. So he had to learn to croak in many different languages. According to his own statements, he found German the hardest. The length of the words had to be adapted exactly to the drawn dialogues, which was also associated with difficulties. Furthermore, was Donald severely limited vocabulary s because certain words just were not clearly speak with his voice, and was subject to strict censorship.

Nash worked in numerous films until, from 1962, only sporadic new works were drawn. Nash went on to speak to Donald on various projects, for example he sang the song Macho Duck on the Mickey Mouse Disco album. He last spoke the drake in 1983 for the Charles Dickens adaptation of Mickey's Christmas story (original title: Mickey's Christmas Carol ). In the late 1970s, Nash was known for taking frequent walks around Fremont Elementary School in Glendale , California , where he lived until his death while entertaining children with his voice. Furthermore, he traveled around the world with a Donald doll and gave appearances in schools, hospitals and orphanages.

In 1983 he was presented with a plaque of honor by President Ronald Reagan in the White House .

Nash died of leukemia on February 20, 1985 in Burbank . He is buried in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills , Los Angeles. Today he shares his grave with his wife, who died in 1993. A Donald is engraved on the headstone who is holding hands with Daisy Duck .

meaning

Clarence Nash played a major role in the development of the character Donald Duck . It was he who gave the drake an artistic side and made it appear in numerous films with songs, singing and instruments (for example in Donald, the Caballero ). In recent years, the impersonator even wanted a film in which the cartoon character would only sing famous operas, but the project was never realized.

Donald Duck is still associated with the voice of Clarence Nash around the world today . Because of this fact, the studio named him " Disney Legend " ("Disney Legend"). This honors very important and classic contributors to Disney projects for the development of the studio. Nash's face and name were already known to the audience from the film The Dragons Against Will (1941), where he can be seen on a sound recording together with Florence Gill and exchanges a few words with the main actor Robert Benchley . In the 1950s , Nash was a frequent guest not only as a voice, but also in person on Disney television shows, especially in the Mickey Mouse Club .

Nash always emphasized that the "laughter and joy of the audience and Donald's fame" were "enough reward" for him.

Donald after Clarence Nash

After the voice artist's death in 1985, Tony Anselmo started working as Donald's spokesman. He had previously been trained personally by Nash and spoke the nephews Tick, Trick and Track for many years . The spokesman Jimmy Weldon , Frank Welker and Luba Goy related to the nature of their synchronous speech again and again to the artist. For example, Weldon's Yakky Doodle for Hanna-Barbera became known . Nevertheless, Nash is still the drake's most famous voice today.

Other characters

In addition to Donald , Nash initially also spoke Daisy Duck when she was little more than a female Donald , as well as the three nephews Tick, Trick and Track . He also performed the meowing of the kitten Figaro in a few short appearances, spoke dogs in 101 Dalmatians , birds in the Tiki room of Disneyland and a toad in Bambi . At times he also quacked numerous other ducks on television and radio. Sometimes the voice of Tom and Jerry's intermittent third protagonist , Little Quacker , is mistakenly ascribed to Nash because it sounds similar to Donald Duck's .

literature

• Walt Disney et al .: Donald Duck. 50 years and not a bit quiet. Unipart-Verlag, Remseck 1984, ISBN 978-3-8122-0144-5 .

Documentary film

• The man behind Donald: Clarence "Ducky" Nash (Original title: The Man Behind the Duck ). American video documentary by and with Leonard Maltin from 2004. Director: Jeff Kurtti , approx. 6 minutes - the short documentary is in Germany on the double DVD edition Walt Disney Treasures: Donald through the ages. Published 1934-1941

Web links

• Clarence Nash as a Disney legend
• Clarence Nash in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Nash's filmography on the New York Times website
• Photo of his grave in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery

Individual evidence

1. ↑ watonga.com
2. ↑ ^{a b} legends.disney.go.com
3. ↑ Burt A. Folkart: 50-Year Career: Clarence Nash, Donald Duck's Voice, Dies. LA Times, February 21, 1985, accessed August 10, 2018.