George O' Hanlon

[Zen Man]

I was reading the comments for The Jetsons entry on the Jump the Shark website when I came I across this sad tidbit. I always read that Mr. O'Hanlon died of a stroke but had no idea that he was in such bad shape. This is what the person wrote...


Okay, here's the comment...

George O'Hanlon, the original George Jetson voice actor, came back in the late '80's to once again voice George jetson for the "Jetson's movie." By this time he was 77 years old and very ill, wheelchair bound and blind, yet, he was still in perfect voice as George Jetson.

Unable to read his scripts, he had the casting director in the booth read his lines for him and explain the acting of the scene, and George would parrot the line back to him for the take, in that perfect George Jetson voice.

On his last day on this Earth, Mr. O'Hanlon was in the recording booth repeating back lines as Jetson when he had a massive stroke. Seeing this happen in front of his very eyes, the casting director (who had been feeding him lines, remember?) shouted into the mic, "George! George!! Are you okay?!?" To which O'Hanlon, in perfect George Jetson voice responded, "George! George!! Are you okay!?!" and promptly slumped over, stone cold dead.

Jul 5, 2007 5:35 PM
Guest

:(

[DrTooth]

UGh... that is a terrible story. Very very sad to see someone die while on the job.

[Juu-kuchi]

Wow, he was that infirmed when he did the Jetsons in the 1980s. Amazing how he was able to perform like that.

[SF4Ever]

I was reading the comments for The Jetsons entry on the Jump the Shark website when I came I across this sad tidbit. I always read that Mr. O'Hanlon died of a stroke but had no idea that he was in such bad shape. This is what the person wrote...


Okay, here's the comment...

George O'Hanlon, the original George Jetson voice actor, came back in the late '80's to once again voice George jetson for the "Jetson's movie." By this time he was 77 years old and very ill, wheelchair bound and blind, yet, he was still in perfect voice as George Jetson.

Unable to read his scripts, he had the casting director in the booth read his lines for him and explain the acting of the scene, and George would parrot the line back to him for the take, in that perfect George Jetson voice.

On his last day on this Earth, Mr. O'Hanlon was in the recording booth repeating back lines as Jetson when he had a massive stroke. Seeing this happen in front of his very eyes, the casting director (who had been feeding him lines, remember?) shouted into the mic, "George! George!! Are you okay?!?" To which O'Hanlon, in perfect George Jetson voice responded, "George! George!! Are you okay!?!" and promptly slumped over, stone cold dead.

Jul 5, 2007 5:35 PM
Guest

:(

Obviously this had to be the reason Jeff Bergman(a.k.a. Bugs Bunny) was in the studio during the voice-over recording for Jetsons: the Movie. Some of George O'Hanlon Sr.'s lines for George Jetson had to be covered by Jeff Bergman, because George, himself, was in bad shape and terminally ill.

[Eric B]

I didn't even know the guy ever died and was replaced. Bergman was also the new Fred Flintstone, and he is a great replacement for Alan Reed. (Meanwhile, on the cereal commercials, they have someone else imitating Henry Corden).

[DrTooth]

I wonder why they didn't get Maurice LaMarche to play Fred in the Cereal commercials. I thought he did a pretty good job on that harvey Birdman episode. I don't like the new Cereal commercial VA. I don't think I've ever heard Jeff's Fred. Unless he played him on Family Guy.

[Eric B]

Jeff's Fred was on Cartoon Network promotionals (like where he and Scooby were lookign for a parking space); though some other promos were Corden), and "Flintstone on the Rocks". Sounds just like Reed at times. I don't know what this LeMarche sounds like.
But it seems Bergman is the new voice of classic cartoons. His Mel Blanc characters are fairly good, and his Elmer (Arthur Q Bryant) is excellent.