Dave here, with some sad news. Don't mean to bring you folks down, but one of those folks who made me laugh as a kid has passed away. Incidentally, this news didn't reach us until today, although it was released on the 8th of this month.
There's an article from Reuters, which I've included below, with information about his other roles, but I knew him as three cartoon characters as a kid, three of my favorites.
First, there was Garfield the cat, which he brought to life perfectly. Then he voiced Peter Venkman of The Real Ghostbusters. Taking over a characterization from someone with as great a comedic voice as Bill Murray was impressive in and of itself, but Lorenzo Music did such a fine job, that when he was replaced by another voice actor, I couldn't watch the show anymore. It was just the wrong voice, it didn't feel like Peter Venkman anymore, because Lorenzo had made the character his own. Finally, I knew him as Tummi Gummi, of the Gummi Bears.
I still remember tons of lines, etched into my memory by his relaxed and distinctive voice. Like when Tummi Gummi and Cubbi were racing along in their underground transport system, and Cubbi, seeing a waterfall, yelled, "Duck!" Tummi didn't duck, and ended up with a fish in his mouth, replying, "That's not a duck, it's a fish."
It's not Shakespeare, but it made me laugh myself onto the floor. Not the line, the voice. The delivery. Voice acting in animation is a crucial, if too often overlooked, element, and Lorenzo Music was a prime example of a voice matching the characters he played perfectly.
He wasn't the biggest star, but as American voice actors go, he was one of my favourites. When I listened to him, he made me laugh, made me happy, and, I'm really sad to hear that he's gone. He will be missed. Our sympathies go out to all of his friends and family.
-Dave Alvarado, El Cosmico
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lorenzo Music, the Emmy-winning writer and actor who played the oft drunk and oft heard but never seen doorman "Carlton" on the popular 1970s sitcom "Rhoda," has died of bone cancer, a spokesman said on Tuesday. Music, who died on Saturday, was 64 years old.
"He was one of the most lovingly eccentric people I've ever known, a one-of-a-kind," said Jess Danis, Music's agent at ICM. "He was seemingly irreplaceable in our business."
Music was a co-creator and a writer for "Rhoda," which was a spinoff of the original "Mary Tyler Moore Show." The hit sitcom starred Valerie Harper as a struggling New York designer, but it also showcased Music as the ever-inebriated disembodied doorman voice over the intercom.
Music was heard in numerous episodes, usually with the preface, "This is Carlton, your doorman."
Music was known for other vocal work, including the voice of Garfield the Cat in more than a dozen prime-time animated specials.
He appeared on the Saturday morning "Garfield and Friends" show, which was on CBS for seven years.
Music was also the voice of the crash-test dummies on the buckle-your-seatbelt ad campaign.
The Brooklyn-born Music won an Emmy in 1969 as a writer for "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour."
After joining the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" as a junior writer, he teamed with David Davis to co-create and co-produce "The Bob Newhart Show."
Music and his wife, Henrietta also wrote the theme music for the "Bob Newhart Show."
Music is survived by his wife and four children.
