Born Paul Wilchinsky on December 21, 1922, the son of Sol and Clara Wilchinsky, Paul Winchell grew up to be the most beloved ventriloquist of American children. Ironically, as famous as Paul was, his dummy, Jerry Mahoney, was probably more famous. Not since Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy in the previous two decades had a ventriloquist and his dummy known equal celebrity.
Entering the spotlight on the Edward Bowes “Original Amateur Hour” (1948), he began working soon after in a review show in which Major Bowes would showcase the winners of his radio program. He started his television career on the CBS program The Bigelow Show (1948) in 1948; The Paul Winchell Show (1950), originally called “The Spiedel Show,” in 1950; and, finally, the best-known of his shows Winchell-Mahoney Time (1965). With a clubhouse premise, his dummies Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff–another of Paul’s characters–as the clubhouse leaders, and the music of the bandleader Milton Delugg. A new innovation of Winchell’s was to replace the dummy’s hands with those of puppeteers who were hidden behind the dummies in a crate. Winch also played many serous dramatic roles on television without his dummy sidekicks.
What may be even more famous is that he created the voice of Tigger for the Walt Disney Company’s “Winnie The Pooh” motion-picture series, based on the famous books by A.A. Milne. He played the role behind the scenes until 1999, when he was replaced by Jim Cummings, who also voiced Pooh from the time that Sterling Holloway died. He was also the voice of many other world-famous cartoon characters.
A little-known fact about Winchell is that he was one of the original inventors of an artificial heart–years before the first successful transplant with such of a device–an automobile that runs on battery power, a method for breeding tilapia, and many other inventions that are still around today.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: MeanDean
Paul Winchell Biography / Wiki
Name | Paul Winchell |
Also Know | Paul Wilchinsky |
Gender | Male |
Known For | Acting |
Place of Birth | New York City, New York, USA |
Date of Birth | 1922-12-21 |
Age(as in 2022) | 82 |
Deathday | 2005-06-24 |
Paul Winchell Acting Movies
Movie Name | Character | Release Date | Overview |
Vernon’s Volunteers | Fire Chief Vernon | 1969-01-01 | A small American town provides the setting for a look at the antics of a group of volunteers who comprise the area’s only fire department…. |
My Smurfy Valentine | Gargamel (voice) | 1983-02-13 | What could be more smurfy than spending Valentine’s Day with the most lovable little blue creatures in all of the forest? In this half-hour animated s… |
The Tiny Tree | Turtle | 1975-12-14 | A little girl is injured in an accident and confined to a wheelchair. When Christmas arrives, the forest animals decorate a small tree outside her win… |
Killarney Blarney | Jamie / Timmy (voice) | 1973-05-16 | The shipwrecked Blue Racer spots an island and also spots two mischievous leprechauns giving the fast blue snake hard time…. |
Growing up with Winnie the Pooh: Love & Friendship | Tigger | 2006-05-23 | Join Winnie the Pooh and his pals as they learn about love and friendship in four whimsical animated tales that include “A Very, Very Large Animal,” i… |
Winnie the Pooh: Pooh Party | Tigger (voice) | 1994-02-15 | Pooh Party is the fourth volume of the Winnie the Pooh Playtime series. Episodes included: Party Poohper A Bird in the Hand A Pooh Day Afternoon… |
The Magical World of Winnie the Pooh: A Great Day of Discovery | Tigger | 2003-06-01 | Join all your pals from the Hundred Acre Wood as they laugh, play and learn important lessons in four enchanting adventures. What do you give a Tiger … |
Winnie the Pooh’s Spookable Fun | Tigger (voice) | 2000-11-06 | Winnie the Pooh’s Spookable Fun is a Walt Disney video release containing five terror-themed episodes of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, includ… |
The Wizard of Id | The King of Id/Peasant | 1971-09-02 | Short cartoon based on the comic strip by Johnny Hart and Brant Parker…. |
Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day | Tigger (voice) | 1968-12-20 | Winnie the Pooh and his friends experience high winds, heavy rains, and a flood in Hundred Acre Wood…. |
Blue Aces Wild | Wizard (voice) | 1973-05-16 | Feeling down about his reptilian appearance, Blue Racer wonders what it would be like to instead be a bird. Just then, a wizard appears out of thin ai… |
Dr. Seuss on the Loose | Sneetches / Sam-I-Am / Green Eggs and Ham Hater (voice) | 1973-10-15 | The pressure to conform, the inevitability of change, and the resistance to trying something new form the basis for the usual madcap adventures associ… |
Winnie the Pooh Frankenpooh | Tigger (voice) | 1999-01-01 | In “Frankenpooh”, it’s a dark night in the Hundred Acre Wood, and Piglet wants to tell a nice, not-so-scary story, but Tigger tells a very scary story… |
Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin | Tigger (voice) | 1997-08-05 | Pooh gets confused when Christopher Robin leaves him a note to say that he has gone back to school after the holidays. So Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore… |
Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too | Tigger (voice) | 1974-09-20 | Rabbit is tired of Tigger always bouncing him, so he gets Pooh and Piglet together to come up with an idea to get the bounce out of Tigger. Then, Tigg… |
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh | Tigger (voice) | 1977-03-11 | Whether we’re young or forever young at heart, the Hundred Acre Wood calls to that place in each of us that still believes in magic. Join pals Pooh,… |
Winnie the Pooh & Christmas Too | Tigger (voice) | 1991-12-14 | Pooh is so busy gathering up his friends’ wish lists for Santa that he forgets to include his own. After retrieving the list and adding his own desire… |
Winnie the Pooh: Un-Valentine’s Day | Tigger (voice) | 1995-01-10 | It’s the time of year when Pooh and his pals like to show how much they care. But Rabbit insists they cancel Valentine’s Day because of the flood of c… |
Stop! Look! and Laugh! | Paul Winchell | 1960-01-07 | Moe, Larry and Curly appear in short subjects linked by ventriloquist Paul Winchell and his dummies…. |
Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You | Tigger | 1999-02-12 | After Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Rabbit see Christopher Robin making a valentine for — gasp! — a girl, they find he’s been bitten by a “Smitten” and … |
Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose | 1987-12-18 | Yogi and the gang mistakenly board the famous Howard Hughes’ plane The Spruce Goose. They accidentally start the plane, so they decide to take it for … | |
Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore | Tigger (voice) | 1983-01-01 | Winnie the Pooh and friends decide to throw a birthday celebration for gloomy, old Eeyore…. |
The Aristocats | Chinese Cat (voice) | 1970-12-24 | When Madame Adelaide Bonfamille leaves her fortune to Duchess and her children—Bonfamille’s beloved family of cats—the butler plots to steal the… |
The Banana Splits in Hocus Pocus Park | Fleegle / Tree (voice) | 1972-11-25 | A girl named Susie goes to an amusement park and are greeted by a couple of costumed tour guides, The Banana Splits who take her on a tour of the park… |
The Smurfs Springtime Special | Gargamel (voice) | 1982-04-07 | The evil wizard Gargamel–who hates spring because it makes the Smurfs happy, and he hates happy–devises a scheme to put Mother Nature to sleep…. |
A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving | Tigger (voice) | 1998-11-22 | It’s Thanksgiving time in the Hundred Acre Wood and Winnie the Pooh and all his friends bring food for the big dinner. Piglet brings acorns, Pooh brin… |
The Smurfic Games | Gargamel (voice) | 1984-05-20 | The Smurfs engage in athletic competition to settle a dispute between both ends of the village over misquoted compound words, which turns deadly when … |
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: The Story Behind the Masterpiece | Himself – Voice of ‘Tigger’ | 2002-05-07 | The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: The Story Behind the Masterpiece is a behind-the-scenes documentary narrated by Corey Burton on the making of … |
The Man from Clover Grove | Jefferson Swickle | 1975-12-12 | A poor farmer, always inventing things. A lot don’t work but the toys he makes brings joy to the children at the local orphanage…. |
Winnie the Pooh: A Very Merry Pooh Year | Tigger (segment “Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too”) (voice) | 2002-01-01 | It’s Christmastime in the Hundred Acre Wood and all of the gang is getting ready with presents and decorations. The gang makes a list of what they wan… |
Growing Up with Winnie the Pooh: A Great Day of Discovery | Tigger | 2005-02-08 | Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Rabbit and others celebrate fun and friendship in the Hundred Acre Wood in these four stories. It’s the thought that counts for … |
Kingdom Chums – Little David’s Adventure | (voice) | 1986-11-28 | A 1986 television special inspired by the Biblical tale of David and Goliath, and originally broadcast on the ABC network in the United States. In the… |
Gummi Bears: A New Beginning | Zummi Gummi (voice) | 1986-07-18 | As Duke Igthorn plans an attack on King Gregor’s castle, Cavin (a page in the castle) is left in the woods after some of Igthorn’s ogres run off the H… |
Which Way to the Front? | Schroeder | 1970-09-03 | Brendan Byers III, one of the richest men in America, has been pronounced 4-F and can’t serve his country in its war against Hitler. Byers does not ta… |
The Flintstones: Wind-Up Wilma | Umpire / Thief / Reporter (voice) | 1981-10-04 | Wilma is a celebrity when she gets a shot at the big leagues and becomes a pitcher for the Bedrock Dodgers after nailing a couple of robbers with a me… |
The Fox and the Hound | Boomer (voice) | 1981-07-10 | When a feisty little fox named Tod is adopted into a farm family, he quickly becomes friends with a fun and adorable hound puppy named Copper. Life is… |
The Smurfs Christmas Special | Gargamel (voice) | 1982-12-13 | The Smurfs come to the rescue of two children and their grandfather when an evil mysterious stranger shows up and causes their sleigh to turn over, fo… |
Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving | Tigger (voice) | 1999-11-08 | A collection of Winnie the Pooh’s memorable holiday adventures, as Winnie, Piglet, and Tigger set out to find the right ingredients for Winter, Rabbit… |
Everything’s on Ice | Voice of Dummy | 1939-10-05 | Comedy about a little girl who’s uncle makes her an ice skating star, only to take all of her money…. |
Credit: TMDB
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