'HOKEY SMOKES!' THE MOOSE IS LOOSE, AND JUNE FORAY, ORIGINAL VOICE OF ROCKY, GETS SQUIRRELLY AGAIN - THIS TIME FOR THE BIG SCREEN.Byline: Rodney Richey Staff Writer When June Foray greets you at her Woodland Hills home, your first impression is that she could be somebody's sweet, white-haired granny. Until, that is, you hear ``Hokey hok·ey adj. hok·i·er, hok·i·est Slang 1. Mawkishly sentimental; corny. 2. Noticeably contrived; artificial. hok smokes, Bullwinkle!'' The voice is unmistakable. Yes, beneath that granny exterior is Rocky the Flying Squirrel Rocket J. Squirrel, usually called by the nickname "Rocky", is the name of the flying squirrel protagonist of the 1959-1964 animated television series Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show (both shows often referred to collectively as , pal to the gangly gan·gly adj. gan·gli·er, gan·gli·est Gangling. [Alteration of gangling.] Adj. 1. , bumbling moose. And while Jay Ward's enduringly popular cartoon ``The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle'' went off the air in 1964, Foray, a voice-over legend, has never stopped working. Now she's back as the voice of flying squirrel flying squirrel, name for certain nocturnal tree squirrels adapted for gliding; they do not actually fly. Most are found in Asia, but one species of the genus Pteromys extends into SE Europe and the two species of Glaucomys are found in North America. in the new Universal release ``The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle,'' which opens Friday. The new film is a blend of live action and animation directed by Tony Award winner Des McAnuff Desmond McAnuff (born June 19, 1952 in Princeton, Illinois) is a Tony award-winning director of such hit Broadway musicals as Big River and The Who's Tommy. (``Big River,'' ``The Who's Tommy'') from a script by Kenneth Lonergan Kenneth Lonergan (b. 16 October 1962) is a playwright, screenwriter, and director born in the Bronx, New York City, New York. He began writing in high school, later graduating from the NYU Playwriting Program. (``Analyze This''). It stars the very live-action Jason Alexander as Boris Badenov Boris Badenov is a fictional character in the 1960s animated cartoons Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show, collectively referred to as Rocky and Bullwinkle for short. He is voiced by Paul Frees. , Rene Russo as Natasha Fatale Natasha Fatale is a fictional character in the 1960s animated cartoons Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show, collectively referred to as Rocky and Bullwinkle for short. She is voiced by June Foray. and Robert DeNiro, who also produced the film, as Fearless Leader. Foray calls the original series, which ran from 1959 to 1964, ``one of the most sophisticated, mordantly mor·dant adj. 1. a. Bitingly sarcastic: mordant satire. b. Incisive and trenchant: an inquisitor's mordant questioning. 2. witty series that's ever been on the air. And it wasn't mean-spirited in any way.'' Nevertheless, she was thrilled to reprise re·prise n. 1. Music a. A repetition of a phrase or verse. b. A return to an original theme. 2. A recurrence or resumption of an action. tr.v. Rocky in a big-budget feature. ``I think that, if they had called somebody else, I think the whole world would have been disappointed,'' Foray says, with all due modesty. ``It wouldn't be Rocky.'' The original show's co-creator, Bill Scott, who was the voice of Bullwinkle, died in 1985; so comedian Keith Scott (no relation) has taken over for the film. ``I am always taken aback when I work with June in a recording studio,'' Scott says from his native Australia. ``There is always that childlike moment - 'Wow, I'm in the same booth with June Foray. Pinch me.' '' Foray and the younger Scott first performed the voices together during a recording session in 1992, for a Universal Studios Theme Park street show. It was the first recording of the voices since 1964. ``It sent shivers up and down my spine,'' says Tiffany Ward, daughter of the series' late co-creator Jay Ward who has also turned her dad's ``George of the Jungle'' and ``Dudley Do-Right'' properties into features. At the beginning of the movie, Rocky and Bullwinkle are in retirement, puttering around their house and ``not even getting residuals.'' Don't believe, though, that Foray has been puttering around her Woodland Hills house all this time, waiting for ``Rocky and Bullwinkle'' to come around again. She has never stopped working. On one recent Thursday, she had returned from doing the voice of a witch, Magica De Spell Magica De Spell is a fictional character of the Scrooge McDuck universe, a witch created by Carl Barks. She constantly steals or attempts to steal Scrooge McDuck's Number One Dime, which she believes will play a vital role in magically obtaining the same fabulous wealth of its , for a Disney CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). , only a week after post- production work as Granny on a new Warner Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) . direct-to-video feature, ``Tweety's High-Flying Adventure.'' Then there were the CD projects with Rhino Records. On July 7, Foray (who will only cop to being ``over 50'' though she's been listed as 81) receives her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a pavement along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States, which is embedded with more than 2,000 five-pointed stars featuring the names of not only human celebrities but fictional characters honored by , only the second cartoon voice performer to receive such an honor. (The other is the late Mel Blanc. Other voice performers who have stars, including Casey Kasem and ``Rocky'' regular Hans Conreid, received them for other aspects of their careers.) Foray also received a lifetime achievement award at the World Animation Celebration earlier this month in Los Angeles. Her career, which has included voicing characters such as Cindy-Lou Who in the original TV cartoon version of ``How the Grinch Stole Christmas,'' Lena Hyena hyena (hī-ē`nə), carnivorous, chiefly nocturnal mammal of the Old World family Hyaenidae. Although doglike in appearance, hyenas are more closely related to civets (family Viverridae) and cats (family Felidae) than to dogs (family in ``Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' and, more recently, Grandma Fa in Disney's ``Mulan,'' even included the neat trick of providing the voice for Mattel's Chatty Cathy doll, then parodying that voice as an evil ``Talking Tina'' doll in an episode of ``The Twilight Zone.'' A longtime friend, ``Laugh-In'' announcer Gary Owens, said that voice performers all over the city were planning to shut down work the morning of July 7 to attend the ceremony. ``She is so spectacular and so deserving of this star,'' Owens said. ``People just love her.'' Owens will be one of the speakers that day, along with Steve Allen, legendary animator Chuck Jones and comedy icon Stan Freberg. ``Beyond versatility, she's just a great actor,'' says Freberg. ``People think, 'Oh, well, she does voices.' Forget voices. That's just a tool of the actor. The basic thing that June is, is a great actor.'' Much of this acclaim has taken the former live-action actress by surprise. She had planned on a career in films, perhaps working with her husband, the late TV and screenwriter Hobart Donavan (``Escape to Burma''). She had even written a children's radio series, ``Lady Makebelieve,'' as a young performer. (Those rediscovered original scripts form the basis of her ``Tall and Small Tales'' stories, on audio cassettes via Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.) Voices, however, are her legacy. ``It seems I've always been popular but was unaware of it,'' she says. ``I get thousands of fan letters, from all over the world.'' A great deal of the fondness that her colleagues have for Foray comes from her willingness to help others. She has taught voice-over acting at such venues as USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. and the Learning Tree and occasionally furnishes voices for student films and teaches voiceover acting to inner-city kids. ``Anytime I can, I like to do that,'' Foray says. ``It justifies my own success.'' That success is the big surprise, though. It was during her recent recording session at Disney that Foray again encountered the fame she never expected. ``I was almost embarrassed. There were all these young people there, and they said that it was such a thrill and honor to meet me. And I've been getting that lately, and it's truly humbling. ``You know, if it weren't for these people, I probably wouldn't be where I am today. I'm very grateful. I've been an extremely fortunate human being.'' CAPTION(S): 4 photos Photo: (1 -- 2 -- cover -- color) A tale of voice and squirrel. Vocal talent June Foray sticks wiht something she really likes in new movie 'The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle' (3) June Foray, at home in Woodland Hills with a couple of close friends, is the voice of Rocket J. Squirrel in the upcoming animated-live action film ``The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.'' Says the popular and accomplished Foray: ``I'm very grateful. I've been an extremely fortunate human being.'' David Crane/Staff Photographer (4) no caption (Rocky) |
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