Paul Winchell
Acting
Born 1922-12-21
Died 2005-06-24
New York City, New York, USA
97 credits
Read biography
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
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Filmography
— top 60 of 97
Perry Mason
The Mike Douglas Show
The Donna Reed Show
Love, American Style
The Lucy Show
What's My Line?
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Smurfs
Garfield and Friends
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears
The Colgate Comedy Hour
The Jetsons
Here's Lucy
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The Aristocats
The Brady Bunch
The Ed Sullivan Show
McMillan & Wife
Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines
77 Sunset Strip
The Dean Martin Show
Droopy, Master Detective
Ghost Story
The Fox and the Hound
Lights Out
Heathcliff
The Hollywood Palace
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Wacky Races
Your Show of Shows
Nanny and the Professor
Spider-Man
Hong Kong Phooey
Wake, Rattle, and Roll
Joe Forrester
Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin
The Banana Splits Adventure Hour
Fender Bender 500
Winnie the Pooh: A Very Merry Pooh Year
Yogi's Treasure Hunt
Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving
Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch!
The Perils of Penelope Pitstop
The Oddball Couple
Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch
Clue Club
The Lone Ranger
The Robonic Stooges
Goober and the Ghost Chasers
Trollkins
Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You
Shake, Rattle and Roll
Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day
Winnie the Pooh: Frankenpooh
The Smurfs: Baby's First Christmas
Winnie the Pooh: Spookable Fun
Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore
Winnie the Pooh & Christmas Too
Which Way to the Front?
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