WDW Radio # 801 - Pete Renaday, Disney voice actor (Country Bear Jamboree, 20,000 Leagues, TTA an...

what we're gonna do right here is go back way back back into time hello my friend and welcome to another episode from the WW radio archives I am L Melo and this is show number 8001 and each week I'm going to select an evergreen episode to share with you that maybe you haven't heard before or one that you haven't heard in a long time from interviews to top 10's relevant reviews guides Wayback machines and more it's a great way to visit or revisit some of our favorite episodes including ones that youve suggested that I share from the archives and sometimes the episodes from the archives are timely but for sad reasons because this week I'm sharing a special episode that's from show 232 back in 2011 in honor of legendary voice actor Pete renaday who passed away on September 8th a Pete's iconic voice brought life to so many Unforgettable characters in both Walt Disney World and Disneyland including Henry from the country bear jambur Walt Disney World's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea as Captain Nemo the Hall of Presidents as Abraham Lincoln the Disneyland version of The Many Adventures of V the Pooh and the Walt Disney story as narrator the Tomar land Transit Authority Adventure through interpace and the mark twin Riverboat and he was also the ghost host but on the Haunted Mansion album which I still have and love and I feel very fortunate to have been able to have have Pete share his story in his own words and iconic voice as he talks about his Incredible Journey from meeting Walt Disney to his work on animated films and iconic attractions so in honor of Pete just refrained from hibernating and let's enjoy the show cuz he still got a lot to give I'd love to hear from you which of Pete's voices is the one that you like or recognize most you can share your thoughts in the clubhouse over at ww radio.com Clubhouse or call the voicemail at 47900 9391 that's 47900 WW1 and share your story I'll play it on the show please visit ww radio.com and sign up for my free weekly email newsletter so you don't ever miss a thing it's the best and really only way to make sure you don't miss a thing about not just content but contests events live broadcasts and more please connect and chat with me on social I'm Lum mongello on Instagram Facebook and Linkedin and visit Lum angelo.com if you're looking for a speaker or if you're a Creator entrepreneur or solopreneur looking to take your business brand or idea to the next level and as always if there's ever anything I can do for you please reach out and let me know but for now sit back relax and enjoy this week's episode from the archives on the WW radio [Music] show well it's about time Howdy Folks welcome to the one and only original country B jamere presented by pepsicola and Frito featuring a bit of americ Walt Disney World is a true multi-sensory Experience One in which we enjoy Disney storytelling through rich immersive three-dimensional environments in which we play an active role and that storytelling and attractions is told not just by what we see but certainly by what we hear and as many of the rides and attractions use audio animatronic figures or narration the voice actors that are used are of Paramount importance to tell those stories and one of the most prolific and recognized voices in both Walt Disney World and Disneyland is my next guest he has played everything from a bear to a captain to an American president and he is of course Mr Pete rened Mr rened welcome to the wdw radio show thank you very much Lou it's a pleasure I will tell you that I almost wanted to call you Henry or Mr President but uh we will certainly get to some of those roles in a little bit but I wanted to first ask you you know growing up I think every kid thinks that they can do voices whether it's their own funny voice or ones that they imitate from TV or movies what about you I mean how did you sort of get started doing your voiceover work did it did it start from being a kid well no not really U although I did try to do Mickey's voice when I was a kid but I I guess every kid tries to do that uh I didn't really get started in voiceovers until quite a bit later my whole Focus was on acting and and uh when I came out to California movies and TV on camera and it was through Disney's that I got into the voice over things and that got to be more and more work for me there and I finally realized that hey not only am I getting more work I much prefer it to being on camera so you know I just gravitated to that eventually and are you were you in Southern California or I was in Southern California the whole time yeah after I finished with college and finished with the Army two years and I came out here and uh within days I happen to get a job at Disney's just as a messenger I just needed a job and uh got a job at Disney as a messenger and stayed there for the next 32 years you know we all hear about that that fairy tale of working in the mail room and working your way up how do you go from being a messenger at the studios to voiceover work well I think with in my case it uh was possible because in those days we had what was called the Disney players it was an amateur theatrical group that used to do just one player a year but the benefits went to Walt's favorite charity the John Tracy clinic and I started being cast in shows there uh Light Up the Sky uh Glass Menagerie we even did one time which was unusual because they were all light comedies as a rule but then Walt wanted us to Stage the happiest millionaire which had they had bought the rights to the play from New York and he had never seen it so he wanted to see what it looked like on stage and the director at that time John Russ said oh wal we'd love to do it for you but we don't have anybody to play the the father's part the mayor lead and Walt said uh oh I'll get Brian Keith and he did he got Brian Kei to come over and do the thing for nothing and I played the uh what wound up being John Davidson's role in the movie later on so they got used to seeing me on stage and then they'd call me down to do a few lines or read temp tracks a lot of temp tracks for a while temporary and from there I gravitated to actually getting paid for them and so you you mentioned Walt Disney's name I I would be remiss if I didn't ask you if you ever had a chance to meet him and if so what was that first encounter like well it's strange because the day I was hired I was reporting into the traffic what they call then traffic The Messengers uh location right in the middle of the animation building on the first floor they're not there now needless to say but I thought to myself you know one of these days I may actually walk I may see Walt Disney himself and I opened the animation door and there he was coming toward me my first the first person I saw was Walt Disney and that of course it was probably two months before I saw him again but uh but we yeah he got to he'd come to see the shows and come backstage after and shake hands with everybody and pay a few compliments so that's that was my only real contact with Walt at the time certainly you know when you pass him in the hall is one thing but when he comes back to congratulation congratulate you on her performance there has to be somewhat I assume overwhelming at I mean certainly our view of Walt now may have been different than when he was still there before he had done so many other things but it still must have been you know a moment one of those memorable moments for you oh it was a thrill it was a thrill in fact I remember the first show I did there which was Light Up the Sky i' had been doing you know shows in community theater and college and never was really prone to be nervous at all and that night when we opened up and I'm thinking wait a minute Walt Disney is sitting out there right now I felt my first bit of stage right that lasted n two minutes but uh it it did make an impression on me Walt Disney is sitting out there right now but uh he was always very nice to was very complimentary and so you uh you're performing on on in stage performances for Walt Disney no pressure um how do you move over to start doing some of the other voiceover work and what is really your first role doing the voiceovers well let's see gosh my first one uh I remember I was called to do the uh the Milkman for Aristocats and I also worked for Ward Kimble and Dad can I bar the car I think that's the first time I ever got screen credit for any of my voiceover stuff I had worked as an actor on camera back in 19 64 before I worked for Disney uh I was still working at Disney's but I took the week off to do an episode of combat which was the first thing I ever did as a professional actor the casting director Marvin page had seen me on stage at the melr and uh called me over and I was cast in that one episode of combat Robert loer was a guest star and uh that was the first thing I did then from there the next thing I did was my little part in Robinson cruso usn at Disney's and that was due to uh at least I was told uh Ron Miller had seen me in the plays and said H let Pete do this part he can do this so that was nice right place right time always see exactly talent and luck definitely have to come together for these things oh luck luck is a big factor well you so tell me the uh the how the sort of the fortuitous thing happens that you start doing something which no one had really done before you know Walt Disney opens a themed Park you know he's gone beyond live action and animation brought these stories to life how do you start working to do voiceover work now for either narrations or these audio animatronic figures yes well the first and the biggest of course was Henry for the country bear jeree and I have a feeling since Henry was the first bear they they used as a prototype to work out all the action and the hand movement the mouth movs the ey mov was coordinating they used me to do the temp track Again temp track and I think they just got so used to hearing my voice they couldn't hear anybody else's it took him two years or something to program Henry and by that time oh we can't hear any other voice but peace now so let's just use it and uh that's how I got Henry's and then they called me over later on to do Abraham Lincoln's which quite honestly I tried to come as close to Royal Doos as I could because that's all I could hear all I could hear was Royal do in my head but uh yeah you have real no other frame of reference for you know President Lincoln other than what you've heard in the past yeah well we had Raymond Massie from the movie and Henry Fonda as young Abe Lincoln but Raymond Massie and Henry Fonda they're not they're not doing any voice really but Royal to me Royal was it's a shame I always thought it was really a shame that he never got to do Lincoln on camera cuz he looked like him and uh the only time he did was on a funny Lucy show I Love Lucy where she was having a dream and he shows up as a Lincoln but I thought what a shame somebody should have used him somewhere along the way as Lincoln but you actually you continued Your Role a few times over on stage and on TV as as President Lincoln didn't you uh on TV and on stage both I did the Rivalry and I did uh a show that was a tribute to Lincoln on Lincoln's birthday one year but uh yeah Bob uh shiffer who was a makeup man at Disney helped me with that because I don't really look that much like Lincoln and with you know you get them all on the cheek you get the the beard with no mustache and you're darken the hair and I got away with it uh but I really enjoyed doing the Rivalry and Norman Corwin who had written the play came backstage I had no idea he was there and said uh I enjoyed your performance every bit as much as Richard Boon's Richard Boon had played it on [Laughter] Broadway and let's just uh let's just jump back to Henry uh real quick because certainly it's one of the roles that is still going on now one of the ones you're you're most recognized for uh we all know that that the country bear concept was originally intended for Walt Mineral King ski resort that never was built did you start working on it for that project or for Walt Disney World the bear band bears are ready they're set to serenade Zeke and z and Ted and Fred and the name Lemonade clap your hands your feet to the toe andym well I was for Disneyland first they were they had the the opening of Disneyland in the Country Bear area you know and of course they always had two shows running simultaneously back to back uh at Walt Disney at Disneyland and it's far as I know it's still there I'm not sure is it still running at Walt Disney still it still runs pretty much exactly the way you recorded it so many years ago wow that's and we did the three shows the first one was the original country bear show then they did a Christmas show then they did a vacation show well they didn't call it a Christmas show it was a holiday show I guess then the vacation holdown or whatever it was right and uh that was kind of in a in vain it got a little more there were things particularly in the holiday show where you sing pop songs or or secular songs for Christmas uh but yeah I got to do a little bit more singing and the other and the other although as I listened to the track for the original I thought oh yeah I forgot about that uh we did record that song didn't we and I was working with the Weavers who were an authentic Country Western Group sure uh but after that it got to be you know thorough of of course was there and the oldd ravensoft and Frank Welker was doing the the raccoon on my hat it was great we had a good time and so tell me about sort of the process of putting this together you know how long does it take to record do you do it in a a studio over in Burbank or we started at on the orchestra stage at the studio along with the Weavers were there and uh we did a lot of things together and as we did the other shows the other two shows were done at wed or wdi as it's called now and it was just thorl and Frank Welker and and me uh the other stuff it was it was all recorded kind of separately okay okay Bo take it easy take it easy now we're ready to start sorry folks I'll be right with you so we didn't have the fun of all being together like like a radio show it was all done individually because the studio is much smaller at wdi although now they've got a pretty good sized one but uh yeah it was just fun being there with thorl with got that one in a million voice of thorl Ravenscroft is just fantastic but uh and how long do do you remember how long it took you to you know lay down that that whole track the first uh the first show took about maybe three recording sessions of three or four hours spe uh maybe 3 hours they weren't long we did it pretty quickly very few additional takes as I remember albertino was in charge well Al was Big Al that's who his named and that's who he looked like too but uh yeah the others were kind of the musical director was George Wilkinson it was a different kind of situation then sure and uh and Tex Ritter actually did the singing for Big Al correct Tex R had already recorded that they had to get permission to use that blood on the saddle because that was already recorded and uh Tex I think may have been dead by that time I'm not sure but maybe I shouldn't say that but uh yeah they had to get permission to use the recording and that was the only one that was pre-recorded by somebody and was it um was it a different experience for you knowing how your voice was going to be used it wasn't going to be used for animation it was going to be used for sort of these 3D characters a show that was going to be going on all day every day for literally decades to come did you kind of get a sense of what you were doing and what you were creating back then no not really not at all I had no idea that it would be running for as long as it has run you know I figured oh it'll be there a couple of years and then they'll put something else in and but it's still running that's amazing yeah the other things that I did there like well we just redid the captain on the Colombia ride and that's changed over the years but it's still running now for a long time the Columbia wasn't moving at all and now they've got it going again and that was fun doing that Captain's voice did you and for I'm sorry did you also inside the country be did you also do Max for a while yes I did Max for the first year or first for first show the whole Original Country B show then for the second show there was somebody who worked at wdi who you know know wanted to do voiceovers and right so he did Max for the other two shows and do you do you sort of use any sort of inspiration for these characters or is it just sort of all you and what you imagin they would sound like well Henry was just pretty much what I imagined Max they specifically wanted him to sound a little like Goomer pile so that was easy you know that gives me a handle you want go you got it but uh yeah they they usually pretty much let you go you know in terms of you come up with something and we'll see if we like it uh one of my favorite uh of your performances which is unfortunately not there anymore was as Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea yes I enjoyed doing that one a lot and uh my old pal Tom Sherman who was the authority on the Nautilus and he got such a kick out of that he was the one who finally designed that Nautilus walk through in Paris mhm and he died shortly after that but I thought he got to fulfill his life's dream he built the N but uh yeah he always got a kick out of that he'd have me call people on the phone and when Tony backer the earthquake hit over in his area and he had a model of the Nautilus that Tom had given him and it fell and was damaged and oh he was so upset about it and he had me call him and say my Lord it's cracked like an eggshell and Tony said that's not funny that's not funny at all so were you was it Pete renaday inspired by James Mason or was this your own Captain Nemo oh I was definitely inspired by James Mason I couldn't do a flat out imitation I just I mean I if I could have I probably would have but I I wanted to do it without without actually you know if you're going to do a flat out imitation and get James he's still alive but I came just the flavor of it I felt you know how old is the earth how was it Formed these and other questions about our watery planet have intrigued man since the beginning of time as far as we know the oceans have existed for some 4 and a half billion years and for about the last 100 million years the sea has been a living Dynamic world and again when I did it I had no idea it was going to be used it started off I believe as a temp track I did a temp track for America Sings too but that one wasn't used they got bur lives for that I'm sure it wound up sounding a little too much like Henry so and Walt loved B lives although Walt was no longer alive but he was still one of one of the favorites over at the studio sure I lik them too I always love bur lives and so you're you're playing these you're playing iconic characters like Captain Nemo you're playing an American president you're also asked to play Mark Twain over again another character with no sort of frame of reference was there yeah the Mark Twain uh for the Riverboat I remember I'd kind of Forgotten altogether that I'd done it and I did those call outs you know Mark twin Chief water which was right out of the movie but uh I was standing right by the speaker one day on the mark DNE and it was so low the volume was so low you had to be standing next to it to hear it and I started listening I thought that voice sounds familiar and I oh yeah that's me I did that 10 years ago whatever it was but that was uh you know I got to say I was certainly influenced by Hal holbrook's Mark Twain tonight sure and I also played Mark Twain on stage one time in a production of the white house where they had all the presidents and Mark Dain somehow got involved but that's a good show too yeah you're also the captain on rocket to the moon you were the the com chat man on adventures through interpace but I will tell you that uh one of my sentimental favorites and I am sure that I'm not alone was you were the narrator on the tomorrowand transit authority from 1994 until for many unfortunately 2009 you're sort of broadcasting from TTA Central uh oh yeah yeah Tomorrowland Transit Authority metr lineer non-stop now departing rocket Tower Plaza station for a round trip super Skyway tour welcome aboard TTA Travelers whether you're a humanoid a robot or an alien passenger we hope you enjoy your trip belong to Morland transit authorities super Skyway many of us still uh still miss that narration well the other one that I liked and never I guess it's not going anymore was the Walt Disney story mhm the opening narration of uh of the Walt Disney story and then when they did a DVD of it I thought oh great then I'll use my narration but they didn't they used Michael E's narration yeah I'm sure many people would have loved to he hear the original sort of Pete renaday narration for the uh for the Walt story that played uh you know over in Walt Disney World on Main Street um so correct me if I'm wrong wrong we we know you in the theme parks primarily because of your your voiceover work but is it true that you were also represented an audio animatronic figure in Horizons yes which I never got to see uh it was the well he was the husband of the he's kind of only shown on TV I believe or maybe no there was an audio electronic figure that's right and uh although as I say I never saw the exhibit but friends of mine were walking through there thinking they had been at Florida for a while and they said well you know we usually run into somebody we know every time we go on vacation this time we haven't seen anybody we know and they walked around the corner and here's my epy speaking to them is that something they were they told you they were going to do or was that sort of a surprise to you later on no I knew they were going to do that uh but uh the only other thing that was kind of that I was connected with was when they did the uh Carousel progress they added the last scene and at one point they wanted the daughter to have a boyfriend so they just wanted a you know a general size head to it wasn't going to look like me but they said go on over they're gonna have measure your head W Rogers or one of them so I went over there and uh WL was measuring my head and he was the one that had worked on the Lincoln figure for you know Lincoln's show and and he measured with the calipers and he said wow that's really strange and I said what is he said you're the first person I've ever measured whose head was exactly the same as Lincoln's well that works out pretty well yeah um you know we uh I am very much a collector of early Walt Disney World and Disneyland item and I know I am not alone in owning a vinyl copy of the story and song of The Haunted Mansion it was oh yeah the company's first sort of official soundtrack for the new Disneyland attraction back in ' 69 and Paul freeze who's the narrator in the attaction does not repe his role you come in as the ghost host on on the story and song of the mansion that's right have you ever seen a haunted house you know the kind I mean that old dark house that's usually at the end of a dimly lit Street the owners haven't been seen for years no one really knows why the windows are broken and boarded and the shutters hang loose on their hinges the trees have grown wild their branches brush against the sides of the weathering house making strange noises in the night I think that came about and I have no way of knowing but I always suspecting that Paul wanted uh some royalties on the record if they're going to use his voice for the record he wanted little piece of it you know and they weren't willing to pay they weren't willing to pay and so they called me over and handed me a script said here read this so there was no rehearsal no no nothing and and uh but I had I love doing it it was a great big kick I just wish that I could have worked with the kids was Ronnie Howard and Roby Lester who were doing the uh I think it was Roby but Ron sure for sure the two kids on the record and uh oh it was a lot of fun especially I love Halloween I love scary stuff so I got a big kick out of that and of course thurl was doing his narration but uh he wasn't there either it was just me and Tudy camarada when we were recording Donna topls down in Hollywood and this is one of those things that it's you know no preparation you just read it through and it's that good that they take it and use it for the record that's right yeah yeah it was uh very quickly done probably two hours the whole thing maybe yeah and it seems like a number of the things that you say that you read through you know it was not sort of I I always sort of imagin it's a much longer process taking you know days weeks you know a month or so and you're able to go through it pretty quickly so I I I'm not going to ask you the unfair question of saying you know which is your favorite character which is your favorite role but is there maybe maybe one role or character that maybe you feel most closely associated with you know was it it the president or Henry or or whoever you mean at the park the park voices yeah for well of course of course Henry because that was you know the one first of all I've seen it the most I never got to see the Hall of Presidents never saw myself doing Lincoln and now it's too late because he's not it's not there anymore or it's there but it's not me uh so I'm sorry I regret never getting over there to see the Hall of Presidents but yeah Henry would of course be my favorite as far as the park voices are concerned yeah that that was actually be my next question you know what was it like going to hear yourself in the Parks did you just not get out there or did you not want to hear yourself until maybe it was too late oh I got to hear a lot of it at Disneyland I just don't I never got to Walt Disney World I got there once the first year they opened and I've never been there since which is ridiculous but I just never have made the trip uh but then the once here I've heard country bear oh 5060 times at at Disneyland and it's still a cake to you know see the audience reacting to to the bear and the whole show and they seem to get a kick out of it and clap and stomp their feet and all that stuff and uh of course when I have friends or relatives from out of town they get a big kick out of oh yeah that was your voice was yeah yeah do they ask you while it's going on to sort of do it in in conjunction with the with the with the show no no they know I won't do that so do people do other people recognize you either by your face or or by your voice I mean I will tell you that the first time we spoke before today I literally closed my eyes and I said to myself you know I'm talking with Henry from from the country bear like I recognize it instantly yeah no they never recognize me which is I think a plus as far as voiceover actors are concerned uh people have recognized me uh now and then when I was on General Hospital for a recurring character and on and off for about seven years and maybe I think three people recognized me from that that's the only time I've ever been recognized at all for anything but uh no they don't they don't recognize me you know you talked uh briefly about doing some of those test recordings or those demos recordings I think a lot of people don't know that before Richard Williams who is a legendary animator came on board you actually did a pencil test for the role of Eddie Valiant in Who Framed Roger Rabbit along with Paul Rubin who was PB Herman who played the voice of Roger right exactly yeah yeah and they've shown it a couple of times I guess on the Disney Channel or somewhere along the Disney and they've it's been on TV that clip or two I did two clips actually one with one with uh Jessica Rabbit and one with Roger and on camera stuff and people have said who was it that was originally cast as Edie Valiant well I was never cast as Edie Valiant I was just helping with the screen tests and of course I read with every voice over actor in town when they were looking for the voice of Roger Rabbit everybody but Charlie who finally got the part but that was years later that was you know after the new regime yeah I was to say I'm sure a lot of people also know you from some some non- Disney work as well too uh certainly in the 80s you were the voice of Splinter from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as well right and before Splinter I was the voice for mandre the magician in uh 65 episodes of Defenders of the earth so that was a lot of fun too uh had all the old standard superheroes flash Garden The Phantom uh loar and of course Ming mercilus was the villain yeah it was uh it was great and have you done any work for uh Disney recently uh let's see the last thing I did I guess was the redo of the captain on the Colombia I don't think there's been anything since then of course a lot of people never did know and still don't know I guess that that I did a voice for Mickey for the the old LPs and that book came out a year or so ago a couple years ago the all about the Disneyland records and they gave me a two three pages as the vinyl Mickey so it's the first time I've ever been actually acknowledged for having done Mickey's voice yeah so there you go you went from the little boy who was doing Mickey at home to actually being able to play Mickey on on the vinyls as well all right yeah I was highly complimented one time I got to do a I don't think it was the I don't remember what it was for but ducky Nash was involved and we were recording together that day and when when the recording was over he said to the the people in charge well this guy sounds closer to Walt than anybody I've heard and I thought well he should know because he worked with Walt right and that was a few years back but uh yeah he was a great guy and so as you look back on you know really a a storied career career with Disney especially in the theme parks on the animation as you look back is there anything that sort of sticks out as one of your Fondest Memories either while you were doing the work or or with the people that you met well you know as much as I enjoyed doing all the voices and and loving doing the voices the some of the things that stick out are the things that we did on stage which nobody will ever see again because nothing was ever recorded in those days was before videotape and we had very little to show for it but it was with the people that worked at the studio some of whom had wanted to be professional performers uh like Norm Corey who was the brother of Irwin Corey Professor Irwin Cory and they were so much alike but we had some great people Ben hardigan who did after he retired went into uh he got a few commercials and Bonnie fagley was so good Annie bazan there were tons of people that were really Tal ented who had you know decided eh it's too risky I'm going to give up on this and just settle for my regular dat today job which was fine and they were so happy at Disney's but those people I I enjoyed working with so much and I just wish we had something to show for it some other than still pictures we do have Stills but that's about it Bob Jackman who was the head of the music apartment was uh a very good actor and had come out here to be an actor and but didn't work out that way well as you can see we're just one big happy family well I I for one am very happy that we are able to still enjoy a lot of your work it is an honor to have spoken with you because I grew up hearing your voice and now I've introduced my kids to those same voices that were so much a part of my childhood and my adulthood so uh Pete rened again thank you very much uh for myself and on behalf of the audience for what you've done for you know Disney fans and your work inside the park it really is very much appreciate and I want to thank you for your time today as well thank you Lou I really enjoyed talking to youe on Banjo and a tap with his Fe well folks this concludes our show so thanks for bearing with us to the bare end and Barrel around to see us again what do you say Sammy I say y'all come back you [Music] hear we hope you'll be coming back