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Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft (; February 6, 1914 – May 22, 2005) was an American voice actor and basso profundo known as the booming voice behind Tony the Tiger's "They're grrreat!" in Kellogg's Frosted Flakes television commercials for more than five decades. Ravenscroft was also known, albeit uncredited, as the vocalist for the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" from the classic Christmas television special, Dr. Seuss' ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas!''.〔 Ravenscroft did some voice-over work and singing for Disney in both the films and the attractions at Disneyland (which were later featured at Walt Disney World). The most well known of these attractions are The Haunted Mansion, Country Bear Jamboree, The Mark Twain Riverboat, Pirates of the Caribbean, Disneyland Railroad, and Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room. His voice acting career began in 1940 and lasted until his death in 2005 at age 91.〔 ==Early life and career== Ravenscroft left his native Norfolk, Nebraska, for California in 1933, where he studied at Otis Art Institute. He achieved early success as part of a singing group called The Mellomen. The Mellomen can be heard on many popular recordings of the Big Band Era, including backup for Bing Crosby, Frankie Laine, Spike Jones, Jo Stafford and Rosemary Clooney. Their earliest contribution to a Disney film was for ''Pinocchio'' (1940), to which they contributed the song "Honest John." This was deleted from the film but can still be heard in the supplements on the 2009 DVD. They also contributed to other Disney films, such as ''Alice in Wonderland'' and ''Lady and the Tramp''. The group appeared on camera in a few episodes of the Disney anthology television series, in one instance recording a canine chorus for ''Lady and the Tramp'', and on another occasion playing a barbershop quartet that reminds Walt Disney of the name of the young newspaper reporter ''Gallegher''. Ravenscroft could also be heard with the quartet on some of the Merrie Melodies & Looney Tunes with Mel Blanc at Warner Bros. and be heard on radio "driving Jack Benny crazy" on his radio show, as well as Blanc. During World War II, Ravenscroft served as a civilian navigator contracted to the U.S. Air Transport Command, spending five years flying courier missions across the north and south Atlantic. Among the notables carried on board his flights were Winston Churchill and Bob Hope. As he told an interviewer: "I flew Winston Churchill to a conference in Algiers and flew Bob Hope to the troops a couple of times. So it was fun."〔("He’s Grrrrreat! The Thurl Ravenscroft Interview," ''Hogan's Alley'' #12, 2005 )〕 Ravenscroft sang bass on Rosemary Clooney's "This Ole House" which went to No. 1 in both the U.S. and Britain in 1954, as well as Stuart Hamblen's original version of that same song. He sang on the soundtrack for Ken Clark as "Stewpot" in ''South Pacific'', one of the top-selling albums of the 1950s. Singing with the Johnny Mann Singers,〔http://bayarearadio.org/audio/ksfo/ksfo_sound-of-the-city.shtml〕 his distinctive bass can also be heard as part of the chorus on 28 of their albums that were released during the 1960s and 1970s. He was also the bass singer on Bobby Vee's 1960 Liberty hit record "Devil or Angel". Andy Williams' recording of "The 12 Days of Christmas" features him as well. In the 1980s and 1990s, Ravenscroft was narrator for the annual Pageant of the Masters art show at the Laguna Beach, California, Festival of the Arts. He sang the opening songs for the two Disney serials, used on ''The Mickey Mouse Club'', ''Boys of the Western Sea'', and ''The Hardy Boys: Mystery of the Applegate Treasure''. He sang the "Twitterpatter Song" and "Thumper's Song" on the Disneyland record ''Peter Cottontail and other Funny Bunnies''. On the Disneyland record ''All About Dragons'', he both provided the narration and sang the songs "The Reluctant Dragon" and "The Loch Ness Monster".〔Disneyland Record "All About Dragons", DQ-1301.〕 His voice is heard during the Pirates of the Caribbean ride as well as the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland as Uncle Theodore, the lead vocalist of the singing busts in the cemetery near the end of the ride.〔(365 Days of Magic blog )〕 He also played the Narrator in ''The Story and Song From the Haunted Mansion''. Ravenscroft is also heard in the Enchanted Tiki Room as the voice of Fritz the Animatronics parrot. He was also the voice of the Disneyland Railroad in the 1990s. Further roles include that of The First Mate on The Mark Twain Riverboat and of the American bison head named Buff at The Country Bear Jamboree.〔(Disney Insider Ravenscroft biography )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thurl Ravenscroft」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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