Jackson Beck, voice of Bluto/Brutus, dies at 92

Posted:
Jul 29, 2004

Voiceover king Jackson Beck, who provided the deep, angry voice of villain strongman Bluto (aka Brutus) in more than 300 Popeye cartoons for Famous Studios and King Features Syndicate, died Wednesday at 92.

Beck, who also voiced numerous TV commercials, shouted "It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!'' to introduce the Superman radio and TV show in the 1940s and 1950s.

He died at about 6 a.m. of complications of old age, said a friend, Jeff David. Beck had been ill since he had several small strokes four or five years ago, David said.

Beck's first role voicing Bluto was as "Young Bluto" in The Football Toucher Downer, a 1937 Popeye cartoon by Fleischer Studios. He returned to voice the adult Bluto in 1944's The Anvil Chorus Girl and continued to do so for the remainder of the Famous Studios Popeye series. In the early 1960s, he was Brutus (Bluto's other guise) in the King Features Syndicate Popeye series for TV.

He provided the voice of King Luna in Boo Moon (1954), the only Casper, the Friendly Ghost cartoon in 3-D, as well as a TV reporter in another Casper cartoon, Ghost Of Honor (1957). As well, his was the voice of Lulu's father in several Little Lulu cartoons.

Beck also voiced Leonardo, Biggie Rat and Professor Messer on King Leonardo and His Short Subjects, which aired on NBC in 1960. It was the second color cartoon series on the network's Saturday morning schedule.

Besides narrating Superman's adventures on 1940s radio, portrayed villains, supporting characters and the Beany, the Daily Planet copyboy.

He was a lifelong New Yorker, born in the Big Apple on July 23, 1912. Beck portrayed the title character on the syndicated radio show Philo Vance, which ran from 1948 to 1950. For over two decades, he was spokesperson and voice of Caesar, Jr. on the Little Caesar Pizza commercials.

He was also the voice of the Cisco Kid and impersonated such world leaders as Josef Stalin in The March of Time, a weekly radio re-enactment of news from Time magazine.

Besides being heard on NBC football and boxing promotions, Beck's voice was heard on TV spots for dozens of products, including Sugar Frosted Flakes, Pepsi, Brawny paper towels, Hasbro-Bradley's GI Joe figures, Aqua Fresh toothpaste and Combat roach killer.

"I'm an advertising man, and I treat my voice as a business. People who treat it as art don't make any money," he told Newsday in 1990.

Beck was an elevator operator after high school, but was fond of imitating such actors as Edward G. Robinson.

He started in radio in 1936 and worked at numerous stations and networks, including such programs as Tom Corbett, Space Cadet and The Joe DiMaggio Show.

Radio historian Anthony Tollin told the New York Daily News that Beck was so versatile that he often did two or three of the voices on the same show.

"He was a giant" in both radio shows and commercial voiceovers, Tollin said.

Beck once spoke of his pride of the fact that Superman fought religious and racial intolerance, unlike some other radio shows of its era. One broadcast tackled the Ku Klux Klan.

He was once asked to try out in blackface for Amos 'n Andy in TV's early days. As his makeup was applied, Beck said he realized that it was "a terrible idea." Black actors got the parts.

Working into his 80s, Beck did voiceovers for two Woody Allen movies, 1987's Radio Days (as the reporter in the disaster sequence) and Take the Money and Run. He was also heard on National Lampoon radio broadcasts and Saturday Night Live. Reportedly, Beck was still making over $500,000 a year in his 80s.

The son of silent film actor Max Beck, he was a founding member of the American Federation of Radio Artists, which merged with the Television Authority to become what is now the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. He participated regularly in Friends of Old-Time Radio conventions.

Jackson Beck is survived by a son, Leslie Winter.