Clarence Charles "Ducky" Nash (December 7, 1904 – February 20, 1985) was an American voice actor and impressionist. He is best remembered as the original voice of the Disney cartoon character Donald Duck. He was born in the rural community of Watonga, Oklahoma, and a street in that town is named in his honor. In 1993, he was posthumously made a Disney Legend for his contributions to Walt Disney films.
Career
Radio career
Nash made a name for himself in the late 1920s as an impressionist for KHJ, a Los Angeles radio station, on their show, The Merrymakers. He later was employed by the Adohr Milk Company for publicity purposes. Dubbed "Whistling Clarence, the Adohr Bird Man", Nash rode the streets with a team of miniature horses and gave treats to the children.
Nash's Donald Duck voice was achieved by what is called buccal speech: an alaryngeal form of vocalization which uses the inner cheek to produce sound rather than the larynx. He first discovered it while trying to mimic his pet goat Mary. In his days before Disney, Nash performed in vaudeville shows where he often spoke in a "nervous baby goat" voice.
Donald Duck became one of the world's most famous cartoon characters, in great part due to Nash's voice. The voice is distinctive both for its ducklike quality and the fact that it is often very difficult for anybody to understand, especially when Donald flew into a rage (which happened fairly often). To keep Donald's voice consistent throughout the world, Nash voiced the character in all foreign languages the Disney shorts were translated to (with the aid of the phonetic alphabet), meaning Donald retained his same level of incoherency all across the globe.
Other characters
In addition to Donald's voice, Clarence Nash also voiced Donald's nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie and his girlfriend Daisy in Mr. Duck Steps Out, and Mickey Mouse in The Dognapper. He provided the meows and yowls of Figaro the kitten and some donkey brays in Pinocchio and in a handful of shorts. He also did the whistling (Nash was a great whistler, hence his nickname "Whistling Clarence") of birds in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderella, voiced a bullfrog in Bambi and Mr. Bluebird in Song of the South, did some dog sounds in One Hundred and One Dalmatians and background bird sounds in Enchanted Tiki Room, and voiced Jiminy Cricket for a brief period of time after Cliff Edwards's death in 1971.
Nash's iconic Donald Duck voice would be impersonated elsewhere in animation, most notably in the Tom and Jerry cartoons directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera with the character Little Quacker (voiced by Red Coffey) and Hanna-Barbera's Yakky Doodle (voiced by Jimmy Weldon), As with most Hanna-Barbera productions, these characters used celebrity impersonations, in these cases an impersonation of Clarence Nash's Donald Duck voice. Because both were much similar to Nash's voice they were often mistakenly attributed to Nash. Nash would also use his duck voice on The Burns & Allen Show during the 1940s, playing Gracie's pet duck Herman. and a 1964 episode of To Tell the Truth. Nash also appeared as himself in a 1956 episode of Disneyland entitled "A Day in the Life of Donald Duck", in which he interacts with an animated Donald who blames him for his speech problems: the two end up arguing mainly due to Donald's short temper. He was also a guest on a 1976 episode of The Mike Douglas Show. The 1984 special Donald Duck's 50th Birthday included several clips from Disney films and Disneyland episodes.
Later years
When Disney shut down their shorts department in 1962, Nash continued to voice Donald in various projects over the next two decades. In 1971, he devoted himself to charity work, making personal visits to hospitals and homes and entertaining children with his Donald Duck voice.
One of Nash's final performances was in Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983), which made Donald the only character in the film to be voiced by his original actor. His career at Disney was the subject of the premiere episode of Disney Family Album, a 1984 series of documentaries about behind-the-scenes personalities at the studio.
Personal life
Nash married Margaret Seamans in 1930, and they were married for over 50 years; they had two daughters, Kay and Peggy.
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|rowspan="1"| 1963 || To Tell the Truth || Himself-Challenger || Live appearance
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|rowspan="1"| 1984 || Donald Duck's 50th Birthday || Himself/Donald Duck || Live-action & voice<br/>Final role
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Discography
- Mickey and the Beanstalk (Capitol, 1947) as Donald Duck
- Donald Duck's Singing Lesson/Pluto, The Pup (Golden, 1949) as Donald Duck
- Cinderella (RCA, 1949) as Lucifer, Bruno, Major, Additional Animal Voices
- Mickey's New Car/Donald Duck at the Opera (Golden, 1950) as Donald Duck
- Donald Duck, Babysitter/Mickey Mouse and Farmer Rush Rush (Golden, 1950) as Donald Duck
- Trick or Treat (RCA Victor, 1952) as Donald Duck
- Mr. Television (RCA Victor, 1952) as Donald Duck
- Mr. Animated Cartoon (RCA Victor, 1952) as Donald Duck
- Mickey Mouse's Birthday Party (Capitol, 1954) as Donald Duck
- School Days (Golden, 1954) as Donald Duck
- Mickey Mouse's Christmas Party (Golden, 1954) as Donald Duck
- Walt Disney's Song Parade from Disneyland (Golden, 1956) as Donald Duck
- Goofy's Dance Party (Disneyland, 1959) as Donald Duck
- Donald Duck and His Friends (Disneyland, 1960) as Donald Duck
- Chipmunk Fun (Disneyland, 1963) as Donald Duck
- Mickey and the Beanstalk (Disneyland, 1963) as Donald Duck
- Yankee Doodle Mickey (Disneyland, 1980) as Donald Duck
- Goin' Quackers (Disneyland, 1980) as Donald Duck
- Merry Christmas Carols (Disneyland, 1980) as Donald Duck
See also
- Donald Duck talk