Pop Culture Passionistas: June Foray—The Voice of Cindy Lou Who and Rocky the Squirrel

There's something oddly unnerving about the anonymity of a voice over actor. On the one hand, their daily lives are not subject to the scrutiny of the media and paparazzi. They are free to go out to dinner or take in a movie without fans stopping them on the street for an autograph. But still, while you may not know their faces, many VO artists have the most recognizable voices in the world.

Take June Foray, for example. June has been working steadily since the early 1940s. Though she won't confirm her date of birth it is generally considered to be September 18, 1917, making her roughly 93 years old. And at that grand old age, she is still working. In fact her new TV series, The Looney Tunes Show, is set to premiere on the Cartoon Network in February 2011. She will be reprising her beloved roles of Witch Hazel and Granny.

Some of June's other famous TV voices include both Rocky the Squirrel and Natasha Fatale from The Bullwinkle Show, Alice Crumden from The Honey-Mousers, Jokey Smurf on Smurfs, and Grammi Gummi on Adventures of the Gummi Bears. On the big screen she started her Disney career playing Lucifer the Cat in the original Cinderella animated film. Her movie work also includes both Wheezy and Lena Hyena in Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Grandmother Fa in Mulan and Mulan II.

Up on the list of our top June Foray roles is Talky Tina from The Twilight Zone. "My name is Talky Tina and I'm going to kill you." The actress actually voiced the original Chatty Kathy doll that the episode was modeled after, too. But our personal favorite voice is Cindy Lou Who from How the Grinch Stole Christmas! "Santy Claus, Why? Why are you taking our Christmas tree, why?"

Watch this video we edited for the Archive of American Television with June as she discusses being in the Dr. Seuss classic.