Gloria Wood
Gloria Wood is a singer and cartoon voice actor. Her rare voice was in the four-octave range and was able to imitate other voices.
Cartoon voices
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (on records)
- Various Loony Tunes cartoon characters
- Tinker Bell on Peter Pan peanut butter TV commercials
- Minnie Mouse (Disney)
- Susie Sparrow (Disney)
- Nelly the Singing Giraffe (Disney)
- Cartoon characters in A Symposium on Popular Songs (Disney)
History & Discography
- 1940s: Gloria Wood sings with band leader Kay Kyser.
- 1948: I'd Like to Get You on a Slow Boat to China - Kay Kyser , Harry Babbitt & Gloria Wood
- 1948: She first sings The Woody Woodpecker Song in Wet Blanket Policy cartoon.
- 1948: So Dear to My Heart (Disney Live Action/Animated Film) (chorus)
- 1949: The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad ("The Headless Horseman" chorus)(Disney Animated Film)
- 1950: She is the uncredited singing voice of Adele Jergens in the in the comedy film Blues Busters. She sings Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho, and Better Be Lookin' Out for Love.
- 1951: Alice in Wonderland (Disney Animated Film) (chorus)
- 1953: Peter Pan (Disney Animated Film) (chorus)
- 1953: Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (Disney Animated Short) Susie Sparrow
- 1953: 'Hey Bellboy' is one of her most popular songs. It sold 1 million copies.
- 1953: The Band Wagon
- 1953: Singer in 'That's Entertainment' Sequence (uncredited)
- 1954: She is the dubbed singing voice for Marilyn Monroe in the movie River of No Return.
- 1954: She is an dubbed singing voice for Vera-Ellen in the movie White Christmas.
- mid 1950s: She sings an LP of romantic ballads for Columbia.
- 1955 to 1958: In only three years, Gloria sang in more than 2,000 singing commercials.
- 1956: Gaby - Singer at the Bottle Club and performer in "Where Or When" - uncredited
- 1957: She is the Singing Bride in The Jack Benny Program (TV series) and in Goodwin Knight/George Jessel Show.
- 1957: Zorro (Live Action Series) Singing barmaid in "Death Stacks the Deck"
- 1957: The Woody Woodpecker Show (Animated Series) Singer "Spook-a-Nanny"
- late 1950s: She sings on a record with Ricky Nelson.
- late 1950s: She heads up a choir in Disney record/s.
- late 1950s: Along with Stan Freberg, she plays cartoon voices in TV commercials, including the Rice-A-Roni TV commercial jingle.
- late 1950s: She plays cartoon voices in cartoons and record albums.
- 1961: She voices and sings as Nelly the Singing Giraffe in Nelly's Folly, a short cartoon for Disney.
- 1962: She sings in A Symposium on Popular Songs, a short cartoon for Disney: "The Boogie Woogie Bakery Man", "Rock, Rumble and Roar", "Charleston Charlie"
- 1966: The Super 6 cartoon
- 1966: Batman (Live Action Series) (theme song chorus)
- 1969: A Boy Named Charlie Brown (Animated Film) (singer)
- 1973: Walt Disney presents Christmas Adventure in Disneyland album - Disneyland Records.
- 1978: Yogi's Space Race by Hanna-Barbera
- 1996: The Bugs n' Daffy Show cartoon TV series.
- 1995: She voices various cartoon characters in That's Warner Bros.! TV series.
Press
On May 26th, 1958, Time Magazine wrote:
- "The most pervasive voice in radio or television belongs neither to Bing Crosby nor Perry Como, but to a pretty, twinkly, auburn-haired girl named Gloria Wood. Blessed with a four-octave range and a gift for mimicry, Gloria can sing high or low, squeaky or sweet, on demand and to order. And the demand for such special talents is tremendous. ... One firm planned a commercial featuring an eight-year-old boy, a nine-year-old girl, their mother and grandmother. Gloria did all four characters. ... With her four-octave range, which she claims matches the eerie range of Peruvian Vocal Acrobat Yma Sumac, she can take off from low C below middle C and soar to C above high C. But this endowment also drives Gloria to despair: nobody wants to hear her sing straight. Her mother, a pop singer on Boston radio back in the mid-'20s thrust Gloria into big-band singing straight out of high school in 1941. Gloria did solid hitches with Horace Heidt and Kay Kyser... The movies have called on her to provide the voice of many a nonsinging star. She sang for Marilyn Monroe in "River of No Return", for Vera-Ellen in "White Christmas". ..."I like making money", she admits. "But I'd like to be known for all the things I've done." Nobody knows Gloria Wood."[1]