Arthur Anderson (voice actor)
Encyclopedia
Let's Pretend
As a child, he was heard on NBC in the role of the orphan Buddy on the radio network's musical serial drama, Tony and Gus (1935). The following year he joined the cast of Nila MackNila Mack
Nila Mack was the creator and director of Let's Pretend, the long-running CBS radio series for children. She was the Director of Children's Programs for CBS from 1930 to 1953....
's Let's Pretend
Let's Pretend
This article is on the US radio series. For the UK TV series see Let's Pretend .Let's Pretend, created and directed by Nila Mack , was a long-run CBS radio series for children....
and continued on that children's program until it came to an end in 1954. In 2004, he wrote a history of the show, "Let's Pretend and the Golden Age of Radio" (BearManor Media), which includes a foreword by Norman Corwin
Norman Corwin
Norman Lewis Corwin was an American writer, screenwriter, producer, essayist and teacher of journalism and writing...
and a complete broadcast log by Derek Tague and Martin Grams, Jr.
Martin Grams, Jr.
Martin Grams, Jr. is a radio historian who has written extensively on radio, television and films. The son of magician Martin Grams, Sr. and librarian Mary Pat Grams, he was educated at South Eastern School District in York County, Pennsylvania and graduated from Kennard Dale High School in Fawn...
Anderson appeared in Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
' New York production of Julius Caesar and was then in Welles' The Mercury Theatre on the Air
Mercury Theatre
The Mercury Theatre was a theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and John Houseman. After a string of live theatrical productions, in 1938 the Mercury Theatre progressed into their best-known period as The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a radio series that included one of the...
. His other radio credits include the juvenile quiz show, March of Games (1938–41), produced by Nila Mack and featuring many of the young actors from Let's Pretend.
From serials to cereals
Beginning in 1963 he was the voice of the General MillsGeneral Mills
General Mills, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 corporation, primarily concerned with food products, which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The company markets many well-known brands, such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totinos, Jeno's, Pillsbury, Green...
Lucky Charms
Lucky Charms
Lucky Charms is a brand of cereal produced by the General Mills food company of Golden Valley, Minnesota, United States. It first appeared in stores in 1964. The cereal consists of two main components: toasted oat-based pieces and multi-colored marshmallow bits in various shapes, the latter making...
mascot Lucky the Leprechaun
Leprechaun
A leprechaun is a type of fairy in Irish folklore, usually taking the form of an old man, clad in a red or green coat, who enjoys partaking in mischief. Like other fairy creatures, leprechauns have been linked to the Tuatha Dé Danann of Irish mythology...
, continuing the character for 29 years even though he is not Irish. In 2005, he recalled:
- People have expectations. I just have an Irish-sounding name. I have reason to celebrate. I had the luck of the Irish to get that part. I never got free cereal, but they gave me lots of green money. And it was a fun character to play. Hardly a day goes by when somebody doesn't ask me to sing the Lucky Charms jingle, and I'm proud of that.
Television
On television he succeeded Lionel G. WilsonLionel G. Wilson
Lionel G. Wilson , was an American voice actor from New York City. Wilson started acting in 1949 on the series The Aldrich Family as George Bigalow...
as the voice of Eustace Bagge in Courage The Cowardly Dog
Courage the Cowardly Dog
Courage the Cowardly Dog is an American animated television series created by John R. Dilworth for Cartoon Network. Its central plot revolves around a somewhat anthropomorphic dog named Courage who lives with his owners, Muriel and Eustace Bagge, an elderly, married farming couple in the "Middle of...
. His film credits include Green Card
Green Card (film)
Green Card is a 1990 romantic comedy film written, produced, directed by Peter Weir and starring Gérard Depardieu and Andie MacDowell. The screenplay focuses on an American woman who enters into a marriage of convenience with a Frenchman so he can obtain a green card and remain in the United...
and I'm Not Rappaport
I'm Not Rappaport
I'm Not Rappaport is a play by Herb Gardner originally staged by Seattle Repertory Theatre in 1984. Its Broadway debut production, directed by Daniel Sullivan, starring Judd Hirsch, Cleavon Little, Jace Alexander, and Mercedes Ruehl, opened on November 19, 1985 at the Booth Theatre, where it ran...
and three appearances on the television series Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
.
In recent years, Anderson has been active in Friends of Old Time Radio, a group that revives classic audio broadcasts, and he is a regular participant in their conventions.
Autobiography
His in-progress autobiography is titled From Orson Welles to Lucky the Leprechaun.Now published: An Actor's Odyssey: Orson Welles to Lucky the Leprechaun, by Arthur Anderson. Albany, 2010. BearManor Media. ISBN 1-59393-522-6.