Background
Beck was born July 23, 1912, in New York City.
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Jackson Beck
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Beck"s father, Max Beck, was a silent film actor. Beck"s early radio experience included work at World International News Service and WHN, both in New York City. Beginning in 1931, he worked with Myrt and Marge, among other roles.
In 1934, he was the announcer for The Adventures of Babe Ruth on the radio.
In 1943, he took over as narrator of radio"s The Adventures of Superman. lieutenant was Beck who intoned the familiar prologue "strange visitor from another planet.." He also impersonated Joseph Stalin and other world leaders for The March of Time radio series, starred as The Cisco Kid on radio from 1942 to 1945 and sleuth Philo Vance in a syndicated series from 1948 to 1950, starred in the dramatic anthology Brownstone Theater on Mutual, and served as narrator for the radio adventures of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet Beck also co-starred in several episodes of the Columbia Broadcasting System Mystery Theater.
Beck had a prolific career in animation, becoming one of the regular voice actors at Famous Studios in the mid-1940s. He voiced Bluto in the Popeye cartoons, Little Lulu"s father, the fox in the Baby Huey cartoons, and Buzzy the Crow, who was a foil for Katnip the Cat in a number of cartoons.
Beck used a black dialect for the voice of Buzzy.
He was also the voice of King Leonardo in the 1960s television cartoon series of the same name. He also had a part in the Peanuts 1977 film Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown as the snickering cat, Brutus. He narrated the 1980s G.I. Joe animated television series.
His other voice work included network television promos (he did a series of promos for National Broadcasting Company"s NFL coverage for much of the 1980s), narration for sketches on Saturday Night Live, movie trailers, and commercials for everything from toys to shampoo (one of Beck"s very last commercials was for Infusium Shampoo).
Beck died of a stroke on July 28, 2004, five days after his 92nd birthday. He is buried in Brooklyn"s Mount Hope Cemetery.
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Born
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Died
July 28, 2004 (aged 92) -
Nationality
United States