I have been wanting to talk about him for a long time. One of my favorite voice actors who did the voice for some iconic characters. The amazing thing is that unlike a lot of voice actors, he is also a great character actor and has made many appearances on TV shows all the way back to the Andy Griffith Show. Here is a sample:
Movies:
Did I just say TV? Oh yeah he has done his share of voice work for movies too and the classic has to be Falkor in Never-ending Story. He does a great job making Falkor kind and gentle. He also did the voices for the Rock Biter and the narrator. Other movies he did include "The Hindenburg", "Westworld", "Freaky Friday", and "9".
Sitcoms:
He appeared in dozens of sitcoms but the one I like the best was his recurring role as Gene Kinsella on Murphy Brown. He was the kind boss who had to step in from time to time. He was firm but no so strict that he was a jerk. He had a friendly side too. He appeared a few times on Night Court. Once as a judge and another as a doctor in an episode where a gypsy curse paralyzes Bull. The list of sitcoms he appeared in go one forever from Hogans Heroes to Bewitched to Coach to Who's The Boss to Happy Days (as Ralph's father) to Mr. Belvedere to Mamas Family as the mayor of Raytown. And about a million more.
Star Trek
Did you think he hadn't done a Trek episode? He first appeared in a bad episode to be honest, as a Klingon in "Rightful Heir". On Deep Space Nine he was unfortunate enough to be the captain of the ship that the Jem'Haddar decided to commit a kamikaze run on. And on Voyager he was an ambassador in an episode I don't particularly remember. And finally, he lent his voice to a few Trek video games (not to mention dozens of videos games having nothing to do with Trek like Lion Heart).
Drama's:
You better believe is did drama's. Appearing in Bonanza in the old days, LA Law, Murder, she Wrote and St.Elsewhere. On Chicago Hope he was Dr.Gray and on the daytime drama Passions (for those who remember it) he was the voice of Allistair during the years when the head of the family was always kept off screen or seen from behind only. He did a nice job being a nasty bastard. And even appeared on action shows like Knight Rider and Quantum Leap.
Ok ok let's get to what he is really known for, at least by me....
Cartoons!
Where do I start? He has been doing voices since at least the 70's and still does them. Of course, he is best known for He-Man and the Masters of the Universe where he played dozens of characters. The most famous of Couse being Skeletor, Man at Arms, Mer-Man, Cringer/Battle Cat plus about 50 other assorted characters and villains through the series. Man at Arms is obvious but the fact he does Skeletor too is fascinating. The voice he used was so memorable to this day it's what actors mimic when they do the role (yes even Mark Hammill). His other voice work includes Flash Gordon, Mighty Mouse (as the titular character!), The Smurfs where he played Vanity, the Filmation Ghostbusters cartoon, Transformers where he did to many voices to list, A Pup Named Scooby, Ducktales, the 1988 Superman cartoon as Jonathan Kent and even Batman/Superman:Public Enemies as Alfred. And my friends, that is a drop in the bucket!
One of the reasons I never did this is because film clips are really needed to convey how awesome he is, especially with the voice work. Still scroll through his amazing IMDB page you night be surprised just how much he has done. And is still doing lending his voice to Toy Story 4 and even appearing as Moss Man in the new Kevin Smith Masters of the Universe series on Netflix (do I like that series? It's god awful!!!!!!!! but that's a tale for another day).
Alan Oppenheimer is amazing and deserves more recognition than he gets. Did I forget to mention your favorite role of his? Comment and let me know.
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