User blog:ARTaylor/RIP June Foray

The animation industry lost one of its biggest and most prolific figure yesterday when actress June Foray passed away. Her good friend Dave Nimitz confirmed that she died in her home. She was ninety-nine years old, just a few weeks shy of her hundredth birthday.

Foray is one of the most prolific names in the animation and voice acting industry. She started working in radio at the age of twelve. She got her big break with The Walt Disney Company. She provided the voices of the evil cat Lucifer in Cinderella, voice and character model for a mermaid and the Indian Squaw on Peter Pan, and Grandmother Fa on Mulan. She was one of the few female voices for the Looney Tunes series and most notably played Granny and Witch Hazel in numerous shorts, films, and video games. She is perhaps best known as the voice of Rocket "Rocky" J. Squirrel in the Rocky and Bullwinkle franchise, a role she continued to play until the end of her acting days, as well as the villainess Natasha Fatale. She played in numerous famous Christmas specials including Karen in Frosty the Snowman and Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Marvel fans would recognize her as the voice of Aunt May on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends as well as additional voices on The Incredible Hulk.

She was an early member of ASIFA-Hollywood, a society devoted to promoting animation. She was credited with creating the Annie Awards. She was instrumental in the creation of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. She even has an award named after her, which is a juried award given to those who have a significant impact on the animation industry. She also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

She was married twice. The first to Bernard Barondess in 1941, though this ended in divorce. She then married Hobart Donovan, while appearing on The Buster Brown Program, in 1955 and stayed together until his death in 1976.