Maurice LaMarche (born March 30, 1958) is a Canadian voice actor and former stand-up comedian known for imitating Orson Welles and Kirk Douglas. Maurice LaMarche was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, but his family moved to Timmins, Ontario, soon after being born.
At the age of 19, LaMarche took his high school act to an open mic night in New York, performing to a reaction in which, as he describes, "they just totally ignored me."[1] Three years later, at the age of 22, Maurice moved straight to Los Angeles to further his stand up career. This move, LaMarche says, would always be something he regretted doing instead of moving to New York.
Voiceover acting
Maurice's first entrance into the voice-over industry was as Don Rattles, Steed Martin, and Peter Easter Bat in Easter Fever (1980), and various characters in Take Me Up To The Ballgame (1980), two Canadian films (another film he did voicework for three years later was the animated cult classic Rock & Rule [1983]).[2] LaMarche didn't venture into voiceover acting again until years later as a part-time job when he was doing standup.
Television
Maurice LaMarche began playing Chief Quimby on Inspector Gadget (1985-1986), and landed his first major role in animation on The Real Ghostbusters (1986-1991) as the voice of Egon Spengler. Afterwards, LaMarche became a regular mainstay of the voiceover industry, and was a prominent part of many of Warner Bros Television Animation's cartoon series. He was the voice of Dizzy Devil, Tasmanian Devil, Orsen Whales, and Yosemite Sam in Tiny Toon Adventures (1990-1995), Tasmanian Devil and Daffy Duck on Taz-Mania (1991-1995), and later landed perhaps his most recognized role in 1993 as The Brain on Animaniacs (1993-1998) (and later its spin-off show Pinky and the Brain [1995-1998]). He also provided the voices of Squit, and numerous other characters on Animaniacs. He is also well known for his work on Futurama, where he voices Kif Kroker, Morbo, Lrrr, Calculon, and many others.
LaMarche has continued to work steadily in television, including guest roles on The Simpsons.
Characters voiced
- Provided the loud belch given by Jay Sherman in "A Star is Burns"
- George C. Scott (A Star is Burns)
- Commander McBragg (The Seemingly Never-Ending Story)
- Orson Welles (Frink Gets Testy and The Man from G.R.A.M.P.A.)
- Billy (The Wife Aquatic)
- "Horn stuffer" (Stop or My Dog Will Shoot!)
- Fox announcer (You Kent Always Say What You Want)
- Government official (Treehouse of Horror XVIII)
- Jock (Husbands and Knives)
- Milo (Married to the Blob)
- Toucan Sam (Dangerous Curves)
- Robert D. Eisenhower (No Loan Again, Naturally)
- City inspector (Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'oh)
- Starsky and Hutch (Chief of Hearts)
- Additional voice (Homer Goes to Prep School)
- Vincent Price (Treehouse of Horror XXXII)
- Newscaster (Coca-Cola advert)
Episodes
Citations
External links
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Starring | |||
Dan Castellaneta | Julie Kavner | Nancy Cartwright | Yeardley Smith | Hank Azaria | Harry Shearer | |||
Also Starring | |||
Pamela Hayden | Tress MacNeille | Maggie Roswell | Russi Taylor | Karl Wiedergott | Christopher Collins | Doris Grau | Jo Ann Harris | Marcia Mitzman Gaven | |||
Special Guest Voices | |||
Kelsey Grammer | Maurice LaMarche | Joe Mantegna | Marcia Wallace | Greg Berg | Albert Brooks | Phil Hartman | Jan Hooks | Jane Kaczmarek | Jon Lovitz | Frank Welker |