Jim Cummings
"You know you've made it when you become a Jeopardy question."
My favorite voice-over actor, other than Christine Cavanaugh, of course, Jim Cummings is my current obsession, along with Darkwing Duck.
I first became interested in Mr. Cummings while watching Darkwing Duck, one of my childhood faves that just went back into syndication. I had already started voice chasing by that time, and was watching the credits, when I saw his name flash by. “Where have I heard the name Jim Cummings before?” I asked no one in particular. My sister, who, at the time, was more of a voice chaser than myself (if that is humanly possible), said that she didn’t know, but it sounded familiar. The next week, having forgotten the aforementioned night, I was watching Cat-Dog, and, when the credits came on, asked the same question. Eventually, I put two and two together, and realized they sounded faintly similar to the guard on Aladdin, which I soon learned was him, also. Since then, I have found several DW and Jim Cummings web pages that have pushed me farther into my obsession. It’s surprising how many people my age, and older, truly adore Darkwing.
"Darkwing Duck and Don Karnage are the most fun to do, because they're both probably the closest to me -- I kinda improvise a lot of them, kinda ad lib."
The characters, in my opinion, that he does (or did, depending on the case) the best job on are Darkwing Duck , Negaduck, Don Karnage, Cat (the one attached to the retarded dog), Monterey Jack, and Taz. He also provides the voices for Herb Muddlefoot, Winnie the Pooh (the New Adventures of), Tigger (in a couple of the movies), Rasoul (the guard on Aladdin), Bonkers, Lucky Piquel, Louie (Tale Spin), Kaa (Jungle Cubs), Zummi Gummi, Chummi Gummi, Pete (Goof Troop), Fat Cat, Wart, Moroco Mole, Mr. Bumpy, Fuzzy Lumpkins, Long John Silver (the Pagemaster), Herb Miller (from the episode of Aaahh! Real Monsters called "The Switching Hour"), Red Eye (from an ep. of Dexter's Laboratory) Ed the hyena, Ivo Robotnik (the Saturday Morning Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon), an old dog thing from "Duck Tales", Smokey the Bear, the gopher on the Lion King (remember--“Zazu, sir, news from the underground.”), Nessus, several rather portly, deep-voiced, pushy Disney extras (ex. the pottery seller in Hercules and the guy who tried to chop Jasmine's hand off), and numerous other parts.
He also is, surprisingly, a fairly decent singer. To listen to some of his songs, check out his parts as the singing voices of the following: Powhatan and Kekata in “Savages (Part I and II)”, or his solo in “Steady as the Beating Drum (Reprise)” in Pocahontas, Rasputin in “In the Dark of the Night” from Anastasia, or fast-forward to the part in “Be Prepared” on The Lion King when Scar says “...You won’t get a sniff without me!”. Jim finishes the song from there (Do not ask me why, though). The Tigger Movie was full of his talent in not only the voicing department, but he also sang approximately half of the seventy minutes, as well. In the adorable lullaby scene of "Darkly Dawns the Duck", Drake sounds more than a little like Kermit the Frog, but it sounds much better than Gosalyn's part. (I'm sorry, that sounded really bad. I love the woman's voice, but let's face it. She CANNOT sing.) He sings again as Drake in "Paraducks", and as Cat in "It's a Wonderful Half-Life". And if you have a copy of the now dead Disney Afternoon tape, you can hear his duet with Ed Gilbert in “Friends for Life” as Louie and Baloo, or the Gummi Bears “Rough, Though, Burly Sailor Song”. I, unfortunately, lost my copy and found this out with the nifty lyrics book. Now, I want the tape so I can hear it for myself. I guess I should be cleaning my closet instead of writing a tribute to a virtually unknown and disregarded actor that no one will ever read, anyway. Speaking of being disregarded, the Disney idiots didn’t even give him credit at the end of Aladdin for his work. Don’t get me started about that.
An email from XxDoctorViperxX@aol.com on Fri, Oct 26 2001 reads:
"Since you seem to like Jim Cummings' voice so much, here's some character she
did the voices for on the cartoon show 'SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron',
which were not listed on Voice Chasers.
"Mayor Manx, Scaredy Kat, Feral's Sergeant, Morbulus ('The Giant Bacteria'), Warden Cyrus Meece ('Chaos In Crystal'), Charlie ('The Ghost Pilot'),
Fake Old Man Kat ('Razor's Edge'), Asylum Guard ('Enter The Madkat'), Abel ('The Origin of Dr. Viper'), Thug ('When Strikes Mutilor'), Salvage Yard Kat ('A Bright And Shiny Future'), Metallitack Unit ('A Bright And Shiny Future')"
Thanks for the info ^_^
"Once I was reading a story to my daughter, and I was going nuts doing each of the voices. She finally rolled her eyes at me and said in this exasperated little voice, 'Dad, just read the story, okay?' "
I guess the thing that I love most about his voice is that there is a certain, indescribable consistency in all of his roles so that you can tell it’s him, yet they all sound so totally different. He has the ability to do a spine-tinglingly evil character (If you have ever heard the clip where Negaduck says “You knobs,” or if you heard Scar laugh at the end of “Be Prepared”, you know what I’m talking about.), then, in the same show, do a fatherly super-hero consoling his daughter, and a ridiculously ignorant next-door neighbor. His rendition of “Steady as the Beating Drum (Reprise)” is so soothing, it will almost put me to sleep (NOTHING puts me to sleep), but when Rasoul jumps in the middle of Aladdin’s path and barks an order to his guards, your heart skips a beat. Then, you listen to DW say “I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am the zit that forms when you get a really big date. I am Darkwing Duck!” or hear Don Karnage trying to get everyone to pronounce his name right (“It is Karnage! Don Karnage! Roll the R!”), and you laugh so hard, you cry. I remember listening to Taz not long ago, and thinking, "Jeeze! That is sooo weird! What kind of an idiot would make a living out of doing that?" (OK, I still wonder that, but now I know who would, and I don't think he's an idiot anymore).
JC’s performances are unequaled. I heard Dan Castellaneta as Genie trying to do an impression of DW on a commercial last night. Eh, heh, heh. Let’s just say that it was not up to par.
Most of Jim’s characters seem to have major egotistical problems. Some of his most conceited are Cat, Don Karnage, Negaduck, and, without a shadow of a doubt, DW. Even so, they are some of the greatest cartoon characters of all time.
Mr. Cummings was nominated for an Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting in the Field of Animation in November 1995 for Mr. Bumpy.
He can be reached at:
Thanks to the Cult of Cummings for the pic.
Jim Cummings Voiceography Here, you can get a complete list of all of his characters, including the ones I didn’t.
Jim Cummings Sounds at Alegna's Asylum Hear Jim in action!
I am, in no way, related to Jim Cummings or any of the characters or shows mentioned above.
-In response to a Jeopardy question in which Alex Trebeck offered, "Jim Cummings, Whoopie
Goldberg & Cheech Marin make up this famous Disney threesome"
-Jim Cummings
-Jim Cummings
Jim Cummings
c/o ICM Voice-Over Dept.
8942 Wilshire Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90211 USA
I'm a member of the Cult of Cummings: Care to join the obsession? Here you can get all kinds of wonderful info about the man of many voices.
