Voice of Yakky Doodle Duck, Jimmy Weldon passes away

1940s-era disc jockey, kids TV host, ventriloquist, and voice actor Jimmy Weldon died at the age of 99. The world bid adieu to Weldon on July 6, 2023, in Paso Robles, California.

The American voice actor’s phenomenal ability to enact a quacking voice marks his iconic portrayal of a classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon duckling called ‘Yakky Doodle.’

Weldon, born Ivy Laverne Shinn, was a Texas native and a World War II veteran. Following his military service, he pursued work in radio at a station in Chickasha, Oklahoma. That marked the beginning of his portraying the Donal Duck impression, followed by the creation of a Ventriloquist Dummy called ‘Webster Webfoot.’

‘Webster Webfoot’ became greatly popular among the audience and led to a Dallas kids’ TV show named ‘The Webster Webfoot Show,’ with Weldon working a baseball-capped duck puppet.

Weldon’s most popular work is considered to be the Hanna-Barbera animation studio creation of Yakky Doodle, which debuted in 1961 on the studio’s third half-hour series, ‘The Yogi Bear Show.’

For several decades, Jimmy Weldon has also been the voice for other Hanna-Babera series, including the series ‘Challenge of the Superfriends,’ ‘Fred Flintstone and Friends,’ and ‘Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo.’