Disney Casting Director

An interview with Bill Shepard

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by Jordan R. Young

Type

Interviews

Subject

Genre > Animation

Keywords

Bill Shepard, animation, Walt Disney

Publishing date

2023

Publisher

Past Times Publishing

Collection

Past Times Film Close-Up

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Ebook • 30 pages

ISBN

-

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Book Presentation:
The character actor was once the backbone of the motion picture industry. Every major studio had a stock company they relied on to provide the atmosphere that made their films memorable. By the mid-1960s, few of the old familiar faces who remained from the movies’ celebrated Golden Age found a place for themselves in Hollywood, but there was one casting director who revered the old-timers—and called on them often.
Their value was not lost on Bill Shepard, who pooled a stable of veteran actors Walt Disney Productions took pride in. Disney was once a haven for durable supporting players who refused to quit the game and matinee idols grown old, thanks largely to Shepard.
The studio’s stock company included such distinctive and reliable performers as Hans Conried, who provided the voice for Captain Hook and later played the head of a scientific research lab in “The Cat From Outer Space”; Sterling Holloway, the mouthpiece of Winnie the Pooh and the snake in “The Jungle Book”; Iris Adrian, who did 10 pictures for Disney beginning with “That Darn Cat!”; and Burt Mustin, who appeared in eight movies starting with “Son of Flubber.”
Such stalwarts as Huntz Hall of the Bowery Boys, vintage radio personalities Jim Jordan (“Fibber McGee and Molly”) and Lurene Tuttle (“The Adventures of Sam Spade”), former leading players Lew Ayres and Marie Windsor, Virginia O’Brien, Mary Wickes, Pat Buttram, Elsa Lanchester and Joe Flynn also illuminated the roster.
“It’s wonderful that Bill Shepard remembers all the old character actors. He’s done a lot for them,” enthused Fritz Feld. “Since I met him he’s been trying to get me into every picture there. Unfortunately, they have not been big parts. But I never mind how small a part is, the fun is to make something out of it.” Feld, the perennial head waiter and hotel clerk, appeared in “The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes,” and several other Disney films.
The bonus chapter, “How Donald Duck Helped Win World War II,” recounts the story of “Der Fuehrer’s Face” – how Spike Jones and his City Slickers’ raspberry-flavored rendition of the novelty song, originally written for a Donald Duck cartoon, instantly caught the fancy of a nation fraught with anxiety.
The silly lyrics, the nutty vocal and the imitation oom-pah band sound, not to mention the raspberry — also known as “the bird,” or the Bronx Cheer in those days — made an audacious assault on the nation’s airwaves courtesy of a Manhattan radio station and catapulted a relatively unknown bandleader to stardom almost literally overnight.