Billy Bletcher, a diminutive figure at 5'2", was known for his booming voice, which ironically began his film career during the silent era. He started his show business career in 1913 at the age of 19, performing in vaudeville and eventually landing a job at Vitagraph Studios in Brooklyn, where he acted and directed.
Two years later, he met his wife, Arline Harriett Roberts, with whom he would remain married until his death in 1979. In 1917, he took his wife to Hollywood, where he worked for smaller production companies, including the Christie Film Company, before moving on to larger studios such as Fox Film Corporation, Warner Brothers, RKO, Columbia, and Paramount.
Billy Bletcher's big break came when he joined Mack Sennett's comedy troupe, where he worked alongside W.C. Fields and Laurel and Hardy. He also played Spanky's father in the Little Rascals series and even had a role in the Disney-produced Little Rascals series.
Pinto Colvig, the original voice of Goofy and Pluto, recommended Bletcher to Disney for the role of a big, blustering voice. Bletcher got the job and went on to do a session a week in the sound booth, sometimes doing two or three voices. His voice became so famous that he was even considered for the role of one of the seven dwarfs in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but Walt Disney ultimately decided against it.
As a voice actor, Bletcher was often typecast as the "heavies" or bad guys due to his low and resonant voice. He worked for Disney, Warner Brothers, and MGM, doing voices for cartoons and films. He also did ADR work, substituting voices for actors in films like The Wizard of Oz.
Throughout his career, Billy Bletcher worked on over 450 films, spanning nearly 60 years. His last film was a made-for-TV version of Li'l Abner in 1971, in which he played Pappy Yokum. He passed away at the age of 84 in 1992.
