RIP Christine Cavanaugh
December 30, 2014 10:30 AM   Subscribe

Deceased is Christine Cavanaugh at age 52. She was an accomplished voice performer, familiar for roles such as Marty (full episode ~22m) from The Critic, Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory, and Babe the pig.
posted by JHarris (54 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
I just noticed that she actually passed eight days ago. Still, I didn't notice anything here on it.
posted by JHarris at 10:35 AM on December 30, 2014 [1 favorite]


., Dede!
posted by Samizdata at 10:36 AM on December 30, 2014 [3 favorites]


Her acting career started in 1988, with her big break in 1991 when she used her amazing talent to bring Goslyn Duck from Dark Wing Duck to life. She did too many things in her career to list including TV and movie appearances. Some of her major career accomplishments includes her voice as Chuckie (Rugrats 1991-2003), Marty Sherman (The Critic 1994-1995), Oblina (Ahhhhh Real Monsters 1994-1997), Babe (Babe 1995), and Dexter (Dexter's Laboratory 1996-2003)

My God, she voiced my entire childhood.
posted by Think_Long at 10:37 AM on December 30, 2014 [17 favorites]


.

I had no idea she retired in 2001. I just assumed she continued with her exceptional voice work.
posted by infinitewindow at 10:38 AM on December 30, 2014


.

Babe is without a doubt my favorite movie of all time. I watch it once a year as a sort of "spiritual recalibration." This is such sad news.
posted by jbickers at 10:40 AM on December 30, 2014 [3 favorites]


.
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:41 AM on December 30, 2014


.
posted by vibrotronica at 10:43 AM on December 30, 2014


.
posted by Busithoth at 10:43 AM on December 30, 2014


Babe is terrific, yes, as is Pig In The City. Far better than they had to be.
posted by JHarris at 10:43 AM on December 30, 2014 [1 favorite]


Oh no.

One of my favorite things about the X-Files episode "Small Potatoes" -- and there are a lot of things to love about that episode -- was that she played the woman who had Luke Skywalker's baby.
posted by rewil at 10:48 AM on December 30, 2014 [7 favorites]


.
posted by Joey Michaels at 10:51 AM on December 30, 2014


Oh man.... she was an amazing talent.

.
posted by Dr-Baa at 10:52 AM on December 30, 2014


.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:53 AM on December 30, 2014


.

52 is too young.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:55 AM on December 30, 2014 [1 favorite]


.
posted by Iridic at 10:56 AM on December 30, 2014


.
posted by lord_wolf at 11:11 AM on December 30, 2014


.

That'll do, pig.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:14 AM on December 30, 2014 [5 favorites]


.
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:18 AM on December 30, 2014


.
posted by valkane at 11:19 AM on December 30, 2014


.

Goslyn Duck from Darkwing Duck

I hate to be that guy, but the character was named Gosalyn Mallard (Gosalyn Waddlemeyer before Drake Mallard adopted her). 10-year-old me insisted on the correction.
posted by Servo5678 at 11:19 AM on December 30, 2014 [6 favorites]


If she was born in August 1963 as her obit says, Cavanaugh was actually 51 when she died.

I also have fond memories of that X-Files episode. She was hilarious in that.
posted by orange swan at 11:20 AM on December 30, 2014 [1 favorite]


Wikipedia gives her cause of death as ALS. Having watched a friend's father die of the same thing several years ago, losing first his ability to speak and then all other physical faculties, I can only hope that her suffering was brief. It's an absolutely horrifying condition, but I imagine even more so for someone who made their living with their voice.
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:25 AM on December 30, 2014


A couple of months ago I was watching Small Potatoes and I knew that her voice was familiar, so I checked IMDB and holy shit.

Sometimes you don't recognize how omnipresent someone was in your formative years until decades later. The world is dimmer for her passing.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:28 AM on December 30, 2014 [3 favorites]


. Aw. That'll do.
posted by BlahLaLa at 11:39 AM on December 30, 2014


Wikipedia has updated her cause of death to chronic myelogenous leukemia.
posted by infinitewindow at 11:44 AM on December 30, 2014 [1 favorite]


.
posted by allthinky at 11:45 AM on December 30, 2014


.
posted by wanderingmind at 11:49 AM on December 30, 2014


.
posted by Spatch at 11:52 AM on December 30, 2014


This is stoooopid!

.
posted by New England Cultist at 11:54 AM on December 30, 2014 [3 favorites]


.

I am a fan of all the great Voice Actors. Thank you, jharris, for how you worded the post. If you'd started with any kind of "Cartoon Voice" tease, I'd have thought it was June Foray, who, at 97 can still do the 'little boy' voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel (as demonstrated in the "I Know That Voice" documentary last year). When she passes, you can just shut down all the cartoons.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:08 PM on December 30, 2014 [4 favorites]


.
posted by Smart Dalek at 12:19 PM on December 30, 2014


.
posted by doctor_negative at 12:41 PM on December 30, 2014


We've been watching Recess with my first grader and my toddler and recently watched the episode with "Library Kid" who is played with insane joy by her. This is sad news.
posted by sleeping bear at 1:02 PM on December 30, 2014


.
posted by justnathan at 1:10 PM on December 30, 2014


.
posted by Small Dollar at 1:16 PM on December 30, 2014


If she was born in August 1963 as her obit says, Cavanaugh was actually 51 when she died.

Ah, then I miscounted, sorry.
posted by JHarris at 1:17 PM on December 30, 2014


.
posted by JoeXIII007 at 1:28 PM on December 30, 2014


.
posted by ZeusHumms at 1:39 PM on December 30, 2014


I was struck in her obituary by the naming of 5 different people who in turn were her parents during her childhood. The unnamed tragedies in those sentences just really hit me. She brought so much joy to so many kids through her work, when her own childhood seems to have been an unusually difficult one.
posted by hydropsyche at 1:44 PM on December 30, 2014 [3 favorites]


I feel you New England Cultist
posted by wrnealis at 1:57 PM on December 30, 2014


.
posted by drezdn at 1:58 PM on December 30, 2014


Oh no. She was my favorite as a kid. I remember seeing her as Mona on Salute Your Shorts and realizing she was the same person who did Chuckie's voice. She was also Bunnie Rabbot on the old Sonic cartoon...I missed her work after she retired and I'm really sad to hear of her passing.
posted by Tesseractive at 2:16 PM on December 30, 2014 [1 favorite]


.
posted by radwolf76 at 2:40 PM on December 30, 2014


A Tribute to Christine Cavanaugh, from Oct 2014.
posted by ZeusHumms at 2:45 PM on December 30, 2014


.
posted by oceanjesse at 2:59 PM on December 30, 2014


.
posted by joedan at 3:44 PM on December 30, 2014


.
posted by epj at 4:33 PM on December 30, 2014


.
posted by LMGM at 4:53 PM on December 30, 2014


.
posted by Foosnark at 6:21 PM on December 30, 2014


.
posted by wiskunde at 7:12 PM on December 30, 2014


.

There's a picture a friend of mine tweeted of all of the Dexters kneeling with their wrenches that made me all verklempt.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:23 PM on December 30, 2014


I found this in the IMDB trivia section about Dexter:

Dexter's accent originated from when Genndy Tartakovsky was at CalArts and his roommate, Rob Renzetti would leave him answering machine messages in a comedic French accent. Later, in developing the show, they would take the voice and add traces of Russian and German accents as well.

Somehow it fits that a genius kid would naturally have a Russian/German accent. I can hear her voice (as Dexter) in my mind as I write this.

.
posted by eye of newt at 7:58 PM on December 30, 2014 [1 favorite]


Omelette du fromage :(

.
posted by MrBadExample at 8:34 PM on December 30, 2014 [2 favorites]


.
posted by buriednexttoyou at 9:37 PM on December 30, 2014


« Older Nyeah nargh eeah fwa fwa 2: Corncob Boogaloo   |   "Indescribably Alarming" Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments