Shepard Menken (November 2, 1921 – January 2, 1999) was an American film, television, voice, radio character actor.Photographs and other images associated with Shepard Menken
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Early life

Menken began his career at the age of 11, when he started appearing on children's radio programs. After high school, Menken attended

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, and later studied performing arts at the Neighborhood Playhouse Theatre and the Juilliard School of Music.

Career

Menken made his film debut in 1949 with a supporting role in '' The Red Menace'', and eventually appeared onscreen in 17 movies. Menken worked steadily as a television actor, appearing on such series as ''

I Love Lucy ''I Love Lucy'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning six seasons. The show starred Lucille Ball, her husband, Desi Arnaz, along wit ...

'', '' I Spy'', and '' The Wild Wild West''. He was also in demand as a voice talent, working on animated cartoons for Hanna-Barbera, UPA, and

Marvel Productions New World Animation Ltd., formerly known as Marvel Productions, was the television and film studio subsidiary of the Marvel Entertainment Group, based in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It later became a subsidiary of New World Entertainment ...

, as well as advertising spots for StarKist Tuna and Mattel Toys; his was the voice intoning, "The only way to fly!" in

Western Airlines Western Airlines was a major airline based in California, operating in the Western United States including Alaska and Hawaii, and western Canada, as well as to New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami and to Mexico City, London and ...

' spots in the 1960s. Menken voiced the Clyde Crashcup character in ''

The Alvin Show ''The Alvin Show'' is an American animated television series that aired on CBS in the early 1960s. This was the first series to feature the singing characters Alvin and the Chipmunks. ''The Alvin Show'' aired for one season, from October 4, 196 ...

'', as well as the character

Tonto Tonto is a fictional character; he is the Native American (either Comanche or Potawatomi) companion of the Lone Ranger, a popular American Western character created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker. Tonto has appeared in radio and tele ...

in the 1966-69 animated series ''

The Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in ...

''. He also voiced the Spelling Bee and Chroma the Great in the

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

live-action/animated film '' The Phantom Tollbooth'', and provided the voice for the title character in ''

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" is a short story in the 1894 anthology ''The Jungle Book'' by Rudyard Kipling about adventures of a valiant young Indian grey mongoose. It has often been anthologized and has been published several times as a short book. Book 5 ...

''. In 1963, Menken formed his own company, Malibu Films, which specialized in educational and industrial films.

Death

Shepard Menken died in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

neighborhood of Woodland Hills two months after his 77th birthday.

Selected filmography

* ''

The Great Caruso ''The Great Caruso'' is a 1951 biographical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and starring Mario Lanza as Enrico Caruso. It was directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Joe Pasternak with Jesse L. Lasky as associate producer from a screenpla ...

'' (1951) as Fucito * '' David and Bathsheba'' (1951) as Police Guard (uncredited) * '' Tangier Incident'' (1953) * ''

Captain John Smith and Pocahontas ''Captain John Smith and Pocahontas '' is a 1953 American historical film directed by Lew Landers. The distributor was United Artists. It stars Anthony Dexter, Jody Lawrance and Alan Hale. While most scenes were filmed in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mo ...

'' (1953) as Natanquas * '' Killers From Space'' (1953) as Major Clift * '' I Love Lucy, Episode 77, 'Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined''', billed as "Shep Menken" (1953) as the optometrist * '' King Richard and the Crusaders'' (1954) as Muezzin (uncredited) * '' Bengal Brigade'' (1954) as Bulbir

References

External links

*
Shepard Menken
at the

American Film Institute Catalog The ''AFI Catalog of Feature Films'', also known as the ''AFI Catalog'', is an ongoing project by the American Film Institute (AFI) to catalog all commercially-made and theatrically exhibited American motion pictures from the birth of cinema in ...

Shepard Menken
at AllMovie * {{DEFAULTSORT:Menken, Shepard 1921 births 1999 deaths American male voice actors American male radio actors American male film actors Male actors from New York City 20th-century American male actors Juilliard School alumni Columbia University alumni Burials at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery