Gerrianne Raphael is an American stage, screen, and voice-over actress. Though much of her career has been spent in the theatre, she is perhaps best known for her major role as the voice of Pumyra in ''

ThunderCats ''ThunderCats'' is a media franchise, featuring a fictional group of cat-like humanoid aliens. The characters were created by Tobin Wolf and featured in an animated television series named ''ThunderCats'', running from 1985 to 1989, whic ...

''.

Personal life

Gerrianne Raphael was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to Sidney, a concert

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

and Evelyn Raphael, a former actress. She was married three times, most recently to actor

Noah Keen Noah Keen (October 10, 1920 – March 24, 2019) was an American film and television actor. Early life Keen was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He fought in World War II as a bombardier in the Army Air Force. Career Keen made many guest appearan ...

, from 2004 until his death in 2019. Her first husband was stage manager/actor, director John Weaver, (1955 - 1978). Gregory Allen Hirsch (1979 - 1986) was her second husband, a theatrical lighting designer. She has three daughters from her first marriage. She graduated from the

Professional Children's School The Professional Children's School (PCS) is a not-for-profit, college-preparatory school geared toward working and aspiring child actors and dancers in grades four through twelve. The school was founded in New York City in 1914 to provide an ac ...

in New York City, in 1949.

Career

Raphael's first professional performances were on radio when she was four years old on ''

Let's Pretend ''Let's Pretend'', created and directed by Nila Mack, was a CBS radio series for children. Prior to being renamed ''Let's Pretend'', the program had a variety of titles and formats. In its most famous form, ''Let's Pretend'', the Peabody Awar ...

,'' a children’s program of fairy tales. Her first Broadway show was at seven years of age in a play called ''Solitaire'' by John Van Druten. She understudied

Patricia Hitchcock Patricia Alma Hitchcock O'Connell (7 July 1928 – 9 August 2021) was an English-American actress and producer. She was the only child of English director Alfred Hitchcock and film editor Alma Reville, and had small roles in several of her fath ...

, the daughter of

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

. Since then, her dozens of stage performances have included the landmark production of '' Threepenny Opera'' with

Lotte Lenya Lotte Lenya (born Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer; 18 October 1898 – 27 November 1981) was an Austrian-American singer, diseuse, and actress, long based in the United States. In the German-speaking and classical music world, she is be ...

and

Beatrice Arthur Beatrice Arthur (born Bernice Frankel; May 13, 1922 – April 25, 2009) was an American actress, comedienne and singer. She began her career on stage in 1947, attracting critical acclaim before achieving worldwide recognition for her work o ...

and the original Broadway production of ''

Man of La Mancha ''Man of La Mancha'' is a 1965 musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics by Joe Darion. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay '' I, Don Quixote'', which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervan ...

''. Having started in radio as a child, the progression to commercial voice-overs, "audiobooks" and cartoons came naturally. At one point Raphael had voice-overs for Revlon, Gloria Vanderbilt, Geritol and Helena Rubinstein all running at the same time. She had also provided the voice for the littlest dwarf on the Ajax commercials in the 1950s.

Filmography

Theatre

References

External links

* * * *https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Gerrianne-Raphael/ *http://www.filmreference.com/film/35/Gerrianne-Raphael.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Raphael, Gerrianne Living people American film actresses American television actresses American voice actresses Actresses from New York City 21st-century American women Year of birth missing (living people)