Donnie Dunagan, the actor who voiced the beloved Disney character Bambi, has died at the age of 92.
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Dunagan died on Wednesday, Nov. 4, from lung cancer. Author and film historian Tom Weaver announced the news, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Donnie Dunagan Starred in Several Horror Classics
Dunagan was born in San Antonio, Texas, on Aug. 16, 1934. His family moved to Memphis, where he showed his talent for performing early on. When he was just 3, he won a $100 prize for tap-dancing in a talent contest. A talent agent spotted Dunagan's act and arranged for an audition in Los Angeles.
The actor starred in the 1938 film Mother Carey's Chickens. He was later cast as the son of Basil Rathbone's Baron Wolf von Frankenstein in the horror film Son of Frankenstein. He often played checkers with the monster Boris Karloff while the actor was in full makeup.
Dunagan Never Told Anyone He Voiced Bambi
After working in several more films, Dunagan's mother received a call from Walt Disney himself asking her if her son wanted to "help his artist put a child's expression on a deer." The young actor worked on the film for over a year.
"I remember this well," Dunagan said in 2011. "When I was told to say, with some stress, 'Mother ... Mother,' I must have not had the tone of fear that the story needed. A coach, I think it was a nice lady at the studio, asked me how I would cry out loud if my own real mother was lost and in great danger. That made it easy."
Bambi was Dunagan's last film. He joined the Marines in 1952 and served 25 years. He said he was the youngest drill instructor in the military branch's history and served three tours in Vietnam. Dunagan retired as a major. He was awarded three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with V device, an Army Commendation Medal, and two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals.
But Dunagan never told anyone about his acting career. He said, "One of the biggest regrets of my life is that I didn't have the courage to tell my close personal friends in the Marine Corps that I had been a part of the wonderful work of Mr. Disney."
