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James Jonah Cummings (born November 3, 1952) is widely considered to be a successor to the late Mel Blanc. He speaks in a deep, gravelly voice for most roles, but can do many variations of it. His skills as a mimic have earned him scores of opportunities at Walt Disney Productions, in particular. At Disney, Cummings not only replaced the ailing Sterling Holloway as the voice of Winnie the Pooh, but later took over as the voice of Tigger when well-known ventriloquist and voice actor Paul Winchell retired, and also voiced Crud. Cummings was hired to sing the last part of the song "Be Prepared" in The Lion King (1994) after actor Jeremy Irons was unable to sing the more demanding parts of the songnote , and he also voiced Ed the Hyena. He also sang for another non-singing actor Christopher Lloyd for the song, "In the Dark of the Night" in the animated film, Anastasia. He also played the star of the series Darkwing Duck (along with his Evil Counterpart Negaduck) and has been the voice of Mickey Mouse's Arch-Enemy Pete since Goof Troop.
Cummings was the only original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles voice actor to return for the 2007 movie. His first three TMNT appearances were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. The 2007 movie was Cummings' sixth computer-animated movie appearance. His first five computer-animated movie appearances included Antz, The Nuttiest Nutcracker, Shrek, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, and Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas; and his latest animated movie appearances are Bee Movie, BIONICLE: The Legend Reborn, and The Princess and the Frog.
In the course of two decades, Cummings' career as a voice actor has taken him from bit parts to leading roles in major series at various studios, including Nickelodeon, Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera, Dreamworks Animation, and 20th Century Fox studios. His most memorable roles, however, have been for Disney cartoons. There, he provided voices for a variety of series, including leading roles in Adventures of the Gummi Bears, (taking over the character of Zummi Gummi after Paul Winchell's departure from the role), DuckTales, Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangersnote , TaleSpin (he played Don Karnage and Louie), Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, Bonkers (voicing both Bonkers and Lucky — until Lucky Piquel was replaced with a female cop named Miranda Wright), Gargoyles, and House of Mouse, and movies such as Hercules, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Pocahontas. Cummings also voiced the non-speaking roles of Ed the laughing hyena in 1994's The Lion King and Duncan the horse in The Simpsons episode "Saddlesore Galactica".
Other notable roles include "Mr. Bumpy" in the cult Claymation show Bump in the Night, Dr. Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) (he also voiced Robotnik and Scratch in the unaired pilot of the wacky Adventures; for that series Robotnik was played by Long John Baldry), Lord Boxman in OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, Psy-Crow and Bob the Killer Goldfish in Earthworm Jim and Taz the Tazmanian Devil on Taz-Mania and a number of other projects.
In addition to Taz and Pooh, Cummings has over the years become the official voice for a number of legendary cartoon characters, including Tigger, Pete, Humphrey the Bear, Dick Dastardly, the Slag Brothers, Big Gruesome, Private Meekly, Clyde, and Morocco Mole. Cummings has also provided voices for video games, television commercials, and movie trailers, and was the announcer for Kids' WB! during that block's existence, as well as the voiceover for the current Cheez-It commercials.
In the world of video games, Cummings has done the voice of Minsc of Baldur's Gate/Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn and Drizzt Do'Urden in the first Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance game. He is also prominently displayed in the credits of Kingdom Hearts as Pooh, Tigger, and Pete. Cummings provided the voices for "Hougan" and "Sumo Santa" in ClayFighter 63 1/3. In Ys Book I and II for the TurboGrafx-16 CD system, he is credited as voicing "Dalles", and he provided voices for minor characters in Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers. He played several characters in the little-known Toonstruck. He also provided three of four of the voices of the main antagonist of Fallout, The Master. He also provides the voice of the Terror Mask in the 2010 Splatterhouse remake for the Xbox 360 and PS3. He did a significant amount of voice work for the most recent Elder Scrolls title; most "curmudgeonly" voices in the game are provided by him. He also voiced every male character in several of the Army Men franchise. Most recently, he's portrayed Lorewalker Cho in World of Warcraft. In addition, Cummings narrated the Epcot fireworks show at Walt Disney World, IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth.
Cummings has a notable cameo in Comic Book The Movie as an inebriated party-goer. This is one of very few live-action appearances. The movie stars many other voice actors, including Tom Kenny, Maurice LaMarche, Billy West, and Mark Hamill.
Cummings even did make some vocal performances using his voice at normal pitch for some younger looking characters like Witterquick from Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light and Buddy Boar from Taz-Mania.
Don't confuse him with the filmmaker behind Thunder Road.
His voice-acting and acting credits include:
- Adventures from the Book of Virtues - Ari (seasons 1-2)
- Adventures in Zambezia - Budzo
- The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius - Ultra Lord, Attila the Hun, Mayor Quadar, Additional voices
- Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog - Dr. Robotnik, Scratch (pilot only)
- Adventure Time - Pete Sassafras and Mathew
- Aladdin - Razoul
- Aladdin and the Adventure of All Time - King Henry and Blackbeard
- Alpha Protocol - Conrad Marburg, Gelato Man
- Anastasia - Rasputin (singing voice)
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire - Additional voices (most of the Red Shirt characters, plus one of the Smithsonian curators)
- Avengers Assemble - Ghost
- Baldur's Gate - Minsc
- Balto - Steele
- The Batman - Temblor
- Batman: The Animated Series - Tygrus, Garth, Plant Monster
- Bee Movie - Narrator
- Biker Mice from Mars - Saddle Sore and Deathmaster in "So Life Like", Gerald Gruyere and Gutama Gouda in "Diet of Worms"
- BIONICLE: The Legend Reborn - Ackar, also announced the teaser trailer.
- Bonkers - Bonkers D. Bobcat, Lucky Piquel
- Bubsy - Sid the Shrew
- Bump in the Night - Mr. Bumpy, Destructo, the Closet Monster, and the narrator of the episode "Night of the Living Bread".
- Cabin Boy - Cupcake
- Captain Planet and the Planeteers - Replaced Martin Sheen as the voice of Sly Sludge in the fourth season and onward.
- CatDog - Cat, Shriek's father in "Rich Shriek, Poor Shriek", and additional voices
- Castle in the Sky - General Muoro (2003 dub)
- ChalkZone - Skrawl
- Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers - Fat Cat, Professor Norton Nimnul, Wart, Monterey Jack (replacing Peter Cullen halfway through season 2), and additional voices.
- ClayFighter 63â…“ - Houngan, Sumo Santa
- Codename: Kids Next Door - Vin Moosk the Tie Hunter
- Colby's Clubhouse - Flop the Disc note
- Courage the Cowardly Dog - The Great Fusilli
- Darkwing Duck - Darkwing Duck and his Evil Counterpart NegaDuck, reprised in DuckTales (2017)
- Disney Magic Kingdomsnote - Opening cutscene narrator and Pete
- Disney Speedstorm - Steamboat Pete, King Triton
- DuckTales (1987) - El Capitan, Auctioneer in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. McDuck", and an incidental character in "The Ducky Horror Picture Show"
- Duckman - Big Jack McBastard, additional voices
- Earthworm Jim - Psy-Crow, Bob the Killer Goldfish
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - "Male Old Grumpy" NPC voice type, as well as several mostly-unimportant NPCs such as Festus Krex of the Dark Brotherhood, or both Vignar Grey-Mane and Olfred Battle-Born.
- Epic Mickey - Pete
- Fallout - The Master, Gizmo, Set
- Fallout 4 - Benjamin Beasley, Cedric Hopton, the Scribe, Institute scientists, settlers
- Fanboy and Chum Chum - Professor Flan
- The Garbage Pail Kids Movie - Voices of Greaser Greg and Nat Nerd
- Gargoyles - Dingo, MaÃl Brigti, Gillecomgain (adult),
- Goof Troop - Pete
- Gnomeo & Juliet - Featherstone
- Goldie & Bear - The Big Bad Wolf "Big Bad" (Aloysius), also a few other guest-star characters
- A Goofy Movie - Pete
- Grand Theft Auto V - Police Officer, AmmuNation Clerk, Radio Announcer
- Hercules - Nessus
- House of Mouse - Pete, Big Bad Wolf
- Icewind Dale - Hrothgar, Arundel
- Invasion America - Major Lomack
- Jackie Chan Adventures - Hak-Foonote
- Kinect: Disneyland Adventures - Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Cheshire Cat
- Kingdom Hearts - Pete, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Ed, Julius, Cheshire Cat
- The Legend of Korra - Nuktuk narrator, Fire Sage Karu
- The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus (2000) - Santa Claus
- The Lion King (1994) - Ed, Scar (temporary singing voice)
- The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure - Scar, Ed
- The Looney Tunes Show - Tasmanian Devil
- The Lost Vikings: Norse by Norsewest - Olaf, Tomator
- Marsupilami - Maurice, Norman
- Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 - Thor
- Mass Effect 2 - Patriarch, Urdnot Wreav, Chief Weyrloc Guld
- Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers - Pete
- Mickey Mouse - Pete
- Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - Pete
- Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins - Shang Tsung, Sub-Zero
- Motorcity - Dr. Hudson
- MultiVersus - Taz
- The Mummy: The Animated Series - Imhotep
- New Looney Tunes - Taz, Blacque Jacque Shellacque
- Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl - Shredder, Cat
- Niko and the Sword of Light - The Darkness, Narration
- OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes - Lord Boxman
- Once Upon a Studio - Baloo, Winnie the Pooh
- Orion Burger - Zlarg
- Ozzy & Drix - Police Chief Gluteus
- The Penguins of Madagascar, Bo, Gomer, Ridiculously Deep Voice
- Pocahontas - Chief Powhatan (singing voice), Kekata (singing voice)
- The Princess and the Frog - Ray
- Project Spark - The Creation Well
- The Powerpuff Girls (1998) - Fuzzy Lumpkins
- Raw Toonage - Maurice, Norman, Bonkers D. Bobcat
- The Road to El Dorado - Cortez
- Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island - Jacques
- The Secret Files of The Spy Dogs - Catastrophe
- The Shnookums & Meat Funny Cartoon Show - Dr. Paul Bunion
- Shrek - Captain of the Guards
- The Simpsons - Duncan the Horse
- Skylanders Academy - Malefor
- Sofia the First - Wormwood, Goodwin the Great, Professor Popov, Rex
- Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) - Dr. Robotnik, SWAT-Bots (Season 2 only)
- Spider-Man: The Animated Series - Shocker, Chameleon, Man-Spider
- Marvel's Spider-Man - Hammerhead, Ghost
- Splatterhouse (2010) - Terror Mask
- Skeleton Warriors - Claw
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels - Hondo Ohnaka
- SWAT Kats - Mayor Manx, Sgt. Talon, various guest star characters
- TaleSpin - Don Karnage, Louie, various guest star characters
- Taz-Mania - Taz, Wendell T. Wolf, Bushwhacker Bob, additional voices
- Teen Titans - Master of Games, Wildebeest
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) - The Shredder (substitute voice), Leatherhead, Ghengis Frog, Dirk Savage, others
- The Tick - Captain Decency, Mr. Mental, others
- The Transformers - Afterburner, Rippersnapper
- Transformers: Robots in Disguise - Clampdown, Thermidor
- Turbo F.A.S.T. - Cajun Cliché
- Visionaries - Witterquick, Bogavus, and Belizar
- Widget the World Watcher - Mega Brain
- WildStar - Dr. Victor Lazarin
- Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa - Dakota Dude, Saddle Sore, Skull Duggery, and several one-shot characters and bit parts
- Winnie the Pooh (2011) - Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Beaver
- W.I.T.C.H. - Tridart, Howard Hale
- World of Warcraft - Lorewalker Cho, Shen-zin Su,Havi, Runas the Shamed, and other minor roles.
- Wreck-It Ralph - Additional voices
Tropes associated with Jim Cummings include:
- Acting for Two:
- Has occurred often with several Disney properties, such as various Winnie the Pooh media (as Pooh and Tigger), Darkwing Duck (as Darkwing, Negaduck, and Herb Muddlefoot), Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (as Monterey Jack, Fat Cat, Professor Nimnul, and Wart), Bonkers (as Bonkers and Lucky Piquel), and TaleSpin (as Don Karnage and Louie).
- He also voiced every male character in the Army Men: Sarge's Heroes and Air Attack games, to the point where the games may as well be called "Jim Cummings: The Video Game".
- Evil Sounds Deep: When he voices a villain. Quite intimidating to say at least.
- Friend to All Children: Takes time out to phone kids in the hospital in-character as Winnie the Pooh. Doubles as Cool Old Guy.
- Large Ham: MINSC. And believe it or not, that's not the only ham Cummings has. See also: Hondo Ohnaka, Don Karnage, Darkwing Duck, Negaduck...
- Man of a Thousand Voices:
- While his raspy voice is his most well-known, he has quite the vocal range. The Master is a great example of this, where the same character has four distince voices: a normal speaking voice, his afformentioned raspy voice, a computerized voice, and a female voice. Three of those voices are from Cummings.
- Two words: Army Men, In which he played all but 3 of the characters in the games. You can't tell it, because all of the characters sound unique to themselves. And it was a series with numerous characters to boot!
- During his appearance at the 2014 Anthrocon, he was asked to do an impression of convention founder Samuel "Uncle Kage" Conway. And he did it!
- He voiced several characters in The Road to El Dorado, not just Cortes, which shows off his range quite right.
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover:
- In an appearance at a ConnectiCon 2013, he did a reading of Darth Vader's lines from Star Wars: A New Hope in character(s) as Winnie the Pooh and Darkwing Duck. He promptly brought down the house when he ad-libbed:
"She must have hidden the plans in the escape pod... Oh bother!"- He then afterwards did a rendition of Gone with the Wind as Ray the Firefly and Winnie the Pooh.
"Frankly my dear... I don't give a heffalump." - No Indoor Voice: As Tigger, Norton Nimnul, Minsc, and Hondo Ohnaka.
- The Other Darrin: He did the singing voice of Scar for the ending of Be Prepared for The Lion King (1994) since Jeremy Irons' voice gave out when he yelled "You won't get a sniff without me!" He also voiced Scar in The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure and other Lion King media.
- Permanent Placeholder: He made a scratch track for Cortes in The Road to El Dorado and the animators loved it so much that they kept him as the voice of the Conquistador for the final product.
- Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Not only is he a great admirer of Cajun culture (he worked on a river boat in New Orleans as a teenager) but is currently the only professional voice actor capable of putting on an authentic Cajun accent.
- Promoted Fanboy: He was a big fan of Paul Winchell as a child and was over the moon when Winchell asked him to take over Tigger for him.