On this day in 1904, James Patrick O'Malley (also known as J. Pat O'Malley) was born in Burnley, England. A singer-turned-actor, O'Malley had a long career on radio, Broadway, film, and television as a character actor.
A move from England to the United States in 1935 eventually brought him to the attention of Walt Disney. His first voicing of an animated character was Cyril Proudbottom in Disney's 1949 The Wind in the Willows. His voice can also be heard in the 1951 Alice in Wonderland - in which he performed all the voices in the "Walrus and Carpenter" segment.
Already known to the studio casting directors for his voice work, O'Malley was chosen to play the television role of the English servant Perkins assigned to watch over Monty Markham in The Adventures of Spin and Marty. He appeared on all 3 Spin and Marty serials.
O'Malley continued to work for Disney throughout the 1960s doing voice work for One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, and Mary Poppins (the Cockney coster in the "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" segment).
O'Malley later contributed his voice talents to the Disneyland attraction Pirates of the Caribbean. Among the characters he voiced ... the Pirate Captain dunking the magistrate into the well!
O'Malley's non-Disney TV credits is staggering, as he appeared in episodes of Lassie, Perry Mason, The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Twilight Zone, My Favorite Martian, F Troop, Bewitched, Batman, Hogan's Heroes, The Mod Squad, I Dream of Jeannie, Bonanza, Adam-12, Emergency, Maude, Three's Company, Barney Miller, Fantasy Island, and Taxi.
It's been often stated that J. Pat was a kind and gentle man, who made this world a better place for having been here, and he left his legacy on film.
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