Part of understanding fictional librarians is understanding those behind the screen, specifically when it comes to those who voice animated characters. Part 1 of this series focused on Black voice actors, Part 2 on Asian and Latin American voice actors, Part 3 on Indian voice actors, Part 4 on Japanese voice actors, Part 5 on Japanese-speaking and English-speaking voice actors, and Part 6 on White female voice actors.
In this seventh part of this series, I am profiling White men [1] who have voiced librarian characters over the years.
About the voice actors
There are a number of prominent White male voice actors. This includes Nico Colaleo as Desiree in Too Loud, the only transgender librarian I’ve covered on this blog so far. He is the creator of Too Loud and Ollie & Scoops, while he has works as an animation timer for Netflix Animation, Nickelodeon, Disney TVA, and Titmouse. Then there’s Matt Burnett who voices Harold in Craig of the Creek. Burnett is a co-creator of the same show, with Ben Levin as the other co-creator.
Actors Kelsey Grammer and Gary Martin mentioned prominent librarian characters as well. Grammer voices Blinkous “Blinky” Galadrigal in Tales of Arcadia. Martin voices the unnamed librarian in Prisoner Zero. Both are talented actors, with Grammer known for voicing Sideshow Bob in The Simpsons. Martin voiced characters, by contrast, in many video games and animated films.
Other White men voiced librarians as well. For instance, Steve Zahn voices Swampy in Phineas and Ferb, George DiCenzo voiced the unnamed elderly librarian in the She-Ra: Princess of Power episode “Three Courageous Hearts,” and John Cygan as Archie the Archivist in Regular Show, who is a mix of an archivist and a librarian. In addition, Jamie Watson voiced Mr. Snellson, named after a snail, in the Mysticons episode “Happily Never After.”
There is also a rash of White men who voiced female librarians, which is strange, because it is not known why women weren’t cast for those roles instead. First and foremost this includes Steve Little as Turtle Princess in Adventure Time and Adventure Time: Distant Lands. It also includes Jay Johnston, David Herman, and Scott Adsit, all of whom voiced Francis Clara Censorsdoll in different parts of Moral Orel.
Additional White male voice actors included those voicing humanoid or non-human librarians, like Tony Daniels as Mr. X in Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Thiago Martins as Mumm-Ra in the Fudêncio e Seus Amigos episode (“Biblioteca Maldita”), Tom Britton as the librarian in an episode of Sarah and Duck entitled “Lost Librarian”. There’s also Richard Epcar as Mr. Noisy and Paul Greenberg as Mr. Quiet, both in the The Mr. Men Show episode, “Library”. Arguably, Tom Kenny, who voices Gary in Spongebob Squarepants is a librarian in the episode “Library Cards” as is Jeff Bergman who voices Foghorn Leghorn in the Tiny Toon Adventures episode “Weirdest Story Ever Told”.
Daniels is known for various animated roles while very little is known as about Martins apart from being a director and writer, and nothing about Britton. On the other hand, Epcar is said to have voiced “over 600 characters in Video games, Animation and Anime” according to his IMDB page, while Greenberg who is a writer and performer. Bergman has voiced iconic characters like Bugs Bunny, Fred Flintstone, The Joker, Yogi Bear, Droopy, and Zap, to name a few roles.
About the characters
Desiree in Too Loud, is the only transgender librarian I’ve covered on this blog so far. She is a volunteer librarian at the local library along with her sister, Sara, and another volunteer, Sarah. Harold in Craig of the Creek is just as helpful as Desiree, and works at the local library.
Blinkous “Blinky” Galadrigal is a protagonist in Tales of Arcadia. He is a tall troll who likes books, history, teaching and training Jim, an going on quests and adventures with his friends. He also his highly knowledgeable about history, and even has a library of his own with books he created and ones his brother created. He is also a master tactician, can manipulate people, can serve as a leader, is a skilled piano player, and can craft (or upgrade) weapons
Another key librarian character is the unnamed librarian in Prisoner Zero. He has blue skin and a large head, along with a shell on his back from which he can pull objects, including books. He is very old, but also very knowledgeable, having a library of his own.
Swampy in Phineas and Ferb, is also named Sherman. He works at a local public library, the Tri-State Area Public Library, an some say he is a washed-up rock star who is a librarian who believes he doesn’t have any talent anymore. Phineas and Ferb are able to get Swampy to get out of the library and re-join the band. In the process, however, they cause disruption in the library and probably make it worse for those who come into the library, which is a bad thing.
There’s an unnamed elderly librarian in the She-Ra: Princess of Power episode “Three Courageous Hearts.” He oversees a library in the Valley of the Lost, something which very few people visit. Then there is the Inner Library, which has books in a language not used in many years. Inside there is a nameless glowing book.
That brings me to Archie the Archivist in Regular Show, who is a mix of an archivist and a librarian. He is one bizarre character, a mix of a person who helps the protagonists and a laser disc guardian. His character is so strange that I wrote about it for my other blog.
Mr. Snellson, named after a snail, in the Mysticons episode “Happily Never After.” He is an enforcer of the mythical Library of the Eternal Equinox, enforcing the rules and priding himself on running a library which safe, quiet, and happy. He also has a literary agent.
Then there’s Turtle Princess in Adventure Time and Adventure Time: Distant Lands. She is a princess and head of a library within the Land of Ooo. She is very strict about rules in the library, wanting everything to be quiet as she enjoys silence and peace.
Francis Clara Censorsdoll in Moral Orel is perhaps the most out-there librarian I have ever seen. She dips “obscene” or “objectionable” books in kerosene and burns them. She also has weird diets, like loving to eat eggs and strange habits. She is a socially conservative librarian, a Protestant, picketer of “evil” films at the local theatre, and a terrifying reminder that libraries are not neutral.
Mr. X in Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood is sometimes referred to X the Owl or Uncle X. He is shown wearing brown shoes and a green bow tie. He works as a librarian in the town and is always courteous to those who work there in the best way that he can.
There’s six other characters I’m going to highlight in this post: Mumm-Ra in the Fudêncio e Seus Amigos episode “Biblioteca Maldita“, Librarian in the “Lost Librarian” episode of Sarah and Duck, Mr. Noisy and Mr. Quiet in The Mr. Men Show episode “Library,” Gary as a librarian in the Spongebob Squarepants episode “Library Cards,” and Foghorn Leghorn in the Tiny Toon Adventures episode “Weirdest Story Ever Told“.
Mumm-Ra is an interesting librarian. He is a bit like a priest, but also a librarian at the same time, if that makes sense. He an evil figure of this new library who seeks the eye of Thundera. He is also a librarian who considers the library his own private domain and claims that time means nothing to him. The characters trick Mumm-Ra into thinking they have given him the real eye after they destroy the actual one.
Librarian in the “Lost Librarian” helps Sarah and Duck look for a book on periscopes. He becomes lost when he loses his catalog which tells him where all the books in the library are. In the process, he travels with them across the library. He eventually finds that book and the book they were looking for, on periscopes.
Mr. Noisy and Mr. Quiet in The Mr. Men Show are opposites of each other. Mr. Noisy is loud with a megaphone-styled bullhorn and makes a lot of noise even though he is the librarian. In contrast, Mr. Quiet, is accident-prone but his voice is barely audible and he is blamed by people when he tries to speak out, but can’t.
Gary acts as a librarian by overseeing the library while Patrick tries to grow more and more intelligent. His head becomes so big he can’t get through the door. Spongebob tries to make Patrick leave but his attempts fail until he shows him an inane cartoon show, causing him to become “dumb again,” weirdly enough.
Foghorn Leghorn is a bit like Mr. Noisy, Desiree or Sara in that he is overly loud but is also a librarian. In the episode, he tells Buster and Babs to be quiet even though he is being very loud. It is supposed to be ironic, but in another way it goes against the librarian stereotype that librarians are shushers. On the other, however, it implies that such shushing is the norm, even though it is not.
© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.
Notes
[1] Voice actors not known: librarian in The Owl House episode (“Lost in Language”), unnamed librarian in Sofia the First episode (“Forever Royal”?), and Cletus Bookworm in The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends.
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