John Dezso Ratzenberger (born April 6, 1947) is an American actor, voice actor, and entrepreneur who was said to be Pixar's "good luck charm" and performed the voice of at least one character in every feature-length Pixar film from Toy Story until the release of Soul, in which he did not voice any characters. Although he didn’t voice any character in Soul, the director confirmed he did have a non-voice cameo in the film, in which his likeness was used.[1][2] From Luca onwards, Ratzenberger didn't voice any more characters until Inside Out 2.
He is, however, probably most famous for his Emmy-nominated role as Cliff Clavin on the TV show Cheers. Besides voicing a character in most Pixar films, he is also a team member of the Pixar Softball Team. Ratzenberger also hosted the documentary film Pixar: 20 Years of Animation and Counting. He said in an interview that out of all the characters he has voiced for Pixar, P.T. Flea from A Bug's Life is his favorite one that he's done. Ratzenberger was married to Georgia Stiny from 1984-2004 (divorced) by whom he has two children: a son named James John Ratzenberger born in 1987 and a daughter named Nina Katherine Ratzenberger born in 1989.
On November 6, 2012, John Ratzenberger married his girlfriend, Julie Blichfeldt.
Film roles[]
Trivia[]
- Ratzenberger has stated P.T. Flea in A Bug's Life is his favorite role that he has done for Pixar.
- Ratzenberger had a cameo in DisneyToon Studios' Cars spin-off Planes, as the voice of jet tug Harland. He also voiced Brodi Enid in the film's sequel Planes: Fire & Rescue.
- Ratzenberger also voiced Aniyaku in the English dubbing of Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away (in which John Lasseter supervised)
- The most characters Ratzenberger voiced in a single movie is Cars with 4 in total. During the credits of said film, Mack (Ratzenberger's character in the Cars franchise) is seen at the Radiator Springs Drive-In Theater watching car themed versions of other Pixar movies, including scenes featuring Ratzenberger's characters. Although Mack is initially impressed, he soon realizes that the same voice actor is being reused, leaving him to comment, "What kind of a cut rate production is this?"
Gallery[]
.png "John Lasseter with John Ratzenberger (2006).png (2.89 MB)")
External Links[]
References[]
- ↑ Pixar’s Soul Director Comments On John Ratzenberger’s Mysterious Voice Cameo, December 26, 2020.
- ↑ Pixar Post Twitter feed, January 1, 2021.