Jim Cummings

James Jonah Cummings (born November 3, 1952)[1][2] is an American voice actor. Since beginning his career in the 1980s, he has appeared in almost 400 roles. Cummings has frequently worked with The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros., including as the official voice of Winnie the Pooh since 1988, Tigger since 1989, the Tasmanian Devil since 1991, and Pete since 1992. Other notable roles include Fat Cat and Monterey Jack on Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (1989–1990), the title character of Darkwing Duck (1991–1992), Dr. Robotnik on the Sonic the Hedgehog animated series (1993–1994), Kaa on Jungle Cubs (1996–1998), and Cat on CatDog (1998–2005).

Jim Cummings
Cummings in 2018
Born
James Jonah Cummings

(1952-11-03) November 3, 1952
Youngstown, Ohio, U.S.
OccupationVoice actor
Years active1984–present
WorksFull list
Spouse
Stephanie Jardon
​
​
(m. 2001; div. 2011)​
Children4

Early life

Born in Youngstown, Ohio, Cummings relocated to New Orleans, where he designed and painted Mardi Gras floats, worked as a river boat deck hand, and sang and played drums in the regionally-successful rock band Fusion.[3] He attended Immaculate Conception and St. Columba grade schools as well as Ursuline High School and graduated from there in 1970.[4]

He later married and moved to Anaheim, California, where he managed a video store in the early 1980s, before launching his voice acting career in late 1984.[5]

Career
Jim Cummings (middle), with Loren Lester (right), and Alan Oppenheimer (left) in 2015

Cummings's first voice role was as Lionel the Lion and Aunt Fira in Dumbo's Circus.[5][6] Some of Cummings' earliest vocal work was at Disney, where he replaced Sterling Holloway as the voice of Winnie the Pooh in 1988. He was the understudy for Paul Winchell as Tigger, before fully replacing him as the character in 2000's The Tigger Movie. In 1991, he was hired by Warner Bros. Animation to voice Taz on the animated series Taz-Mania and would continue to voice the character in various Looney Tunes media.

When actor Jeremy Irons, the voice of Scar in The Lion King, developed vocal problems during recording of the song "Be Prepared", Cummings replaced him on the remainder of the track along with providing the voice for Ed the hyena.[7] He also provided Scar's voice in a brief nightmare sequence in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. Cummings would later be hired as the singing double for Russell Means in Pocahontas, the speaking voice of Kekata in Pocahontas, and the singing voice of Grigori Rasputin in Anastasia.

In commercials, he voiced Smokey Bear in several commercials, ads, and promos from 1993 to 2006.[8]

In 2018, he became the first voice performer of animation to reprise his role(s) for a live-action Disney film, reprising the roles of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger for the film Christopher Robin.[9][10] His performance as Pooh was particularly praised by Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair, who felt it was "Oscar-worthy" and said that "[a]s Winnie the Pooh … the veteran voice actor gives such sweet, rumpled, affable life to the wistful bear of literary renown that it routinely breaks the heart."[11]

Personal life

Cummings has two daughters with his former wife Stephanie Jardon. The two were married from 2001 to 2011, when they divorced; in 2019 they became involved in an acrimonious custody dispute.[12][13] Cummings also has two older daughters from a previous marriage.[14]

Accolades
Year Award Category Subject Result Ref.
1992 Annie Awards Best Voice Acting for Television Darkwing Duck Won [15][16]
1993 Goof Troop Won [17]
1995 Bump in the Night Nominated
2003 Best Voice Acting in a Feature Production The Jungle Book 2 Nominated
2011 Gnomeo & Juliet Nominated
2012 Zambezia Nominated
2009 Daytime Emmy Awards Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program My Friends Tigger & Pooh Nominated
2013 Star Wars: The Clone Wars Nominated

References
  1. "Cummings, Jim". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on December 1, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
  2. "Jim Cummings". behindthevoiceactors.com. Archived from the original on April 26, 2017. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
  3. "Episode 17 with Guest: Jim Cummings". Rob Paulsen Live. October 14, 2011. Archived from the original on April 19, 2012. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
  4. "Heard but not seen: Catholic voice actor leads an animated life -". The Catholic Review. July 24, 2009. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  5. Davis, Sandi (February 11, 2005). "The voice of Pooh and Tigger too Disney keeps Jim Cummings busy with voice work". The Oklahoman. Archived from the original on September 22, 2019. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
  6. "Becoming a character: An interview with Jim Cummings". WCYB. October 12, 2019. Archived from the original on July 3, 2022. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
  7. "Has Disney Been 'Lion' About Jeremy Irons' Singing Voice?". Huffington Post. September 19, 2011. Archived from the original on September 25, 2014. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  8. Knowling, Doug (2016). Ecological Restoration: Wildfire Ecology Reference Manual. Knowling. ISBN 9780786486946. Archived from the original on September 25, 2021. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  9. Mescobar, Aaron (May 27, 2018). "Chris O'Dowd Replaced As Tigger In 'Christopher Robin' By Original Voice Actor Jim Cummings". We are Geeks of Color. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
  10. Schaefer, Sandy (August 14, 2017). "Christopher Robin: Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore & More Possibly Cast". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on September 17, 2017. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
  11. Lawson, Richard (August 2, 2018). "There's an Oscar-Worthy Performance in Disney's Christopher Robin". Vanity Fair. New York City: Condé Nast. Archived from the original on October 25, 2020. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  12. Barcella, Laura (May 3, 2019). "'Winnie the Pooh' Voice Actor and Ex Wife Accuse Each Other of Abuse". People. Archived from the original on May 16, 2019. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  13. Cummings, Jim (May 3, 2022). "Good News, Great News!". jimcummingsworld. Archived from the original on May 3, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
  14. Lindell, Karen (August 23, 2009). "At work, Jim Cummings is quite the characters". VC Star. Archived from the original on January 4, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  15. "20th Annual Annie Awards". annieawards.org. Archived from the original on October 26, 2020. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
  16. "Annie Awards (1992)". IMDb. Archived from the original on April 21, 2022. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
  17. "Annie Awards (1993)". IMDb. Archived from the original on July 3, 2022. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
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