Frank Graham

Cosmo Jones, whom he played in the live action film adaptation The Crime Smasher (1943). He provided voices for MGM, Warner Bros, Screen Gems, Disney, and WWII propaganda shorts, primarily as a narrator. His more notable roles include the Big Bad Wolf in six Tex Avery shorts, including the acclaimed Red Hot Riding Hood (1943), the narrator of the Walt Disney Classics film The Three Caballeros (1944), and The Fox and the Crow in eighteen shorts from 1942-1946. He appeared in six Tom and Jerry shorts, including two as Butch and as the Lion in Jerry and the Lion (1950), which was his last role released before his death from suicide that same year.

• Name — Frank Graham • Birth Name — Frank Lee Graham • Born — 22 November 1914 • Birthplace — Detroit, Michigan, U.S. • Died — 2 September 1950 • Place of death — Hollywood, California, U.S. • Occupation — Radio announcer, voice actor • Years Active — 1936–1950 • Illustration — So Much for So Little, an Oscar-winning short documentary film narrated by Frank Graham

Graham was born on November 22, 1914, in Detroit, Michigan, to Frank L. Graham and opera singer Ethel Briggs Graham. He later traveled with his mother on tour. He starred in Jeff Regan, Investigator and co-developed the radio drama Satan's Waitin with Van Des Autels. Graham was also The Wandering Vaquero, the narrator of The Romance Of The Ranchos radio series (1941–1942), also on the CBS network. One of his few live-action roles was portraying the title character in the film Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher (1943). He had also served as a writer for the radio program upon which the film was based. Graham voiced numerous characters in animated films for Walt Disney, MGM, Columbia and Warner Bros. He voiced the Wolf in Tex Avery's Droopy cartoons, as well as the Mouse in King-Size Canary at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He provided the voices of the Fox and the Crow in the shorts of the same name at Columbia. He was found dead at age 35 in his convertible in the carport of his home in Hollywood on September 2, 1950, with a photograph of Mildred Rossi by his side. Rossi had ended a relationship with him weeks earlier. A coroner declared he had committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1941 — The Night Before Christmas — Narrator — Voice, uncredited • 1942 — A Hollywood Detour — Narrator • Horton Hatches the Egg — Narrator / Tall Hunter • Woodman, Spare That Tree — The Fox and the Crow • Foney Fables — Narrator / Wolf • Blitz Wolf — Narrator • Saludos Amigos — Himself — Uncredited • The Early Bird Dood It! — Bird — Voice, uncredited • Toll Bridge Troubles — The Fox and the Crow • Fox Pop — Prisoner Fox • 1943 — Slay It with Flowers — The Fox and the Crow • Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher — Professor Cosmo Jones • Dumb-Hounded — Wolf / Mayor — Voice, uncredited • Plenty Below Zero — The Fox and the Crow • Red Hot Riding Hood — Wolf / Storyteller / Nightclub MC / Cab Driver • Tree for Two — The Fox and the Crow • Coming!! Snafu — Narrator • A-Hunting We Won't Go — The Fox and the Crow • Reason and Emotion — Narrator / Reason • Sleepy Lagoon — Narrator — Uncredited • Room and Bored — The Fox and the Crow — Voice, uncredited • Way Down Yonder in the Corn • Chicken Little — Narrator / Foxy Loxy / Chicken Little / Cocky Locky / Turkey Lurkey / Additional Voices • Rumors — Narrator – Soldier • 1944 — Ladies Courageous — Col. Andy Brennan • The Weakly Reporter — Various • The Lady and the Monster — Narrator — Uncredited • The Dream Kids — The Fox and the Crow — Voice, uncredited • Going Home — Narrator • The Chow Hound • Mr. Moocher — The Fox and the Crow • Big Heel-Watha — Narrator / Chief Rain-in-Face / Interpreter • The Stupid Cupid — Narrator and Elmer Fudd • Be Patient, Patient — The Fox and the Crow • The Egg-Yegg • The Three Caballeros — Narrator — Voice • 1945 — Tokyo Woes — Voice, uncredited • The Shooting of Dan McGoo — Wolf / Bartender / Narrator • Jerky Turkey — Indian • Something You Didn't Eat — Narrator • Ku-Ku Nuts — The Fox and the Crow • Swing Shift Cinderella — Wolf / Nightclub MC / Wolves • Fresh Airedale — Narrator – Shep's Master • Treasure Jest — The Fox and the Crow • Phoney Baloney • Wild and Woolfy — Race Caller • 1946 — Baseball Bugs — Baseball Commentator / Gas-House Gorilla • Springtime for Thomas — Jerry's Devil Conscience / Butch • Foxy Flatfoots — The Fox and the Crow • Unsure Runts • The Hick Chick — Bull • The Eager Beaver — Narrator • Cagey Bird — Dog • Northwest Hounded Police — Wolf / Chief / Dr. Putty-Puss • Mysto-Fox — The Fox and the Crow • Honesty Is the Best Policy — Professor J. Waldo Purrington / Fish Vendor • 1947 — Slap Happy Lion — Mouse • King-Size Canary • 1948 — Lo, the Poor Buffal — Indian (saying "Yipe!") • 1949 — So Much for So Little — Narrator • The House of Tomorrow — Narrator / Machine • Each Dawn I Crow — Narrator • 1950 — Jerry and the Lion — Lion / Radio Announcer • The Chump Champ — Announcer — Voice, uncredited, released posthumously