Jack Angel (October 24, 1930 – October 18, 2021) was an American voice actor and radio personality. He provided voice-overs for animation and video games. Angel had voiced characters in shows by Hasbro and Hanna-Barbera such as Super Friends, The Transformers and G.I. Joe and was involved in numerous productions by Disney and Pixar. Before becoming involved with voiceover work, Angel was initially a disc jockey for radio stations, namely KMPC and KFI. The day of his death, October 18, a piece of lost 1980s paraphernalia that contained his voice as the lead role, being the U.S. dub of TUGS, was discovered.
Biography
Angel was born on October 24, 1930 in Modesto, California, the second child of John Angel, a Greek immigrant, and Lucille (née Parsons). He graduated from San Francisco State University in 1957, and at the same time, he was hired as a disc jockey for a California radio station and decided to focus on a career in radio programs. A decade later, he had become one of the most popular radio personalities with his radio programs being heard on stations KMPC and KFI, Los Angeles. In the early years of his career, he also landed roles in stage productions at The Actor's Ring and the Portland Civic Theater. It was during his broadcasting career that he began experimenting with voiceovers he would produce for clients; while at KMPC, Angel's demo ended up in the hands of Gary Owens, who already had made his own inroads as an animation voiceover actor and forwarded Angel's demo tape to his agent. After almost 20 years in radio, Angel shifted to voice acting on a full-time basis.
Angel's first jobs in the voice-over industry came in the mid-1970s, voice acting on the series Super Friends, in which he played Hawkman, The Flash and Samurai, including The All-New Super Friends Hour, Challenge of the Super Friends, Super Friends, The Legendary Super Powers Show and Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians. During that time, he made guest appearances in Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo and The Smurfs.
In the second season of the Transformers series (1985), Angel was the voice of Astrotrain, Smokescreen, Ramjet, and Omega Supreme, and he reprised the roles of Ramjet and Astrotrain in The Transformers: The Movie (1986). In the third and fourth seasons of The Transformers (1986-1987), Angel voiced Ultra Magnus (who had been played by Robert Stack in The Transformers: The Movie) and in the fourth season he voiced Cyclonus following the death of Roger C. Carmel.
He also lent his voice to the character Dr. Zachary Darret in the 1984 CBS animated series Pole Position, and also voiced Wet Suit on Sunbow's G.I. Joe and several characters on Dino-Riders.
In 1995, he was the voice of Nikki in the animated film Balto. He played the SWATbots on Sonic the Hedgehog, The Liquidator on Darkwing Duck, and Nick Fury on Spider-Man: The Animated series.
In 2001, Angel was the voice of "Teddy" in the movie A.I. Artificial Intelligence. He provided voices for animated films such as A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc., Ice Age: The Meltdown, Cars, Horton Hears a Who, The Prince of Egypt, The Iron Giant, and Aladdin.
Angel has also ventured into video games, narrating the cult hit Killer7 as well as playing Wonkers the Watilla in Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, The Mayor in Ratchet & Clank, and Ammand the Corsair in the video game version of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
In 2002, shortly after the death of Gene Moss, Jack Angel voiced Smokey the Bear in a few public service announcements and radio spots until 2012. In 2007, he voiced an alien called Technorg on Ben 10. He also voiced Papa Smurf in the 2011 special, The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol and the 2013 special, The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow.
