Jimmy MacDonald

John James "Jimmy" MacDonald (May 19, 1906-February 1, 1991) was an English-born American voice actor and the original head of the Disney sound effects department. He was also the voice of Mickey Mouse from 1946 to 1977.

In addition to directing sounds for animated shorts as aurally complicated as Mickey's Trailer, he developed many original inventions and contraptions to achieve expressive sounds for characters like Casey Jr., the circus train engine from Dumbo, Evinrude the dragonfly from The Rescuers, the bees in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, and Spike the bee who gets to the best of Donald Duck in the 1950s cartoon shorts.

MacDonald also added voice effects, like on screen humming for Kirk Douglas in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and chipmunk chatter from various Chip 'n Dale cartoons starting with Private Pluto.

By 1947, Walt Disney was getting too busy and too hoarse from smoking to continue voicing Mickey Mouse, so he was replaced by MacDonald, starting with the film Fun and Fancy Free. MacDonald voiced the mouse on a regular basis until 1953 and a recurring one until 1977, when he was replaced by young Disney sound effects man Wayne Allwine for The New Mickey Mouse Club (Allwine's first theatrical role for Mickey was in Mickey's Christmas Carol.

MacDonald also provided the voice for Jaq and Gus and Bruno the dog in Cinderella, the Dormouse in Alice in Wonderland, Humphrey the Bear and the Wolf in The Sword in the Stone. He also appeared in Toby Tyler as a circus band drummer, but was uncredited.

MacDonald also found time to play drums in the famous Firehouse Five Plus Two jazz band. He played with the band on and off from its inception until it disbanded in the early 1970s.