Lucille Bliss #30

Voice actress Lucille bliss has died. She was number 30 on the list.

Lucille Bliss, Voice of Crusader Rabbit and Smurfette, Dies at 96

Lucille Bliss, who provided the cute, husky voice for the title character in the groundbreaking television cartoon series “Crusader Rabbit” in 1949, and later for Smurfette on the 1980s series “The Smurfs,” died on Nov. 8 in Costa Mesa, Calif. She was 96.

David Scheve, a producer-director for TDA Animation who had worked with her in recent years, confirmed her death.

Ms. Bliss’s role as the voice of Crusader — the feisty little rabbit who seeks adventure beside his big, dumb buddy, Rags the Tiger — “made her one of the very first television stars,” said Mark Evanier, an animation historian and voice director.

“Crusader Rabbit” was the first cartoon series produced specifically for television. “Her voice had a lot of personality, which was important because early animation was done so cheap it didn’t have a lot of personality in it,” Mr. Evanier said. Ms. Bliss played Crusader in the first season, starting in September 1949, but not in later versions of the series.

She performed a panoply of parts over the next five decades. In 1950 she was the voice of Anastasia, the daughter of the wicked stepmother, in the Disney movie “Cinderella.” She had parts on “The Flintstones” and in several theatrical cartoons, as well as in commercials for products like Froot Loops and Ovaltine. She was the narrator on the 3 stories from the Disney Album "Peter Cottontail and Other Funny Bunnies", being "Story of Thumper", Story of the White Rabbit", and "Story of Grandpa Bunny". For Adventures in Odyssey, Lucille voiced minor characters Martha (An Adventure in Bethany) and Principal Hughes (Afraid, Not!).

As Smurfette, she gave voice to the flirtatious character (the only girl Smurf) that many of the other blue, bulby-nosed little creatures had crushes on as they sang, danced and confronted menaces to their world. “The Smurfs” ran from 1981 to 1989.

“Smurfette felt so real to me because I created her voice, so I could feel her emotions,” Ms. Bliss told Animation magazine in 2005. “It may sound strange, but it’s true. We have to think like the character and it takes over.”

Lucille Theresa Bliss was born in Manhattan on March 31, 1916, to Frieda Siemens, a pianist, and James Francis Bliss, a physician. The family later moved to Springfield, Mass. After her father died, she and her mother moved to San Francisco. Although her mother wanted her to become an opera singer, Lucille insisted on taking acting lessons and soon had parts on local radio dramas.


Ms. Bliss never married. No immediate family members survive.

Filmography

Cinderella (1950) – Anastasia Tremaine

    Crusader Rabbit (1950–1952) – Crusader Rabbit

    Alice in Wonderland (1951) – Sunflower and Tulip

    A Kiddies Kitty (1955) – Suzanne

    The Waggily Tale (1958) – Little Girl/Mama

    Robin Hoodwinked (1958) – Tuffy

    Droopy Leprechaun (1958) – Leprechaun

    The Flintstones (1960) – Hugo (episode "The Good Scout")

    101 Dalmatians (1961) – TV Commercial Singer

    DoDo, The Kid from Outer Space (1965-1970) - DoDo

    Space Kidettes (1966) – Snoopy

    Funnyman (1967) – Girl of 1000 voices

    The Tiny Tree (1975)

    The Flintstones' Christmas (1977) – Bamm-Bamm Rubble

    The Flintstones: Little Big League (1978) – Dusty

    Lord of the Rings (1978)

    Casper the Friendly Ghost: He Ain't Scary, He's Our Brother (1979)

    Hug Me (1981)

    The Smurfs (1981–1989) – Smurfette

    The Secret of NIMH (1982) – Mrs. Beth Fitzgibbons

    The Great Bear Scare (1983) – Miss Witch

    Chuck E Cheese - The Christmas That Almost Wasn't (1983) - Mrs. Claus

    Strong Kids, Safe Kids (1984) – Smurfette

    Rainbow Brite: San Diego Zoo Adventure (1986) – Narrator

    Assassination (1987) – Crone

    The Night Before (1988) – Gal Baby

    Miracle Mile (1988) – Old Woman in Diner

    Betty Boop's Hollywood Mystery (1989)

    Asterix and the Big Fight (1989) – Impedimenta (aka Bonnemine)

    Tales of the City (1993) – Cable Car Lady

    Space Quest VI: The Spinal Frontier (1995) – Sharpei/Waitron (video game)

    Wacked (1997) – Jane Katz

    Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (2002) – Rozatta (video game)

    Battlestar Galactica (2003) – Shaden (video game)

    Blue Harvest Days (2005) – Bear Brat

    Robots (2005) – Pigeon Lady

    Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005) – Yugoda

    Invader ZIM (2001–2002 & 2006) – Ms. Bitters

    Up-In-Down Town (2007) – Quinby

    I'm Just a Pill (2010) – Young Honey

    Unwrap An Expletive (2012) – Santa's Elf