:Paul Winchell

Born Paul Wilchinsky in New York City on December 21, 1922, he was the son of Solomon Wilchinsky and Clara Fuchs. His father was a tailor. His grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Congress Poland and Austria-Hungary.1930 US Census, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, enumerators district 24-1447, sheet 19A{{cite web| url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/62/Paul-Winchell.html| title=Paul Winchell Biography| website=FilmReference.com| access-date=}}{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/movies/27winc.html| work=The New York Times| title=Paul Winchell, 82, TV Host and Film Voice of Pooh's Tigger, Dies| first=Julie| last=Salamon| date=June 27, 2005| access-date=May 22, 2010}}

At age 6, his legs atrophied after contracting polio. When he was 12 or 13, he came across a magazine advertisement offering a ventriloquism kit for ten cents. Back at school, he asked his art teacher, Jero Magon, if he could receive class credit for creating a ventriloquist's dummy. Magon was agreeable, and Winchell thanked him by naming his creation Jerry Mahoney.{{cite book| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=6ffdBDDBUYsC&q=mahoney| title=The magic behind the voices:a who's who of cartoon actors| editor-last=Lawson| editor-first=Tim| editor2-last=Persons| editor2-first=Alisa| date=9 December 2004 |page=344| publisher=University Press of Mississippi| isbn=978-1578066964| access-date=18 April 2019}} Winchell went back to reading magazines, gathering jokes from them and putting together a comedy routine, which he then took to the Major Bowes Amateur Hour in 1938, winning first prize.{{cite web| last=Michaud| first=John| title=Paul Winchell Smurfs Gargamel & Tigger Cartoon Voices Interview 2004| via=YouTube| date=July 29, 2011| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt7ow-W8UZQ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/gt7ow-W8UZQ| archive-date=December 12, 2021|url-status=live| access-date=December 1, 2012| quote=I went out to California in 1938. I was a kid going to school in NY city and I was studying commercial art. I went to a school called the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan. just about at that time, Edgar Bergan hit the scene. Rudy Valee presented him on his show, the Vallee show, and the rest was history. he became absolutely a rage. [.....] And three months later—it was only three months later—I appeared on the Major Bowes Original Amateur hour on CBS Radio in 1938. [.....] I asked my teacher if I would get credit if I built a ventriloquist figure, would that qualify for credit? And he says "well of course [.....] it requires sculptoring [sic], it requires casting, it requires molding, it requires all of the things that we're studying [.....] I kind of 'Mickey Moused the whole thing."}}{{cbignore}} A touring offer, playing various theaters with the Major Bowes Review, was part of the prize. Bandleader Ted Weems saw the young Winchell while on tour; he visited Winchell and made him an offer of employment. Winchell accepted and became a professional at age 14.{{cite news| title=Along Amusement Row| last=Herzog| first=Buck| date=15 October 1962| work=The Milwaukee Journal}}{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zZBRAAAAIBAJ&pg=3129,1117850&dq=elmo+tanner&hl=en| title=On the Stage|date=21 October 1939| work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette| access-date=13 April 2011}}

{{more citations needed section|date=November 2015}}

File:Paul Winchell 1958.JPG

Winchell's best-known ventriloquist dummies were Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff. Mahoney was carved by Chicago-based figure maker Frank Marshall. Sometime later Winchell had basswood copies of Jerry's head made by a commercial duplicating service. One became the upgraded Jerry Mahoney that is seen primarily throughout Winchell's television career. The television versions of Jerry and Knucklehead also featured Winchell's innovation of actors slipping their hands into the sleeves of the dummies, giving the visual effect of gesturing with their hands while "conversing" with each other. He modified two other copies to create Knucklehead Smiff. The original Marshall Jerry Mahoney and one copy of Knucklehead Smiff are in storage at the Smithsonian Institution. The other two figures are in the collection of illusionist David Copperfield.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

Winchell's first show as a ventriloquist was on radio with Jerry Mahoney in 1943. The program was short-lived, however, as he was overshadowed by Edgar Bergen. Winchell also created Ozwald, a character that resembled Humpty Dumpty. The effect was accomplished by painting eyes and a nose on his chin, then adding a "body" covering the rest of his face, and finally electronically turning the camera image upside down. In 1961, Berwin Novelties introduced a home version of the character that included an Ozwald body, creative pencils to draw the eyes and nose, and a "magic mirror" that automatically turned a reflection upside down.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

In 1948, Winchell and Joseph Dunninger were featured on Floor Show on NBC. Recorded via kinescope and replayed on WNBQ-TV in Chicago, the 8:30–9 p.m. Central Time show on Thursdays was the station's first midweekly program.{{cite news| title=NBC Chicago Adds Three TV Shows| url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1948/1948-11-15-BC.pdf| access-date=5 February 2015| journal=Broadcasting| date=November 15, 1948}}

During the 1950s, Winchell hosted children's (The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show){{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&q=winchell| title=The complete directory to prime time network TV shows, 1946-present| first1=Tim| last1=Brooks| date=24 June 2009| publisher=Ballantine Books| last2=Marsh| first2=Earle| isbn=978-0307483201| edition=9th| location=New York| access-date=18 April 2019}} and adult programs with his figures for NBC Television, and later for syndication. The NBC Saturday morning program, sponsored by Tootsie Roll, featured a clubhouse motif and a theme song co-written by Winchell and his longtime bandleader and on-air sidekick, Milton Delugg. The theme song was titled "HOORAY, HOORAH" and featured the secret password "SCOTTY WOTTY DOO DOO". An ending song titled "Friends, Friends, Friends" was sung by the children in the audience. In October 1956, Winchell moved to ABC, hosting Circus Time on Thursday evening for one season before returning to Winchell-Mahoney on Sunday afternoons.{{cite book |last1=Hyatt |first1=Wesley |title=The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television |date=1997 |publisher=Watson-Guptill Publications |isbn=978-0823083152 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofda00hyat/page/337/mode/2up|access-date=19 March 2020|page=337}} On one episode in late 1959, The Three Stooges appeared on the show to promote their joint feature film venture, Stop, Look and Laugh. Winchell made an appearance on Nanny and the Professor ([https://web.archive.org/web/20111103113144/http://www.hulu.com/watch/45044/nanny-and-the-professor-humanization-of-herbert-t-peabody-the Season 2, Episode 13]) as a "mean old man" (a puppeteer who had retired into seclusion after losing his wife in an accident). In 1996, Winchell contracted with figure maker Tim Selberg to construct a more contemporary version of Jerry Mahoney, which Winchell described as "Disney-esque". Winchell used the new figure version to pitch a new TV series idea to Michael Eisner. In 2009, Winchell was featured in the comedy documentary I'm No Dummy, directed by Bryan W. Simon.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0926091/|title=I'm No Dummy|date=21 July 2016|publisher=Internet Movie Database}}{{cite web|last=Dager|first=Nick|url=http://digitalcinemareport.com/node/1165|title=Hollywood's Corporate Delusion|website=Digital Cinema Report|date=June 6, 2009}}

Winchell's career after 1968 included various voice roles for animated television series. For Hanna-Barbera, he played the character Dick Dastardly in multiple series (including Wacky Races and Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines); Clyde and Softy on Wacky Races and The Perils of Penelope Pitstop; Fleegle on The Banana Splits Adventure Hour; and Gargamel on The Smurfs.

Winchell had also at one point, auditioned for the role of the Pillsbury Doughboy for the Pillsbury Company commercials, but lost out to Paul Frees.{{Cite news|url=https://www.pillsbury.com/doughboy|title=How Well Do You Know the Pillsbury Doughboy?|publisher=Pillsbury|access-date=October 16, 2018|archive-date=May 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506144214/https://www.pillsbury.com/doughboy|url-status=live}}

He also provided the voice of Bubi Bear in Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch! in 1971, Revs on Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch, Moe on The Robonic Stooges, and Shake on The CB Bears. In 1973, he did the voice of Goober the Dog on the H-B show Goober and the Ghost Chasers and also guest starred as the rain-making villain on an episode of Hong Kong Phooey. For Disney, Winchell voiced Tigger in Disney's Winnie-the-Pooh featurettes, and won a Grammy Award for his performance in Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too.

Beginning with the television series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, he alternated in the role with Jim Cummings, the current voice of Pooh. Winchell's final performances as Tigger were in 1999 for Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh attraction at Walt Disney World. After that, Jim Cummings permanently took over the role of Tigger, starting with Sing a Song with Pooh Bear in 1999 (though some of Winchell's vocals from previous Pooh animations were included). Other Disney roles included parts in The Aristocats as a Siamese cat named Shun Gon, and The Fox and the Hound as Boomer the woodpecker. He was also the original voice of Zummi Gummi on the TV series Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears for seasons 1–5; Jim Cummings took over for the final season in 1990.

Winchell provided the voices of Sam-I-Am and the unnamed character Sam pesters in Green Eggs and Ham from the animated television special Dr. Seuss on the Loose in 1973. He played Fleabag on The Oddball Couple, Fearless Freddy the Shark Hunter on the Pink Panther spinoff Misterjaw in 1976, as well as a number of one-shot characters in The Blue Racer series. In commercials, he voiced the character of Burger Chef for the fast food chain of the same name, the Scrubbing Bubbles for Dow Chemicals, and Mr. Owl for Tootsie Roll Pops.Joan L. Feder, "I’ve Heard That Voice Before: Paul Winchell", All Ears 977 (12 June 2018); ISSN: 1533-0753; https://allears.net/ive-heard-that-voice-before-paul-winchell/{{cite news |last1=Lileks |first1=James |title=Puzzling Pickles, what's a fun burger? |url=https://www.startribune.com/puzzling-pickles-what-s-a-fun-burger/257973631/ |access-date=22 February 2023 |work=Star Tribune |date=5 May 2014}}

From 1981 to 1989, Winchell voiced Gargamel on The Smurfs as well as on several Smurfs television movies. During the 1980s, he was called upon by Hanna-Barbera to reprise his role of Dick Dastardly on Yogi's Treasure Hunt (which was a tour de force, featuring all of the H-B characters) and later on Wake, Rattle and Roll (which was a Wacky Races spinoff). Also on the animated movie Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose, he did the voice of the Dread Baron, who was previously voiced by John Stephenson on the Laff-a-Lympics.

Winchell (often with Jerry Mahoney) was a frequent guest panelist on What's My Line? in 1956. (On the April 29 episode, in which Winchell was a panelist, the mystery guest was Edgar Bergen; after his identity was revealed, Jerry Mahoney and Mortimer Snerd carried on a conversation.) {{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBPnMHsB0vw | title=What's My Line? - Marguerite Higgins; Edgar Bergen; Paul Winchell [panel] (Apr 29, 1956) | via=YouTube | date=December 17, 2013 }} Other work included on-camera guest appearances on such series as The Polly Bergen Show; The Virginian; The Lucy Show; Perry Mason; The Donna Reed Show; Dan Raven; The Brady Bunch; as Homer Winch on The Beverly Hillbillies; and as Claude Wilbur on The Dick Van Dyke Show. He appeared in a 1960 motion picture that included a compilation of Three Stooges shorts (Stop!, Look and Laugh), and also in the Jerry Lewis movie Which Way to the Front?.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

Winchell appeared as himself in 1963 in the NBC game show Your First Impression. He appeared in the late 1960s in a sketch on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in as a French ventriloquist named Lucky Pierre, who has the misfortune of having his elderly dummy die of a heart attack in the middle of his act. On Love, American Style, he appeared with fellow ventriloquist Shari Lewis in a sketch about two shy people in a waiting room who choose to introduce themselves to each other through their dummies.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

Winchell's most successful TV show was Winchell-Mahoney Time (1965–1968), a children's show written by his wife, actress Nina Russell.Miller, Quinlan (2019). [https://books.google.com/books?id=cnSPDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT127 Camp TV: Trans Gender Queer Sitcom History]. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. p. 127. {{ISBN|9781478003038}}. "In Winchell-Mahoney Time, NBC, written by Nina Russel [sic], Winchell hosted and played characters that included Bonehead Sniff, Mr. Goody-Goody".Sabu Cat (1965). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAGCsCQuoCQ&t=1386s "Winchell-Mahoney Time (1965) Original complete episode #18"]. YouTube. Retrieved April 16, 2025. "Written by — Paul Winchell, Nina Russell, Dave Cameron; Assistant Producer — June Robert" Winchell played several onscreen characters, including Knucklehead Smiff's father, Bonehead Smiff. He also played himself as friend and adult adviser to Mahoney and Smiff. He also created "Mr. Goody-good," a surreal character, by painting eyes and a nose on his chin, covering his face with a small costume, then having the camera image inverted. The resulting pinheaded character seemed to have an immensely wide mouth and a highly mobile head. Winchell created this illusion by moving his chin back and forth. The show was produced at KTTV in Los Angeles, which was owned by Metromedia.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

Winchell started "negotiating with Metromedia in 1970 to syndicate the 305 color segments of the show", but nothing came of it. Finally, "Winchell offered to purchase the tapes outright for $100,000. Metromedia responded with an ultimatum...: Agree on a syndication plan or the tapes will be destroyed." When Winchell did not agree, Metromedia carried out with its threat and the tapes were erased and destroyed. Winchell sued Metromedia and in 1986 a jury awarded him "$3.8 million for the value of the tapes and $14 million in punitive damages against Metromedia."{{cite news |last=Murphy |first=Kim |title=Paul Winchell Gets Last Word and $17.8 Million |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-07-03-mn-917-story.html |date=July 3, 1986 |access-date=October 16, 2014}} Metromedia appealed the award all the way to the Supreme Court but was unsuccessful.{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-07-04-fi-3268-story.html |title=Justices Won't Review Punitive-Damage Cases |work=Los Angeles Times |date=July 4, 1989|access-date=October 16, 2014 |quote=Without comment, the justices turned away the case of a $17.8-million award won by ventriloquist Paul Winchell over the destruction of all videotapes of his popular children's television show of the 1960s. }}{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-07-03-mn-917-story.html| title=Paul Winchell Gets Last Word and $17.8 Million| last=Murphy| first=Kim| newspaper=Los Angeles Times| date=July 3, 1986}}

Winchell's last regular on-camera TV appearances working with his puppets were Storybook Squares, a children's version of the adult celebrity game show Hollywood Squares, which was seen Saturday mornings on NBC during the 1969 TV season, and Runaround, another children's TV game show seen Saturday mornings on NBC from September 1972 to September 1973.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

Winchell was a pre-med student at Columbia University. He graduated from The Acupuncture Research College of Los Angeles in 1974 and became an acupuncturist. He also worked as a medical hypnotist at the Gibbs Institute in Hollywood. He owned more than 30 patents in his lifetime.{{cite news|url=https://variety.com/2005/scene/markets-festivals/paul-winchell-1117925081/|title=Paul Winchell|work=Variety|date=June 26, 2005|access-date=December 20, 2019}} He invented an artificial heart with the assistance of Dr. Henry Heimlich (inventor of the Heimlich maneuver) and held an early US patent for such a device. The University of Utah School of Medicine developed a similar apparatus around the same time, but when they tried to patent it, Winchell's patents were cited as prior art. Eventually, Winchell donated his heart patents to the university.{{cite news|last=Mueller|first=Jim|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-08-18-9908180371-story.html|title=One Thing for Sure, He's No Dummy|work= Chicago Tribune|date=August 18, 1999|access-date=December 20, 2019}}

There is some debate as to how much of Winchell's design Robert Jarvik used in creating the Jarvik-7. Dr. Heimlich stated, "I saw the heart, I saw the patent, and I saw the letters. The basic principle used in Winchell's heart and Jarvik's heart is exactly the same."{{cite web |url=http://www.patentclaim.com/IP_Resources/WOIjul2005.htm |title=The Most Wonderful Thing about Tigger.... |website=Wealth of Ideas |date=July 2005 |access-date=2008-05-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080212085205/http://www.patentclaim.com/IP_Resources/WOIjul2005.htm |archive-date=2008-02-12}} Jarvik denied that any of Winchell's design elements were incorporated into his device, which was first successfully implanted in Barney Clark in 1982.{{cite web |url=http://www.jarvikheart.com/basic.asp?id=72 |title=Paul Winchell – Erroneous Claims |website=Jarvikheart.com |access-date=November 30, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160303180204/http://www.jarvikheart.com/basic.asp?id=72 |archive-date=March 3, 2016}}{{cite web |url= https://patents.google.com/patent/US3097366A/en|title=US3097366A| via=Google Patents|access-date=December 20, 2019}}

Winchell established more medical patents while working on projects for the Leukemia Society (now known as the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) and the American Red Cross. Other devices that he invented and patented included a disposable razor, a blood plasma defroster, a flameless cigarette lighter, a garter belt with no outwardly visible lines, a fountain pen with a retractable tip, and battery-heated gloves.

In the 1980s, Winchell's concern about starvation in Africa led him to develop a method to cultivate tilapia in tribal villages and small communities. The fish thrives in brackish waters, which made it particularly well suited for sub-Saharan Africa. Winchell appeared before a Congressional committee with several other celebrities, including actors Richard Dreyfuss and Ed Asner, and Dr. Heimlich. The committee declined to finance a pilot program for the tilapia aquaculture project in Africa because it required digging wells into non-potable water.

File:Howdy Doody peanut gallery famous fathers and kids circa 1948.JPG studio audience, c. 1948]]

Winchell had three children: a son, Stacy Paul Winchell; a daughter, Stephanie, from his first marriage to Dorothy "Dottie" Movitz; and a daughter, April Winchell (the current voice of Clarabelle Cow), who is a comedian and voice actress, from his second marriage to actress-writer Nina Russell.Chase, Dennis (August 13, 1976). [https://www.newspapers.com/image/555015556/?clipping_id=170434347 "NCMC Theatre Season Coming to a Close; Meet Six Torch Light Theatre Stars: April Winchell"]. Petoskey News-Review. 1976. p. 27. Retrieved April 16, 2025. "Do you remember the young lady with the high pitched squeaky voice who played Ado Annie Carnes SO well in 'Oklahoma'? That was April Winchell, 16, and a native of Woodland, Cal. [...] 'I got involved in theatre very early,' she recalled, 'since I come from what's known as a show business family. [...] 'My mother is a screenwriter and my father is a ventriloquist,' she said, "and while they never pushed me into anything, I was constantly surrounded by all aspects of theatre, and I really loved it.'"Associated Press Wirephoto (October 7, 1961). [https://www.newspapers.com/image/939554329/?clipping_id=170437133 "Entertainers Wed"]. The Greensboro Record. p. . Retrieved April 16, 2025. "Ventriloquist Paul Winchell, the voice of dummy Jerry Mahoney, and actress Nina Russell kiss just before they were wed Thursday by a judge in Harrisburg, Pa. Winchell is 38 and his bride is 30 and [it] was a second marriage for each."[https://www.newspapers.com/image/969737745/?clipping_id=170385626 "Frolic From Cuba"]. The Atlanta Journal. January 19, 1958. p. 3E. Retrieved April 16, 2025. "Dancer Nina Russell rehearses with Tom Poston (left), Don Knotts (center) and Louis Nye for their Cuban 'Man on the Street' sequence as part of the Steve Allen show Sunday (8, WSB-TV). The show will originate 'live' in Havana, Cuba, to become the first major program to be telecast from the island to the U.S.."[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-star-ledger/170388412/ "Tonight's TV Previews: Sports crowd TV hours with top offerings"]. The Star-Ledger. March 21, 1964. p. 9. Retrieved April 16, 2025. "HOLLYWOOD PALACE 9:30 7 It's a good night for music. With Nat King Cole in charge, and Diahann Carroll as chief guest, what else could you expect? [...] Paul Winchell—in a funny operating room scene, aided by Chris Quinn and Nina Russell—and a few minor acts round out the bill."[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-register/170462818/ "At the 'Bowl'"]. The Orange County Register. June 14, 1964. p. LT-28. Retrieved April 16, 2025. "Paul Winchell, Jerry Mahoney and lovely Nina Russell are currently appearing at the Anaheim Bowl through June 24."Library of Congress (1961). [https://books.google.com/books?id=3x1BAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Nina+Russell%22+%22paul+winchell%22 Catalog of Copyright Entries]. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1961. pp. 1244, 1492. "HE'S EQUIPPED; w Paul Winchell & Nina Russell; m John Russo. © Priscilla Music Corp., 3Aug61; EU681266. [...] "SHE JUST DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE; w Paul Winchell & Nina Russell; m John Russo. © Priscilla Music Corp., 3Aug61; EU681265."Library of Congress (1970). [https://archive.org/details/catalogofcop197032434libr/page/38/mode/2up?q=%22Night+Noises%22+%22Paul+Winchell%22+%22Nina+Russell%22 Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series. Parts 3-4: Dramas and Works Prepared for Oral Delivery Jan-Dec 1970: Vol 24 No 1-2]. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 39. "NIGHT NOISES, an animated cartoon for theatres by Paul Winchell. 13 1. Appl. authors: Paul Winchell & Nina Russell. © Paul Winchell; 22Apr70; DU76994." His third wife was the former Jean Freeman.

Winchell's autobiography, Winch (2004), exposed many details of Winchell's life that had previously been kept private, including early stories of an abusive childhood, a long history of depression, and at least one mental breakdown, which resulted in a short stint in an institution.{{cite book| title=Winch| last=Winchell| first=Paul| location=New York| publisher=Authorhouse| date=March 1, 2004| isbn=978-1414068978}} The book revealed the bad treatment Winchell had received from his mother for a considerable period, and the mental impact that continued to negatively affect him for decades after his mother's death (Clara Wilchinski died in 1953 when she was 58 years old, and Paul was 30). The autobiography caused a major estrangement between Winchell and his children, prompting daughter April to publicly defend her mother, who was negatively portrayed in the book.

After writing in God 2000: Religion Without the Bible (1982) that religion brought more chaos to humanity than any "other invention of man", Winchell expressed deist opinions within his 2004 book Protect God.{{cite web |last1=Gaylor |first1=Sabrina |title=Paul Winchell |url=https://ffrf.org/news/day/dayitems/item/14901-paul-winchell |website=Freedom From Religion |date=December 21, 1980 |access-date=11 September 2019}}

Winchell died on June 24, 2005, at the age of 82, from natural causes in his sleep at his home in Moorpark, California. He was survived by his wife, his children, and three grandchildren. His remains were cremated, and his ashes scattered over his home property.{{cite news| title=Paul Winchell, 82; the Voice of Tigger Gained Fame as Ventriloquist| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jun-26-me-winchell26-story.html| last=Oliver| first=Myrna| date=25 June 2005| newspaper=Los Angeles Times| access-date=18 April 2019}}

Winchell was estranged from his children, and they were not immediately informed of his death. Upon learning of it, April posted an entry on her website:

I got a phone call a few minutes ago, telling me that my father passed away yesterday. A source close to my dad, or at least, closer than I was, decided to tell me himself, instead of letting me find out on the news, which I appreciate. Apparently a decision had been made not to tell me, or my father's other children. My father was a very troubled and unhappy man. If there is another place after this one, it is my hope that he now has the peace that eluded him on earth.{{cite web |last=Winchell |first=April |title=T.T.F.N. |url=http://www.aprilwinchell.com/2005/06/25/577/#more-578 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071019165443/http://www.aprilwinchell.com/2005/06/25/577/ |date=June 25, 2005 |access-date=May 8, 2008 |archive-date=October 19, 2007}}

Jim Cummings took on the role of Tigger full-time starting with The Tigger Movie (2000) after Winchell was rejected by the studio as it thought at that time that his voice and energy sounded and felt too old for the role of the character (at the time of the production of this movie Winchell was 75 years old). Tom Kenny and Peter Woodward took on the role of Dick Dastardly and Hank Azaria, Rainn Wilson, and Mark Irons took on the role of Gargamel.{{cite web |last=Winchell |first=April |title=T.T.F.N. |url=http://www.aprilwinchell.com/2005/06/25/577/#more-578 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071019165443/http://www.aprilwinchell.com/2005/06/25/577/ |date=June 25, 2005 |access-date=May 8, 2008 |archive-date=October 19, 2007}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category}}

• [http://www.newsfromme.com/2005/06/25/paul-winchell-r-i-p/ Obituary by Mark Evanier]
• {{IMDb name|0934593}}
• {{tcmdb name|id=207678%7C122519|name=Paul Winchell}}
• {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031212142406/http://www.paulwinchell.com/ |date=December 12, 2003 |title=PaulWinchell.com website }}
• {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.protectgod.com |date=* |title=Paul's ProtectGod.com website }}

{{Navboxes

|title = Awards for Paul Winchell

|list =

{{Grammy Award for Best Children's Album}}

{{Winsor McCay Award 1990s}}

}}

{{Ted Weems}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winchell, Paul}}

Category:1922 births

Category:2005 deaths

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:Acupuncturists

Category:American hypnotists

Category:American inventors

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male television actors

Category:American male voice actors

Category:American sketch comedians

Category:American writers

Category:Columbia University alumni

Category:Disney people

Category:Grammy Award winners

Category:Hanna-Barbera people

Category:High School of Art and Design alumni

Category:Male actors from New York City

Category:Military personnel from New York City

Category:Polio survivors

Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II

Category:United States Navy sailors

Category:Ventriloquists