Joe Alaskey, iconic voice actor, dies

Joe Alaskey

Joe Alaskey, one of the entertainment world's most recognized voice actors, died Wednesday at the age of 63.

Joseph Francis Alaskey III was born in Troy on April 17, 1952. He was the brother of Terrace resident John (Ned) Alaskey. They were the sons of the late Dorothy DeLuca, an early Terrace resident.

Joe, who had been battling cancer,  succeeded the late Mel Blanc as the voice of such iconic characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, and Plucky Duck. Joe also narrated numerous TV shows and provided voices for video games.

Joe received an Emmy Award in 2004 for his performance on the Cartoon Network's "Duck Dodgers." He also voiced the Grandpa Lou Pickles character on "Rugrats" for three films and the spinoff TV series, "All Grown Up."

He also supplied the voice of Richard Nixon in the film "Forrest Gump," Yosemite Sam in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?," Stinkie in both "Casper" and "The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper." And, he played Jackie Gleason in the TV movie "King of the World."

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