June Foray, the voice behind Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Natasha Fatale on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, died on Wednesday, July 26. She was 99 and would have turned 100 in September.
Her close friend Dave Nimitz confirmed her death in a Facebook post on Wednesday. “With a heavy heart again I want to let you all know that we lost our little June today at 99 years old,” he wrote.
Foray voiced dozens of popular animated characters, including Granny and Witch Hazel in Looney Tunes, Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Aunt May in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Grandmother Fa in Mulan and Lucifer the cat in Cinderella. She also worked well into her 90s, and won a daytime Emmy for her role as Mrs. Cauldron in The Garfield Show in 2012. Foray also reprised her role as Rocky in a Rocky and Bullwinkle short in 2014.
The International Animated Film Association president Jerry Beck released a statement on Foray’s death. “On behalf of ASIFA-Hollywood, of which June was a founder, we are mourning the passing of animation’s best friend. She has touched so many lives: with her voice that of so many classic cartoon characters, her efforts to create ASIFA, to maintain the Academy’s Oscar for Best Animated Short and her leadership in crafting the category of Best Animated Feature,” the statement read, per Variety. “She was one of a kind. A trailblazer, a great talent and a truly wonderful person. We will never forget her.”
Foray was married to Bernard Barondess from 1941 to 1945. She remarried Hobart Donavan in 1954, and they were married until his death in 1976.
