A Christmas classic has been silenced. Billie Mae Richards, the Canadian radio actress who provided the male voice for plucky Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, died Friday at her home near Toronto. She was 88. "Kids won't believe it when my grandchildren tell them that their grandmother is really Rudolph," Richards said in a 2005 interview with Filmfax magazine. She was credited as "Billy Richards" to mask the fact that she was a woman. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, based on the eponymous 1949 song, premiered in 1964 and CBS airs it to this day around the holidays. "What better legacy can you leave than a show that everybody loves?" Richards told NPR in...
- 9/14/2010
- E! Online
The woman behind the voice of Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer has died after suffering a stroke at her home in Canada. She was 88.
Actress Billie Mae Richards voiced the popular festive cartoon in the early 1960s and the TV special has since become a seasonal institution.
Richards landed the part thanks to her ability to speak like a young boy.
A veteran of Canadian radio, she's credited as Billy Richards in the Christmas show, narrated by Burl Ives.
Actress Billie Mae Richards voiced the popular festive cartoon in the early 1960s and the TV special has since become a seasonal institution.
Richards landed the part thanks to her ability to speak like a young boy.
A veteran of Canadian radio, she's credited as Billy Richards in the Christmas show, narrated by Burl Ives.
- 9/14/2010
- WENN
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