Richard Caruthers Little (born November 26, 1938) is a Canadian-American impressionist and voice actor. Sometimes known as the "Man of a Thousand Voices", Little has recorded nine comedy albums and made numerous television appearances, including three HBO specials.
In 1965, Little provided the voice for the Pink Panther in two cartoons, Sink Pink and Pink Ice; these two cartoons were made by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises to experiment with giving the Panther dialogue, contrary to him usually being mute. He also dudded for David Niven as Sir Charles Lytton/The Phantom in both Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther due to Niven terminally ill with ALS.
Trivia[]
- Aside from Niven, Little's skills at impersonation were called upon to provide dialogue for other actors unable to so themselves in film productions. For a 1990s restoration of the film Spartacus, for example, he overdubbed a restored deleted scene in place of Laurence Olivier for which the soundtrack was lost.
- Another Canadian actor, Matt Frewer, would later be hired when a 1990s cartoon series again experimented with giving the Pink Panther a voice.