I thought I already had a hook for this article. We’re taking a man whose Wikipedia profile picture is your standard “you look like a nice young man from an accounting department” and have him famous for being, among other things, a deranged Nazi musical writer, a pretentious plagiarizer, and the toughest marshal in the West who ends up getting taken down by a pair of incompetents. Despite that wholesome appearance, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him do a wholesome role. And that would have been an interesting article.
Then, I discovered his voice acting career. That’s lengthy. He was Grandpa Longneck, which I’m sure Jenny Nicholson would appreciate. He was Tuskernini, an occasional Darkwing Duck villain. He did a lot of the weird minor animated shows of the ‘80s. He did Shirt Tales, for goodness sake, not to mention the animated versions of Laverne and Shirley and Happy Days. (While I do believe that kids’ animation in that era has some of the best shows ever made, it also has some utter garbage.) If you’re a late Gen-Xer, you know his voice.
Especially because of probably his best-known role. IMDb, of course, suggests that I know him from four movies. Two are Mel Brooks. As established, I don’t like Mel Brooks movies, though I do like Mel Brooks. However, I have seen both The Producers (the one Mel Brooks movie I do like) and Young Frankenstein, so they’re not wrong there. And there’s What’s Up, Doc?, which is today’s article image. The fourth movie is The Little Mermaid.
Yes, if you’ve come this far on the journey with me, Kenneth Mars was King Triton. I’m old enough so that I don’t think this was where I first encountered him—the man was on The Smurfs sometimes, for heaven’s sake—but of his voicework, it’s definitely the most distinctive. That lovely somber sadness when he realizes his relationship with his daughter isn’t what he wants it to be. The wistfulness of wondering who she could have fallen in love with. His towering rage at her obsession with humans. It’s a great performance in a well-cast movie, and if he’s not quite Pat Carroll, is that a fair standard?
Alas, Mars was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer after his cancer had already metastasized. He left behind several recurring roles that either had to be recast—Triton—or were left behind—Otto Mankusser of Malcolm in the Middle. Triton is now Jim Cummings. Still, Kenneth Mars was one of those actors who don’t get discussed much but are well worth exploring. They’re my favourite types of people to write about for the column, especially when they turn out to be more than I realized they were.
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