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Arnold Sidney Stang (September 28, 1918 – December 20, 2009) Weber, Bruce. "Arnold Stang, Milquetoast Actor, Dies at 91," The New York Times, December 22, 2009. was an American actor and comedian. Recognized by his small stature and squawky, Brooklyn-accented speaking voice, he steadily worked on the stage, radio, and television and provided animation voice-over for 70 years. He was the voice of Top Cat in the cartoon series, Frank Sinatra's best friend in The Man with the Golden Arm, and one of the hapless gas station owners in the all-star comedy film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
In October 1941, director Don Bernard hired Stang to do commercials on the CBS program Meet Mr. Meek, but decided Stang's constantly cracking voice would hurt the ads. Instead, Bernard ordered scriptwriters to come up with a role for Stang.Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 26, 1941 He next appeared on the summer replacement show The Remarkable Miss Tuttle with Edna May Oliver in 1942Chicago Tribune, July 19, 1942 and replaced Eddie Firestone Jr. in the title role of That Brewster Boy when Firestone joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1943. Chicago Tribune, September 3, 1943.
Comedian Henry Morgan made him a sidekick on his program in fall 1946. Stang appeared in similar roles the following year on radio shows with Eddie CantorMiami News, Sept. 25, 1947 and Milton Berle. He also did the voice of Jughead Jones for a short while on the Archie Andrews radio show when it was broadcast by NBC, opposite future sitcom star Bob Hastings as Archie.
By this time Stang had appeared in a number of movies, including My Sister Eileen, So This Is New York, and They Got Me Covered. He appeared on Broadway theatre in Sailor Beware, All In Favor and Same Time Next Week, where he first worked with Berle.Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 3, 1947. A notable screen credit was "Sparrow" in The Man with the Golden Arm (1955).
Edward Montagne had produced movie short subjects starring Arnold Stang in the early 1950s. Montagne recruited Stang to join his McHale's Navy spinoff Broadside and offered him co-star billing. Stang was then co-starring with the national touring company of the Broadway hit A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, ibdb.com. Accessed June 10, 2024. and left the show on October 3, 1964 to join Montagne (the play ran six more weeks, with Gil Lamb in the Stang role). "I was originally scheduled to be in the show Broadside when it went on the air last fall," recalled Stang in 1965, "but I was tied up with the road show of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. I couldn't get out of the commitment until now."Arnold Stang to syndicated UPI columnist Vernon Scott, Feb. 10, 1965. Stang appeared midway through the Broadside run, having missed the first 21 episodes. He co-starred in the remaining 11 episodes as outspoken master chef Stanley Stubbs.
The ratings improved considerably with Stang aboard, but too late to save Broadside, which had already been canceled. Stang felt responsible: "By helping that show I messed it up for the entire cast. The ratings began to climb and they told us we'd probably be on next season. So everybody waited for the renewal, and when it didn't come the pilot season was over and they were all through for the year."Arnold Stang to syndicated columnist Harvey Pack, Dec. 11, 1965.
Stang also lent his familiar face and voice to commercials for the Chunky candy bar, where he would list many of its ingredients, smile, and say, "Chunky, what a chunk of chocolate!" As a pitchman for Alcoa aluminum window screens in the late 1960s, he was known for the tagline "Arnold Stang says don't get stung". He would continue to act in television commercials on occasion until his death in 2009.
His voice was so recognizable to the public that his performances could be enjoyed without seeing him in person. While in New York in the early 1940s, he worked for the Famous Studios cartoon shop,Obituary The Guardian, March 102010. where he supplied the voice for Popeye's pal Shorty (a caricature of Stang), Herman the Brooklynese mouse, and Tubby Tompkins in a few Little Lulu shorts. Stang's major contribution to television was voicing the title role in Hanna-Barbera's animated sitcom Top Cat (1961-62). The show lasted for 30 episodes during its network run, and was frequently rebroadcast in Saturday-morning time slots into the 1980s. The Top Cat series was based on The Phil Silvers Show, a 1950s military comedy with Silvers as a sergeant masterminding get-rich-quick schemes. Stang was instructed to mimic the Silvers delivery in Top Cat until the sponsor reportedly objected -- insisting it was paying for Arnold Stang, not Phil Silvers. Stang modified his cartoon characterization in the later episodes to be closer to his own, recognizable voice.
In 1959, ABC Paramount Records released an album by Stang, titled Arnold Stang's Waggish Tales. He voiced the character Nurtle the Turtle in the 1965 animated feature Pinocchio in Outer Space and was also the original voice of Buzz the Bee in Honey Nut Cheerios commercials from 1979 to 1992.
Stang was in many stage productions; on Broadway theatre he appeared in a 1969 revival of The Front Page with Peggy Cass. He starred in two low-budget feature films during this period, Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar (1965, featuring Huntz Hall and Leo Gorcey) and Hercules in New York (1970, featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger billed as "Arnold Strong").
Stang returned to the field of animation in 1976 for the series Misterjaw. In this parody of Jaws, Stang was the voice of Catfish, the little sidekick of a playful shark voiced by Arte Johnson. Stang had a small role as Queasy the Parrot in the 1977 film . He reprised Top Cat in Yogi's Treasure Hunt and Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats.
Stang appeared in "The Grave Robber," an episode of the popular horror anthology series Tales from the Darkside, playing Tapok, an ancient Egyptian mummy who encounters some unscrupulous archaeologists who lure him into a game of strip poker. He also appeared on an episode of The Cosby Show with guest star Sammy Davis Jr. (and made a cameo appearance in Bill Cosby's 1990 film Ghost Dad.) He played the photographer in the 1993 film Dennis the Menace with Walter Matthau. Stang also provided many voices for the Cartoon Network series Courage the Cowardly Dog and Turner Program Services' original series Captain Planet and the Planeteers.
In one TV ad, Stang played Luther Burbank, proudly showing off his newly invented "square tomato" to fit neatly in typical square slices of commercial bread, then being informed that the advertising bakery had beat him to it by producing round loaves of bread. He was also the TV spokesman for Rent-a-Wreck, a national car-rental agency with a fleet of used, economical vehicles. He provided the voice of the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee in the 1980s and was a spokesman for Vicks.
In 1994, he guest-starred as the voice of Irwin the Mouse in the Garfield and Friends episode "Thoroughly Mixed-Up Mouse". In 2004, Stang made his last appearance in an interview with animator Earl Kress about the making of Top Cat (featured on the Top Cat DVD box set).
Although Stang was born in New York City in 1918, he often claimed Chelsea, Massachusetts as his birthplace and 1925 as his birth year. His ashes were buried in Newton's cemetery.
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