George O'Hanlon

George Samuel O'Hanlon (November 23, 1912 – February 11, 1989) was an American actor, comedian and writer. He was best known for his role as Joe McDoakes in the Warner Bros.' live-action Joe McDoakes short subjects from 1942 to 1956 and as the voice of George Jetson in Hanna-Barbera's 1962 prime-time animated television series The Jetsons and its 1985 revival.

George O'Hanlon
O'Hanlon as Calvin Dudley in The Life of Riley
Born	George Samuel O'Hanlon November 23, 1912 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	February 11, 1989 (aged 76) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor comedian writer
Years active	1932–1989
Spouse(s)	Inez Witt ​ ​ (m. 1932; div. 1948)​ Martha Stewart ​ ​ (m. 1949; div. 1952)​ Nancy Owens ​ (m. 1953)​
Children	2

Early life

George O'Hanlon was born on November 23, 1912 in Brooklyn, New York.[1]

Career

Film

From the early 1940s, O'Hanlon was a character actor in feature films, usually playing the hero's streetwise, cynical friend. He appeared in features for various studios while continuing the Joe McDoakes role for Warner Bros. After the McDoakes series lapsed in 1956, O'Hanlon returned to character work, mostly in television (two rare post-McDoakes movie appearances are in Bop Girl Goes Calypso and Kronos, both from 1957).

Television

In the 1953–54 season, O'Hanlon appeared several times on NBC's The Dennis Day Show. In 1957, he played Charlie Appleby on an I Love Lucy episode, "Lucy and Superman". In 1958, O'Hanlon played a New York publicist for a fashion model, Loco Jones (Barbara Eden) in the syndicated romantic comedy How to Marry a Millionaire.

In 1962–63, he voiced one of his most prominent characters, George Jetson in the original The Jetsons, a role he would reprise over 20 years later in two additional seasons from 1985 to 1987.[2]

In the autumn of 1964, he appeared as a cab driver in the 13-episode CBS drama The Reporter starring Harry Guardino. In 1966, O'Hanlon appeared opposite Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden's loudmouthed "bum brother-in-law", on Gleason's first TV show of the 1966-67 season. He also made various appearances on ABC's Love, American Style, a series for which he wrote the screenplays and also directed several episodes.

O'Hanlon as Joe McDoakes

In 1971, O'Hanlon appeared as a bear trainer on The Partridge Family, season 2, episode 6, "Whatever Happened to Moby Dick?", a drunk in The Odd Couple, season 2, episode 6, "Murray the Fink" and a drunk in Adam-12, season 4 episode 1, "Extortion".

Writer

Apart from acting, he wrote screenplays and also wrote the storyboard for nearly all of the Joe McDoakes shorts. He wrote stories for television series in the 1960s such as Petticoat Junction, 77 Sunset Strip, and wrote episodes for Hanna-Barbera's The Flintstones. He also auditioned for the role of Fred Flintstone, but lost to Alan Reed; however, he was remembered when it was time to cast The Jetsons and Morey Amsterdam, the original choice to voice the lead male role, was unavailable due to sponsor conflicts. He once said: "George Jetson is an average man, he has trouble with his boss, he has problems with his kids, and so on. The only difference is that he lives in the next century."[3]

Personal life

O'Hanlon was married three times; he was first married to Inez Witt from 1932 to 1948. After divorcing from Witt, he later married actress Martha Stewart in 1949, they divorced in 1952 after three years of marriage.[4] In 1953, O'Hanlon married Nancy Owens, a fellow actress, and they had two children (actor George O'Hanlon Jr., and daughter Laurie O'Hanlon, a registered nurse). They remained married until his death.[2]

Death

In the mid-1980s, Hanna-Barbera revived The Jetsons and brought back its original voice cast of O'Hanlon, Daws Butler, Mel Blanc, Don Messick, Penny Singleton, Jean Vander Pyl, and Janet Waldo. O'Hanlon had suffered a stroke and was blind and suffering from limited mobility. He recorded his dialogue in a separate session from the other cast members by having all lines read to him by the recording director Gordon Hunt and then recited one at a time.[5][6]

On February 11, 1989, just after recording dialogue for Jetsons: The Movie.[2] O'Hanlon complained of a headache and was taken to Saint Joseph's Hospital in Burbank, California where he died of a second stroke.[7] According to Andrea Romano, who was Hanna-Barbera's casting director at the time, O'Hanlon found it difficult to read and hear, and in the end, he died doing what he loved.[8] The film was dedicated to him, along with Jetsons co-star Mel Blanc who died nearly five months later. Both were replaced by Jeff Bergman to finish the movie.[9]

O'Hanlon was cremated, and his ashes were scattered in Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Cemetery in Westlake Village, California.[10]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1932	The Death Kiss	Bystander / Man Sitting on Curb	Uncredited
1933	High Gear	Reporter / Spectator in Grandstand	Uncredited
1934	Beggar's Holiday	Bellhop	Uncredited
1935	The Girl Friend	Chorus Boy in Play	Uncredited
1937	Hollywood Hotel	Casting Assistant	Uncredited
1938	Blondes at Work	Third Newsboy	Uncredited
	Women Are Like That	Page	Uncredited
	My Lucky Star	Student in Girls of Hampshire Hall Skit	Uncredited
	Secrets of an Actress	Flowers Delivery Boy	Uncredited
	Brother Rat	Orderly	Uncredited
1939	The Adventures of Jane Arden	Crapshooter	Uncredited
	Daughters Courageous	Dancer	Uncredited
	Hell's Kitchen	Usher	Uncredited
	Dust Be My Destiny	Man at Bank After Robbery	Uncredited
	Off the Record	Messenger Boy	Uncredited
	A Child Is Born	Young Husband	Uncredited
	Swanee River	Ticket Taker	Uncredited
1940	The Fighting 69th	Eddie Kearney	Uncredited
	Saturday's Children	Office Worker at Party	Uncredited
	Sailor's Lady	Sailor
	The Bride Wore Crutches	Copy Boy	Uncredited
	City for Conquest	Newsboy	Uncredited
	Spring Parade	Peasant	Uncredited
1941	The Great Awakening	Peppi
	Navy Blues	Sailor	Uncredited
	Moon Over Her Shoulder	Bellboy	Uncredited
1942	Man from Headquarters	Weeks, Reporter
	Yokel Boy	Teller	Uncredited
	A Gentleman After Dark	Hotel bellboy	Uncredited
	Remember Pearl Harbor	Radio Operator	Uncredited
	Criminal Investigator	Powers
1942–1956	Joe McDoakes	Joe McDoakes	Short film series
1943	Ladies' Day	Bond Buyer	Uncredited
	Action in the North Atlantic	Navy Pilot	Uncredited
	All by Myself	Buck	Uncredited
	Two Tickets to London	Sailor	Uncredited
	Hers to Hold	Coast Guardsman with Tommy Gun	Uncredited
	Corvette K-225	RCAL Wireless Operator	Uncredited
	Nearly Eighteen	Eddie
	Take Heed Mr. Tojo	Mr. Hook (voice)	Uncredited
1944	Resisting Enemy Interrogation	American Pilot at Headquarters	Uncredited
1947	The Hucksters	Freddie Callahan	Uncredited
	The Spirit of West Point	Joe Wilson
	Heading for Heaven	Alvin Ponacress
1948	Are You with It?	Buster
	The Counterfeiters	Frankie Dodge
	June Bride	Scott Davis
1949	Joe Palooka in the Big Fight	Louie
	Zamba	Marvin
1951	The Tanks Are Coming	Sergeant Tucker
1952	Room for One More	Minor Role	Uncredited
	The Lion and the Horse	'Shorty' Cameron
	Park Row	Steve Brodie
	Cattle Town	Shiloh
1953	So You Want to Learn to Dance	Joe McDoakes	Short film
1956	Battle Stations	Patrick Mosher
1957	Kronos	Dr. Arnold Culver
	Bop Girl Goes Calypso	Barney
1958	The Vanishing Duck	George (voice)	Short film Uncredited
1971	The Million Dollar Duck	Parking Attendant
1972	Now You See Him, Now You Don't	Ted
1973	Charley and the Angel	Harry, Police Chief
1976	Rocky	TV Commentator #2
1990	Jetsons: The Movie	George Jetson (voice)	Released posthumously; dedicated in memory, character finished by Jeff Bergman

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1954	The Dennis Day Show	Himself	Episode: "The Old Vaudevillian"
1955–1961	Make Room for Daddy	Policeman, Chick	Unknown episodes
1957	I Love Lucy	George Appleby	Episode: "Lucy and Superman"
1958	Maverick	Morton Connors, Cousin Elmo & Caldwell	3 episodes
1962–1963, 1985–1987	The Jetsons	George Jetson, Russian Reporter, Molecular Motors Video Man, Drummer (voices)	75 episodes
1971	The Partridge Family	Bear Man	Episode: "Whatever Happened to Moby Dick?"
1973	Mission: Impossible	Captain Douglas	Episode: "The Question"
1974	Sanford and Son	Drunk	Episode: "Ol' Brown Eyes"
	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	Herb Evans	Episode: "The Whiz Kid and the Mystery at Riverton: Part 1 & 2"
1986–1988	The Flintstone Kids	Additional voices	34 episodes
1987	The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones	George Jetson (voice)	Television film
1988	Rockin' with Judy Jetson
1989	Hanna-Barbera's 50th: A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration		Television special; aired five months after his death

Production work

Year	Title	Position	Notes
1942–1956	Joe McDoakes	Screenwriter for most of the shorts	Short film series
1959	The Rookie	Director, screenwriter
1959–1960	The Ann Southern Show	Writer	2 episodes
1962–1963	The Gallant Men		2 episodes
1963	Grindl		2 episodes
	77 Sunset Strip		2 episodes
1964	For Those Who Think Young	Screenwriter
1965	Petticoat Junction	Writer	2 episodes
1966	The Flintstones		Episode: "Curtain Call at Bedrock"
1965–1966	Gilligan's Island		2 episodes
1966	Jackie Gleason: American Size Magazine		Episode: "The Honeymooners: The Adoption"
1967	The Jackie Gleason Show		Episode: "The Honeymooners: The Adoption"
1968	I Sailed to Tahiti with an All Girl Crew		Story
1973	Love, American Style		Segment: "Love and the Model Apartment"

References

1. "George O'Hanlon". walkoffame.com. Hollywood Walk of Fame. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
2. "George O'Hanlon, 76, George Jetson's Voice". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Associated Press. February 15, 1989. p. 24.
3. "George O'Hanlon; Father's voice on Jetsons". Los Angeles Times. February 14, 1989. Archived from the original on 10 August 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
4. Andre Soares. "Martha Stewart Still Alive?", altfg.com; accessed February 26, 2016.
5. Takamoto, Iwao (2009). Iwao Takamoto: My Life with a Thousand Characters. Twao. ISBN 9780786486946.
6. Lawson, Tim (2004). The Magic Behind the Voices: A Who's Who of Cartoon Voice Actors. Persons. ISBN 9780786486946.
7. "Location of death".
8. "Talking Toons With Rob Paulsen: Episode 16 with Guest: Andrea Romano". Talking Toons With Rob Paulsen.
9. "Porky and pals get new, familiar voice". The Tennessean. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
10. "George O'Hanlon (1912-1989)". findagrave.com. Find A Grave. Retrieved 27 December 2020.

External links

• George O'Hanlon at IMDb
• George O'Hanlon at Find a Grave