The casting!
|
If you are a Scooby fan, I know you have probably hit many sites that explain how the series came about. So, I will not bore you with the long story of how Fred Silverman created a show called Mystery's Five. And how he could not sell the show until by chance, he heard the lyrics to a Frank Sinatra song. In that song, Frank sings, "Scooby-dooby-doo." He changed the name, made the dog the star, and the rest, as they say, is history! One of the best things about the series is the magical casting and the interaction between the characters. Lets take a look at who made up the cast, and why it turned out so magical. |
  |
How could this be called a Scooby Site without paying homage to Scooby Doo himself. Scooby's voice was provided by Don Messick. (pictured at left) Don provided the voice for Scooby right up until his death on October 24, 1997. Originally under the "Mystery's Five" script, "the dog" was just a tag along. I think we can all agree that the promotion of Scooby to lead character was the key factor in a thirty years and counting success story! |
Now, for the humans!
| Before we get into the cast, there's one person behind the scenes that needs some recognition. Pictured here is Iwao Takamoto, who Hanna Barbera snatched away from Disney! He was the art director for the series and was responsible for the look from top to bottom. His work was well ahead of his time, and without him, the show may not have become the hit it did! |  |
The first two members of
the cast can be considered to be a pair of "All
American" kids.
The type of kids that every parent wants to
have!
  |
First there's Freddy. His voice was provided by Frank Welker, who did a lot of work for Hanna-Barbera. I can't help but wonder if this was Fred Silverman's alter ego. A nice clean cut boy. He was the voice of reason. A responsible guy, someone you could trust. I guess that's why he always drove. Every story needs someone to play the "normal" guy, and in Scooby Doo, this was Freddy's part. One other note- Frank Welker had a bit part in "The Trouble With Girls." This is the movie that Nicole Jaffe (Velma #1) was in. Click on the picture of Nicole to see pictures of Frank in this movie as well. |
She had a mind and she could use it. Her voice was provided by Heather North (right). That's the best picture I could find of her for now. Pat Stevens (Velma #2) has said that appropriately enough, Heather North, was "blond and very pretty" in real life. |
For the feature films, Daphne was played by Mary Kay Bergman (Right) There is a sad note to this as Mary has passed away. Click on her picture for more information. |
The next two members of
the cast were the oddballs. What can I say!
Without them, life
would be like a diet of white bread!
  |
Shaggy! Probably the kid every parent hopes they won't have, but defiantly the kind of kid most kids would like to be! He is the anti-Freddy. He is a good soul, just a bit of a hippy. Eating and hanging out with Scooby are his favorite activities. Ironically, his voice was supplied by top 40's DJ Casey Kasem! Shaggy does not pretend to be brave or smart. He just goes along with the gang. (I suspect he is the one who painted the Mystery Machine!) Pat Stevens (Velma #2) worked with Casey Kasem, who provided the hippie lingo for Shaggy during the entire run of the series. "(Kasem) was great," she said. "He really took it seriously. If Shaggy was going to fall off a cliff, he would want to know if it was a long cliff or a short cliff so he could adjust his scream." |
| And then there's Velma! She is probably the most misunderstood and underappreciated member of the whole gang! Her voice was originally supplied by Nicole Jaffe. (Click on the picture of Nicole to see some more shots of her and Frank as well as more information about her.) Velma is just plain brilliant! She has super-human intelligence, but she is not a nerd. (A nerd is smart, but usually lacks common sense and generally does not interact well with people, neither is true about Velma.) In fact, she would be the perfect girl if it wasn't for two little problems. One, her sense of style is only about one point above Shaggy's. And.... Two, those glasses! |  |
 |
 |
From 1974 to 1979 Pat Stevens took over the role of Velma (See the Bloopers Page). She loved playing the part up until Velma got cut from the show and Scrappy-Doo was added. She is pictured here from a 1998 interview. She now teaches "Advanced Acting 401" and is happy to hear that Scooby-Doo lives on! "I never thought it would have turned into what it is today," she said. Stevens remains amazed at the overwhelming popularity of the show. The major reason Stevens landed the job was because her natural voice bore such a liking to the previous actress's intentional inflection. She immediately blended into the ongoing series. Stevens said many people ask her what it was like to be the voice of the "nerdier" of the two female characters on the show, her competitor being the sexy redheaded-ditz Daphne. "I always tried to beat them to it by saying I was the smart one," she said. "I always valued brains." Hey Pat, are you squinting in this picture? |
|
(Note: After hearing Nicole Jaffe's voice in "The
Trouble With Girls", Pat Stevens comments come from October 98 interview. See Legal Disclaimer for credits. |
|
The recent Velma, Betty Jean Ward (Velma #3), might feel more at home with opera glasses than optical. She has a long list of show credits behind her name including a one woman show called "Stand Up Opera." Her cartoon voices include everything from Betty Rubble to Judy Jetson. Betty took over the voice of Velma during the parody "Bravo-Dooby-Doo." Warner Brothers liked it, and she has remained on for both Zombie Island and Witch's Ghost. By the way, her husband is Gordon Hunt (Hellen Hunt's dad). He was the one who hired Pat Stevens to voice Velma #2. Hey, that makes Velma Hellen Hunt's step-mom! |
 |
|
As Linda Cardellini played in the Live Action movie and is
covered elsewhere on the site, |
 |
Mindy Cohn has taken over the role of Velma for the new series "What's New Scooby Doo" Born in 1966, she is known to many from her role on the TV show The Facts of Life. Her voice probably fits the part better then Pat and B.J. due to it's squeaky quality! Time will tell if she fills the role but judging by the show's so far, she is off to a good start! Mindy is also nearsighted, which helps give her a little insight into the role. |
|
She's Back! |
|
 In addition to giving
Velma a studious look, the glasses serve as her Achillea's heel.
There are actually only a handful of shows in which Velma loses
her glasses, but when she does, the glasses aren't the only thing
that's lost! Without them, her intelligence and common sense go
out the window. The super-human is gone, replace by a bumbling
idiot, just like the rest of us! Indeed, she seems to go into
denial about the reality around her. In the adjacent shots, Velma
loses her glasses while driving an electric car. Scooby is the
passenger. Although she is blind as a bat, she drives with
confidence! Scooby is not so sure... |
In this sequence, taken from "Jeepers, It's the Creeper", Velma takes a wrong turn and ends up cornered by the Creeper. Caught off guard, she says "You wouldn't hit a girl with glasses!" The Creeper responds by grabbing the glasses off of her face. This is one of the few scenes where Velma actually becomes aggressive, kicking the Creeper and grabbing her glasses back! |
| Velma is nearsighted. When you are nearsighted, you wear glasses with lenses that make everything small. Farsighted people wear lenses that make everything big. This fact was not overlooked by the animator who drew this scene for "The Witch's Ghost" in which Velma picks up the wrong pair of glasses after a fall. (Notice the large eyes, in uncharacteristic wire rim frames!) |  |
Back to The Hub (to explore more of Velma's site, as well as links)
