Roger Carel- A Voice to Remember
(1928-2020)
Mel Blanc might be the man with a thousand voices but he’s got nothing on French voice talent Roger Carel. Throughout a career that spanned over 60 years, Carel lent his voice to hundreds of characters. For instance, he was the French voice of Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, and C3PO among others. Moreover, the man was hand-picked by Charlie Chaplin for the French dub of The Great Dictator. If you grew up watching French content, you’ve heard some of his work even if you haven’t the faintest clue who he is.
A wealth of original performances
Aside from dubbing American media, Roger Carel also starred in original French films; he was the voice of Asterix, our favourite Gaul warrior. Indeed, whenever I read the comics, I could hear Carel’s incredible performance. I never had so much fun watching somebody getting angry or annoyed. It simply can’t be matched!
More than an actor; an educator as well…
On top of that, Carel was also the voice of Maestro, the teacher in the long-running education franchise Once Upon a Time…. which began in 1978 with Once Upon a Time… Man. The franchise spawns 6 other TV shows over the course of 30 years. The TV shows introduced children to history, science, and much more.
It goes without saying that Carel had an incredible talent for communicating emotion to his audience, his voice-acting was direct and captivating. In fact, the people who were lucky enough to see him work often mentioned that he physically became whichever character he was voicing: “You could see it in his face, he became Alf.”
He was an exceptional communicator… And I miss him already. During an interview, he once said that his doctor had forbidden him to grow old. And although he is not with us anymore, his work and his soul will never grow old.
Goodbye Roger
