John Dehner was an American actor in radio, television, and films, playing countless roles, often as a droll villain. His work at Walt Disney Studios included animation on Fantasia, The Reluctant Dragon, and Bambi, as well as the voices of the narrator in Contrary Condor, Springtime for Pluto, The Truth About Mother Goose, Aquamania, The Litterbug, the Disneyland episodes "The Great Cat Family", "How to Relax", and "A Salute to Father", Jason Gore in the two-part Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color episode "The Mystery of Edward Sims", Cyrus in the Disney Sunday Movie episode "Help Wanted: Kids", and Viceroy Don Esteban in the Zorro episode "The Fall of Monastario".
Dehner was born in Staten Island, New York City. He initially went into art after studying at the Grand Central School of Art in New York City. He worked as an animator at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, working on some features before joining the army in World War II. After the war, he decided switch from animation to radio acting. He performed as a lead or supporting player in series, such as The Whistler, Gunsmoke, Laramie, Philip Marlowe. He also starred as Paladin in the radio version of Have Gun – Will Travel and Elmer Truitt on The Trouble with the Truitts and the title character on The Judge.
Between 1940 and 1986, Dehner appeared in no fewer than 126 feature films and shorts, like The Left Handed Gun, Scaramouche, Please Murder Me, Carousel, The Texas Rangers, The Man from Bitter Ridge, The Fastest Gun Alive, The Rebel, and The Boys From Brazil. His television credits included The Roaring 20's, Enos, The Doris Day Show, The Colbys, The Alaskans, The Andy Griffith Show, The Don Knotts Show, The Betty White Show, Gunsmoke, The Soldiers, Dodge City, Maverick, Cimarron City, Wagon Train, The Texan, Bonanza, The Twilight Zone, and The Virginian.
In 1992, at the age of 76, Dehner died from complications of emphysema and diabetes in Santa Barbara, California. He was cremated and his ashes interred at Carpinteria Cemetery in Carpinteria, California
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Trivia[]
- He was considered to voice Shere Khan in The Jungle Book until that role was taken by the late George Sanders.
