Alan Louis Oppenheimer (born April 23, 1930) is an American actor, voice actor, singer and songwriter. He has performed numerous roles on live-action television since the 1960s, and has had an active career doing voice work in cartoons since the 1970s.
Biography[]
Alan Louis Oppenheimer was born on April 23, 1930 in New York City, New York the son of Irene (née Rothschild; 1904-1991) and Louis E. Oppenheimer (1901-1984), who was a stockbroker. He is of Jewish background.
Oppenheimer is recognized as the voice of many characters, often for Filmation in the 1970s and 1980s, such as Oil Can Harry, Swifty and the narrator on The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle, Ming the Merciless on Flash Gordon, the Overlord on BlackStar, Skeletor, Man-At-Arms and Mer-Man from Filmation's 1980's cartoon He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and the voice of Prime Evil in the 1986 TV series, Filmation's Ghostbusters. Other notable voice roles include Thundarr the Barbarian, Vanity on The Smurfs, Rhinokey and Crock from The Wuzzles and Falkor, Gmork, Rockbiter, and the Narrator from 1984's The NeverEnding Story. In the early 1990s, Oppenheimer was the voice of Merlin in The Legend of Prince Valiant. He also provided the voice of Barkerville in the Pound Puppies TV special. He also voiced Fraidy Cat on Fraidy Cat in 1975 and provided additional voices on Battle of the Planets in 1978.
Oppenheimer worked on The Transformers, most notably as two contrasting characters, the pacifist Beachcomber and the bellicose Warpath. His rendition of Seaspray was remarkably similar to Mer-Man, including the gurgling effects. He took over the voice of Roger Smith's butler Norman Burg in the second season of The Big O. He was the voice of the unseen Alistair Crane on the soap opera Passions up until 2004 when the character was made fully visible and played by David Bailey. More recently, he provided the voice of the Scientist for the 2009 film 9 and Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.
Oppenheimer's repertoire also includes video games, voicing Dr. Piotr Ivanovich in Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix, Prometheus in God of War II and Jandor the Airship Captain in Nox. In Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, he spoke the part of Harold, an ancient mutated survivor of the nuclear holocaust who has appeared in four of the Fallout series games and played the roles of The Chariot Master and Dyntos, God of the Forge, in Kid Icarus: Uprising. Oppenheimer also voiced the parts of a non-player character Soldier and the Wasteland Trader, and the NPC 'enemies' Cult Ghoul Thug and Kamikaze in Fallout: BoS. Also, in the English TG-16 port of Ys Book I & II, Oppenheimer voiced the roles of the Narrator, and the game's lead antagonist, Darm.
In 2019 he guest-starred on the animated series Tigtone.
Oppenheimer was married to costume designer Marianna Elliott, with whom he had three children. The couple divorced but then remarried many years later in 1992, until her death in 2003. He was married to professional tennis player Marilyn Greenwood between marriages. That union ended in divorce.
Filmography[]
Live-Action Dubbing[]
TV Series[]
- TUGS (1989) - O.J., Top Hat, Hercules (US Dub)
Anime Dubbing[]
Anime Series[]
- Battle of the Planets (1972-1974) - Commander Gorok (ep. 1), Additional Voices
- The Big O (1999-2003) - Norman Burg (eps. 14-26)
Anime Films[]
- Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1989) - Oomp
Video Game Dubbing[]
- Dark Cloud 2 (2002) - Mayor Need
External Links[]
- Alan Oppenheimer at the Internet Movie Database
- Alan Oppenheimer at Anime News Network's encyclopedia