Wonga Philip Harris was an American comedian, actor, singer, and jazz musician. As a voice actor, he played Baloo in The Jungle Book, Thomas O'Malley in The Aristocats, and Little John in Robin Hood.
Early life and career
Harris was born in Linton, Indiana, but grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and identified himself as a Southerner. His hallmark song was "That's What I Like About the South." He had a trace of a Southern accent and in later years made self-deprecating jokes over the air about his heritage. His parents were circus performers. His father, a tent bandleader, gave him his first job as a drummer with the circus's band. His unusual first name "Wonga," is said to derive from a Cherokee word meaning "messenger of fleet" or, perhaps more accurately translated, "fast messenger." On September 2, 1927, he married actress Marcia Ralston in Sydney, Australia; they had met when he played a concert date. In 1933, he made a short film for RKO called So This Is Harris!, which won an Academy Award for best live action short subject. He followed with a feature-length film, Melody Cruise. Both films were created by the same team that produced Flying Down to Rio, which started the careers of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. He also starred in I Love a Bandleader with Leslie Brooks. Here he played a house painter who gets amnesia, then starts to lead a band. He recorded Woodman, Spare That Tree in 1947. His nickname was "Old Curly". Additionally, he appeared in The Wild Blue Yonder a.k.a. "Thunder Across the Pacific", alongside Forrest Tucker and Walter Brennan. He made a cameo appearance in the Warner Bros. musical, Starlift, with Janice Rule and Dick Wesson, and was featured in The High and the Mighty with John Wayne in 1954.
After radio
A Democrat, he supported the campaign of Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 presidential election. Harris worked as a voice actor for animated films, providing the voice of Baloo the bear in The Jungle Book, Thomas O'Malley in The Aristocats, and Little John in Robin Hood. In 1989, he reprised his role as Baloo for the cartoon series TaleSpin, but after a few recording sessions he was replaced by Ed Gilbert.
