Bill Farmer

Bill Farmer (born November 14, 1952)^[1][2] is an American voice actor, comedian and impressionist. He has performed the voice of the Disney character Goofy since 1987, and has also been the voice of Pluto and Horace Horsecollar since 1990.

Early life

Farmer was born on November 14, 1952, in Pratt, Kansas, the second child in his family.^[1][2] His parents were of English and Welsh descent.^[1]

Farmer began doing voices at the age of 10, involved doing impressions, especially those of Western stars like John Wayne or Walter Brennan. He and his friends would sometimes go through fast food drive-thrus and order foods in his character voices.^[3] Farmer graduated from the University of Kansas in 1975, where he became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.^[3][1] In university, he found work in radio and TV and then moved on to stand-up comedy as an impressionist.^[1] In 1982, while he was still doing stand-up comedy, Farmer worked at a comedy club called the Comedy Corner in Dallas, Texas. He continued to work there until his move to Hollywood in 1986.^[1]

His decision to move to California came from a Dallas commercial agent who suggested that, given his talent for voices, he should try his luck in California.^[4] He was recently married, but he and his wife talked it over and came to an arrangement. She stayed back in Dallas while he commuted for a year after he got an apartment. Then four months after his moving out to Hollywood, his agent asked him if he could do any Disney characters.

Farmer asserts that voice acting is not about funny voices, but about acting. His mentor was the versatile voice actor Daws Butler, the man behind many of Hanna-Barbera's characters. He taught Farmer that when doing cartoon voices, a person is not merely doing a funny voice, but they are an actor and the acting is premier and that one has to think like the character one is performing.^[5]

Career

In 1986, he got a call from his agent about an open audition for the Disney character Goofy.^[1] When he auditioned for the role, he studied the way the original actor Pinto Colvig performed as Goofy in the classic cartoons. He studied the hilarious laugh and the distinctive "gawrsh".^[1] After auditioning for the role, he inherited the voice of Goofy in January 1987 (and also Pluto in 1990).^[1][6] He originated the voice of Horace Horsecollar in Disney's version of The Prince and the Pauper and has played him ever since as well.^[5][7] Farmer also performed additional voices on The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse (1987) and Astro Boy (2004).^[8] In 1987, Farmer had a small part as reporter Justin Ballard-Watkins in the film RoboCop.^[5]

Other significant characters he has played include Sylvester the Cat, Scooby-Doo and Beetlejuice in ABC Family Fun Fair, an annual stage show for disabled children in the 1980s;^[9][10][11] and Yosemite Sam, Sylvester and Foghorn Leghorn in the film Space Jam (1996). He has also done several guest voices, both on TV, including The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and in video games, including the Destroy All Humans! series, Namco's Tales of Symphonia, where he voiced Governor-General Dorr; Detective Date in the SEGA game Yakuza, Captain Wedgewood and Frill Lizard in Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, many voices on EverQuest II, Cletus Samson, Floyd Sanders, Jeff Meyers and Ryan LaRosa in the video game Dead Rising,^[12] and Sam and others in the cult classic adventure game Sam & Max Hit the Road. Farmer has also played Secret Squirrel on Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law in both the animated series and its spin-off video game, Stinkie in Casper: A Spirited Beginning and Casper Meets Wendy, Stanley in Beauty and the Beast, male cats in Cats Don't Dance, male ants in A Bug's Life, Male Soldier #1 in The Iron Giant, Man #1 in Toy Story 2, a photographer in Monsters, Inc., Edgar in Brother Bear, Oliver Sansweet's lawyer in The Incredibles, Willie Bear in Horton Hears a Who!, Sam the Bus Driver in The Grinch, Mr. Leghorn in Loonatics Unleashed, and Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck in Robot Chicken. From 2014 to 2016, he played Doc, the leader of the title characters in Disney's animated television series The 7D.^[7] He also voiced Blackhoof Boar Clan Leader in the 2008 video game Kung Fu Panda. Farmer still regularly performs comedy routines at the Laugh Factory. He voiced the character Hopediah "Hop Pop" Plantar on Disney's Amphibia from 2019 to 2022. In 2020, Farmer hosted the live-action television show It's a Dog's Life with Bill Farmer on Disney+.^[8][13]

Recognition

In September 2009, Farmer was named a Disney Legend. In 2011, the International Family Film Festival awarded Bill Farmer the 'Friz Award' for Animation.

He won the Annie Award for Voice Acting in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production for his work as Goofy and Grandma Goofy in Mickey Mouse.^[14]

Personal life

Farmer married his wife, Jennifer Wynne, on June 2, 1984.^[1] Together they have one son, Austin (b. 1989), who works as a sound engineer and freelance drummer.^[1][6][15]

Filmography

Film

Animation

Anime

Video games

Theme park attractions

Live-action

Web

Awards and nominations

References

1. ^ Stahl, Scarlett (February 24, 2012). "A Visit with a Goofy Guy Named Bill Farmer". LaughingPlace.com. Archived March 7, 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
2. ^ "Disney Legends - Bill Farmer". D23. Archived from the original on August 30, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
3. ^ McTavish, Brian (May 4, 1995). "Bill Farmer is 'Goofy' for fun and profit". The Baltimore Sun. Archived August 24, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
4. ^ Armstrong, John (September 7, 1995). "It's Goofy, but it's a job". Vancouver Sun. p. C3. Archived August 26, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 26, 2019. – via Newspapers.com
5. ^ "042 – Bill Farmer on Talkin Toons with Rob Paulsen – Weekly Voice Acting and Voice Over Tips - Tech Jives Network". Archived from the original on February 2, 2015. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
6. ^ "About Toonhouse". Toonhouse Inc. Archived April 23, 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
7. ^ "Disney Legend, Bill Farmer talks about voicing Goofy and new Disney Junior series "The 7D"". mediamikes.com. February 9, 2014. Archived April 20, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
8. ^ "The longtime voice of Goofy on yuks, gawrshes, and A Goofy Movie". TV Club. May 15, 2020. Archived June 3, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
9. ^ "ABC Family Fun Fair planned at city mall". The Oklahoman. August 23, 1987. Archived September 27, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
10. ^ "ABC Family Fun Fair". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
11. ^ "Holy blast from the past. Bill Farmer and I recorded these for a few years for ABC Publicity. My Bugs sucks. Slimer was fun to do. I'm having a recording session anxiety flashback with "Gummy Berry Juice Bounce". That was exhausting, especially the ending of the song, recorded in one take.". No. 1371846127318933507. March 16, 2021. Archived July 10, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 2, 2025.
12. ^ "Bill Farmer". Voice Chasers. Archived from the original on May 27, 2019. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
13. ^ "It's A Dog's Life With Bill Farmer", archived June 2, 2020 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved June 1, 2020
14. ^ Erik Pedersen (February 2015). "Annie Award Winners 2015: Full List Of Animation Award Winners - Deadline". Deadline. Archived July 13, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
15. ^ "Austin Farmer: Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. This one is mine. 10/10 no notes.". facebook.com
16. ^ "2011 Disneyana Fan Club Convention Highlight: Voice Panel" (Video). YouTube. August 24, 2011. Archived August 4, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved April 16, 2013. Bill Farmer: Tony Pope voiced Goofy in [Who Framed Roger Rabbit], but I am in that movie as Goofy, because during the time Tony had recorded some scenes as Goofy that never made it in the movie. And so I was actually cast as the voice of Goofy when they finally did the ending scene, where... you know, Goofy had a couple of lines, but they also had [another] scene. I did the ADR group, and so the ending song was "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!" I did that one with Nancy Cartwright and a bunch of other people in the loop group, and one run-through I did it as, (in Goofy's voice) "Smile, darn ya, smile!"
17. ^ "Bill Farmer on Twitter: "Yes, I was in the loop group."". Twitter. September 19, 2015. Retrieved December 1, 2025.
18. ^ "Four Souls of Coyote". Four Souls of Coyote. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
19. ^ "The Voices of Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald (1998, Live-Action/Animated Series (Direct-to-Video)) - Voice Cast Listing at Voice Chasers". Voice Chasers. Archived from the original on June 27, 2015. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
20. ^ "Bring Home this Fast Paced Fun of Mickey and the Roadster Racers on Disney DVD". Chip and Co. December 17, 2016. Archived August 19, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
21. ^ "Bill Farmer (visual voices guide)" (A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information). Behind The Voice Actors. Archived October 23, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
22. ^ "Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor (2008) Nintendo DS credits". MobyGames. Archived June 15, 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
23. ^ Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Sega. 2020.
24. ^ "Disney Character Voices Read Famous Theme Park Lines at Destination D23". Attractions Magazine. September 14, 2023. – via YouTube.
25. ^ "RoboCop (1987) - Paul Verhoeven - Cast and Crew". AllMovie. All Media Guide. Archived March 11, 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
26. ^ "Pumpkin Man Cast". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 30, 2015.

External links

• Bill Farmer at IMDb
• Bill Farmer on Breaking it Down with Frank MacKay