Donnie Dunagan, 1934 – 2026

Child actor Donald “Donnie” Dunagan, who voiced Walt Disney’s Bambi, died on Nov. 4. He Was 92. Although voicing Bambi in 1942 was his most famous role, Dunagan also appeared alongside Carole Lombard (Vigil in the Night), Ruby Keeler (Mother Carey’s Chickens), Karloff and Lugosi (Son of Frankenstein, Tower of London), among others. After leaving films, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in Vietnam, earning a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts, retiring as a major in 1977.  Dunagan told writer Leslie Combemale, “I cannot tell you what joy Bambi has been in my life. I had a lot of years living in a violent mode, in a military mode, all over the world, and I’ve seen some tough things, but since the folks at Disney found out this old boy was still alive, talking about it has been the joy of my life, times ten! That was my seventh or eighth film and my first animated. That made it an extra adventure. I didn’t have to go on camera and prance around like I did with the other films. I’m in a sound booth and when I was not in a sound booth at Disney Studios, they were treating me very nicely, me and my mother, every day, all the time. So that was a very fresh, new adventure.”