Paul Winchell (December 21st, 1922 – June 24th, 2005) was an American actor, comedian, humanitarian, inventor, and ventriloquist whose career flourished in the 1950's and 1960's with beloved TV programs including The Paul Winchell Show with his dummy star Jerry Mahoney, The Speidel Show, What's My Name?, and Winchell-Mahoney Time. Winchell made guest appearances on Emmy Award-winning television series from the late 1950's to the mid 1970's, such as Perry Mason, The Dick Van Dyke Show, McMillan & Wife, The Brady Bunch, The Donna Reed Show, and appearances as Homer Winch on The Beverly Hillbillies. In animation, he was most famously known for originating the voice of Tigger for the Walt Disney Company's "Winnie The Pooh" motion-picture series which was based on the famous books by A.A. Milne. He played the role behind the scenes until 1999, when he was replaced by Jim Cummings, who also voiced Pooh from the time that Sterling Holloway died. He was also the voice of many other world-famous cartoon characters like Dick Dastardly form Wacky Races, Gargamel from The Smurfs, The mascot of Scrubbing Bubbles, and other characters.
History with the Macy's Parade[]
Winchell first appeared in the 1949 Parade with his buddy in show-business, Jerry Mahoney on the self-titled Nursery-rhyme float "The Cow Jumps Over the Moon". They would appear one last time on the Amazon Queen float during 1956 Parade.