{"id":25320,"date":"2014-06-13T00:10:34","date_gmt":"2014-06-13T07:10:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=25320"},"modified":"2014-06-13T05:16:50","modified_gmt":"2014-06-13T12:16:50","slug":"voice-mickey-mouse-married-voice-minnie-mouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2014\/06\/voice-mickey-mouse-married-voice-minnie-mouse\/","title":{"rendered":"The Voice of Mickey Mouse Married the Voice of Minnie Mouse"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"mickie-and-minnie-mouse\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The man who served as the voice of Walt Disney\u2019s iconic Mickey mouse for over 30 years, Wayne Allwine, was married to the woman who voices Minnie Mouse, Russi Taylor.\u00a0 Who knew, right?\u00a0 The two were married for nearly two decades until Wayne Allwine passed away in 2009 due to complications from diabetes. He was only 62.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t until the announcement of his passing that many in the public began to realize he was married to the woman who voiced his love interest on the big screen.<\/p>\n

That said, the husband and wife behind arguably the most-famous cartoon couple in history have appeared on many radio broadcasts together, including the show I host each morning<\/a> (with that interview during our live broadcast at Walt Disney World, in Orlando).\u00a0 We were told prior to their arrival that the two would be speaking in character.\u00a0 (Not exactly easy trying to prep for an interview with mice.)\u00a0 Yet, the magic of their voices carried the segment, with both sounding as one would expect.\u00a0 It was fascinating and a little surreal.\u00a0 Off the air, the Allwines were very pleasant and mostly talked about the production company they owned, Taylor-Allwine Associates.<\/p>\n

So how did the two get their jobs and meet? A Southern California native, Allwine first joined Disney in 1966 as a clerk in the mail room.\u00a0 He later moved to work in the sound production department before landing the gig of\u00a0Mickey Mouse’s voice, the third person to do so.\u00a0(Walt Disney was the first voice, but his smoking habit damaged his vocal chords and he eventually stepped away from voice acting.\u00a0 Sound effects guru, and Allwine\u2019s mentor, British voice actor Jimmy MacDonald was the second person to voice Mickey.) Allwine got the job thanks to an open voice audition after another actor failed to show up. He claimed he simply did his best to conjure up Mickey\u2019s voice from memory. Seems to have worked.<\/p>\n

Allwine\u2019s wife, Russi, also known as Rosslyn, has served as the voice of Mickey\u2019s girlfriend, Minnie, since 1986 after she auditioned for the role and got it. She is the longest-running performer for that character today.\u00a0 Russi has made a living as a voice actress since 1977. Although she is best known for her bashful giggles and bringing Minnie to life, among other roles she also famously voiced Scrooge\u2019s grand-nephews, Huey, Duey & Louie, the identical triplets on the classic animated show Ducktales<\/em>, as well as Martin Prince, Sherri and Terri (the purple haired twins), and the German exchange student \u00dcter\u00a0 on The Simpsons<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Details of exactly how the Allwine\u2019s met are unknown, though one can assume they met on the job. Five years after Russi started work as Minnie, the two wed. Russi stated of this,\u00a0 “Everyone thought it was sweet that we were together, though we kept it quiet for a while.\u00a0 We kept hearing how cute it was that Mickey and Minnie married.\u00a0 Yet, we didn\u2019t want it to be about the characters.\u00a0 It was about Wayne and Russi.”<\/i><\/p>\n

If you liked this article, you might also enjoy our new popular podcast, The BrainFood Show (iTunes<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, Google Play Music<\/a>, Feed<\/a>), as well as:<\/p>\n