Junius Matthews

Junius Matthews

Born: June 12, 1890
Died: January 18, 1978
in Chicago, Illinois, USA
Junius Conyers Matthews was an American actor. He was the voice of Archimedes the Owl in Disney's The Sword in the Stone in 1963. He was also the original voice of Rabbit in the Winnie the Pooh franchise from 1966 to 1977. He was a private in World War I before becoming an actor, and determined to become a popular radio and television actor, his career began on stage where he got his first role in a silent film called The Silent Witness (1917). He later played the role of the Tin Woodsman on a radio version of The Wizard of Oz. His distinctive voice can be frequently heard in supporting roles in radio, particularly westerns where he was often cast as an old codger, miner, or master of the cook wagon. Matthews appeared on the short-lived series Luke Slaughter of Tombstone as Slaughter's sidekick, Wichita, and played Ling Wee, a Chinese waiter, in Gasoline Alley. He also made guest appearances on several television series in the 1950s and '60s.

It was not until the last ten years of his life that Matthews became widely known for his role as Rabbit in the Winnie the Pooh movies produced by the Disney studio from 1966 to 1977, including the featurettes Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966), Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968), and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! (1974) as well as the feature-length compilation film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977). He played other roles for Disney, most notably the owl, Archimedes, in Disney's The Sword in the Stone (1963).

Matthews died on January 18, 1978 at age 87 and was buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery

Movies for Junius Matthews...

Disney's Halloween Treat
Title: Disney's Halloween Treat
Character: Archimedes (voice) (archive footage)
Released: October 30, 1982
Type: Movie
Contains memorable scenes from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Fantasia," "Lady and the Tramp," "Peter Pan," "One Hundred and One Dalmatians," and "The Sword in the Stone."
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The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Title: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Character: Rabbit (voice)
Released: March 11, 1977
Type: Movie
Whether we’re young or forever young at heart, the Hundred Acre Wood calls to that place in each of us that still believes in magic. Join pals Pooh, Piglet, Kanga, Roo, Owl, Rabbit, Tigger and Christopher Robin as they enjoy their days together and sing their way through adventures.
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Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too
Title: Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too
Character: Rabbit (voice)
Released: September 20, 1974
Type: Movie
Rabbit is tired of Tigger always bouncing him, so he gets Pooh and Piglet together to come up with an idea to get the bounce out of Tigger. Then, Tigger and little Roo go out for a bounce and get caught in a tree.
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Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree
Title: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree
Character: Rabbit (voice)
Released: February 4, 1966
Type: Movie
Christopher Robin's bear attempts to raid a beehive in a tall tree.
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The Sword in the Stone
Title: The Sword in the Stone
Character: Archimedes the Owl (voice)
Released: December 25, 1963
Type: Movie
Wart is a young boy who aspires to be a knight's squire. On a hunting trip he falls in on Merlin, a powerful but amnesiac wizard who has plans for him beyond mere squiredom. He starts by trying to give him an education, believing that once one has an education, one can go anywhere. Needless to say, it doesn't quite work out that way.
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The Lineup
Title: The Lineup
Character: Jeffers
Released: June 11, 1958
Type: Movie
In San Francisco, a psychopathic gangster and his mentor retrieve heroin packages carried by unsuspecting travelers.
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Title: The Real McCoys
Released: October 3, 1957
Type: TV
The Real McCoys is an American situation comedy co-produced by Danny Thomas' "Marterto Productions", in association with Walter Brennan and Irving Pincus' "Westgate" company. The series aired for five seasons on the ABC-TV network from 1957 through 1962 and then for its final year on CBS from 1962 to 1963. The series, set in the San Fernando Valley of California, was filmed in Hollywood at Desilu studios.
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Title: Have Gun, Will Travel
Released: September 14, 1957
Type: TV
Have Gun – Will Travel is an American Western television series that aired on CBS from 1957 through 1963. It was rated number three or number four in the Nielsen ratings every year of its first four seasons. It was one of the few television shows to spawn a successful radio version. The radio series debuted November 23, 1958. The television show is presently shown on the Encore-Western channel. Have Gun – Will Travel was created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and produced by Frank Pierson, Don Ingalls, Robert Sparks, and Julian Claman. There were 225 episodes of the TV series, 24 written by Gene Roddenberry. Other contributors included Bruce Geller, Harry Julian Fink, Don Brinkley and Irving Wallace. Andrew McLaglen directed 101 episodes and 19 were directed by series star Richard Boone.
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Title: Dragnet
Released: December 16, 1951
Type: TV
Follows the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners. The show takes its name from the police term "dragnet", meaning a system of coordinated measures for apprehending criminals or suspects.
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Title: The Gene Autry Show
Released: July 23, 1950
Type: TV
The Gene Autry Show is an American western/cowboy television series which aired for 91 episodes on CBS from July 23, 1950 until August 7, 1956, originally sponsored by Wrigley's Doublemint chewing gum.
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I've Always Loved You
Title: I've Always Loved You
Character: Little Man
Released: December 2, 1946
Type: Movie
A beautiful young concert pianist is torn between her attraction to her arrogant but brilliant maestro and her love for a farm boy she left back home.
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Black Angel
Title: Black Angel
Character: Dr. Courtney
Released: August 2, 1946
Type: Movie
A falsely convicted man's wife, Catherine, and an alcoholic composer and pianist, Martin team up in an attempt to clear her husband of the murder of a blonde singer, who is Martin's wife.
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Without Reservations
Title: Without Reservations
Character: Charlie Potter (uncredited)
Released: May 13, 1946
Type: Movie
Kit Madden is traveling to Hollywood, where her best-selling novel is to be filmed. Aboard the train, she encounters Marines Rusty and Dink, who don't know she is the author of the famous book, and who don't think much of the ideas it proposes. She and Rusty are greatly attracted, but she doesn't know how to deal with his disdain for the book's author.
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The Silent Witness
Title: The Silent Witness
Character: Bud Morgan
Released: September 1, 1917
Type: Movie
Janet Rigsby loves Richard Morgan, a Denver college student, but loses him when he is caught in a fire. Shortly after Richard's presumed demise, Janet leaves her home and bears a son out of wedlock. Over the years, she struggles to make ends meet while raising Bud, her son, on her own. Although her savings are small, Janet manages to send Bud to college. Chastised for his poverty and illegitimate birth, Bud, who is in love with the college gardener's daughter, suffers the ridicule of his peers and eventually comes to blows with and threatens one particular boy for insulting his mother. In the ensuing confrontation, the boy is killed and Bud is arrested for the crime. During the course of the trial, Bud discovers that the district attorney is Richard Morgan, his father. The testimony of one expert witness reveals how the murder in truth was committed, and a liberated Bud happily reunites with his mother and new-found father.