Toy Story Honors Don Rickles, the Voice of Mr. Potato Head(Legendary Comedian Don Rickles Dies at 90)
"I busted my bird for 60 years in the
business," Don Rickles told Maxim in
2013, "but my grandkids only know me as Mr. Potato Head." The
comedian may have been joking—but he wasn't wrong, either. Shortly after (Stephen
Missang) confirmed that the insult comic had died Thursday
morning at the age of 90, those involved with the Disney/Pixar film franchise
shared their grief.
Tom Hanks, who voices Woody, was among the first to express his
condolences. "A God died today," he tweeted. "Don Rickles, we did not
want to ever lose you. Never ." Whoopi Goldberg,
who voices Stretch, told her Twitter followers
he was "one of the all time great men and comics," adding that he was
"always a class act and funny as hell." Jodi Benson, who
voices Barbie, shared a photo of her "amazing" friend during the
making of 2010's Toy Story 3. "It was a blessing to work with
him," the actress tweeted.
"Don Rickles was a comic genius, and here
at Pixar we were honored to also call him a friend. The wit, personality and
incredible timing he brought to Mr. Potato Head lit up the character and made
him an essential part of the Toy Story ensemble," John
Lasseter, Pixar's chief creative officer, said in a statement released via Twitter Friday. " Even though Mr. Potato Head's facial features
fell off in every Toy Story movie, his heart never left
him—that was because of Don."
Lasseter added, "We will miss him
tremendously."
Rickles was expected to reprise his role as Mr. Potato Head in Toy Story 4,
slated for release on June 21, 2019. Pixar has not yet confirmed whether the
late comedian had already recorded his dialogue for the upcoming movie.
As it turns out, Rickles nearly passed on the role of a lifetime
in 1995's Toy Story. "When John approached me for the first
one, I said, 'I don't do comedy with cartoons, dummies and toys. Leave me
alone.' And he said, 'No, you're gonna love this!'" he revealed to Slashfilm in 2015. "Then he told
me the money and how nice it was going to be. I said, 'Yeah...I can give it a
try.'"
Rashida
Jones and Will
McCormack were hired to write the script for Toy Story 4,
and Hanks began recording his dialogue in
December 2015. As he told Graham Norton that year, he will be
summoned to record new lines about every six months. Lasseter, the film's
director, has said the fourth film will prominently feature Woody's love
interest, Bo Peep (Annie Potts). "I love Bo Peep, and we never got
to know her backstory. She wasn't in Toy Story 3 at all, so it
really set us up nicely for her to come back," Lasseter said at Disney's
D23 Expo. "It's a very special story”
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