Pinto Colvig.

At age 12, a squeaky clarinet at Portland’s Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition landed him a job as a clown. That was the start for Vance DeBar Colvig, born September 11, 1892 in Jacksonville, Oregon, the youngest of seven children. His freckled face earned him the nickname Pinto after a spotted horse. He learned to make people laugh by making faces and playing pranks and spent hours mimicking sounds like a rusty gate or farm animals. He studied art at Oregon Agricultural College, now Oregon State University, but left in 1913 to perform chalk talks on the Pantages vaudeville circuit.

Pinto Colvig began his career as a newspaper cartoonist for the Nevada Rockroller and the Carson City News. In 1915 he joined the Al G. Barnes Circus as a clown and clarinetist. After moving to San Francisco, he created the syndicated cartoon series Life on the Radio Wave. He founded Pinto Cartoon Comedies Co. and produced one of the first color silent animated films, Pinto’s Prizma Comedy Revue 1919. In 1928 he collaborated with Walter Lantz on an early talking cartoon, Bolivar, the Talking Ostrich. Disney signed him in 1930; there he co-wrote the lyrics to Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? and became the original voice of Goofy, Pluto, Grumpy, Sleepy, and the Practical Pig. After leaving Disney in 1937, he freelanced for Warner Bros., voiced Gabby in Gulliver’s Travels 1939, and sang for Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz 1939. He returned to Disney in 1941. In 1946 he originated the voice of Bozo the Clown for Capitol Records’ record-reader series, a role he played on television’s Bozo’s Circus 1951.

Pinto Colvig married Margaret Bourke Slavin in 1916, putting an end to his vagabond life as a circus performer. They had five sons, including Vance Colvig Jr., who later portrayed Bozo on television. After Margaret’s death in 1950, he married Peggy Bernice Allaire in 1952. His cheerful outlook led him to often visit children’s hospitals as Bozo. He maintained correspondence with clown legends like Emmett Kelly and Lou Jacobs. A heavy smoker, he supported Senator Maurine Neuberger’s bill requiring warning labels on cigarette packages in 1963.

Pinto Colvig’s vocal work created characters that have endured for generations. He originated the voices of Goofy, Pluto, Sleepy, and Grumpy, and his portrayal of Bozo the Clown became a global phenomenon. In 1993 the Walt Disney Company honored him as a Disney Legend. He was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in Milwaukee in 2004. Six of his films, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937 and The Wizard of Oz 1939, have been selected for the National Film Registry. Audiences remember him as the warmhearted voice behind some of the most beloved characters in animation.