Corey Gregg Weinberg (born August 3, 1955), better known as Corey Burton, is an American voice actor. He currently voices Captain Hook, Ludwig Von Drake, Dale, and others for The Walt Disney Company; Shockwave on The Transformers; Brainiac in the DC animated universe; Zeus in the God of War series; Count Dooku and Cad Bane on Star Wars: The Clone Wars; and Hugo Strange in Batman: Arkham City.
Early life[]
Burton was born Corey Gregg Weinberg in the Granada Hills, Los Angeles neighborhood of Los Angeles on August 3, 1955.[1]
Career[]
Early career[]
Burton began his career at age 17 under the stage name Corey Weinman, with an imitation performance of voice actor Hans Conried for Disney. He studied radio acting with Daws Butler for four years and went on to work with nearly all of the original Hollywood radio actors in classic-style radio dramas. He was unsure at first about pursuing voice-work, due to his shy demeanor and Asperger syndrome, but credits the diverse world and character design of Disney's The Haunted Mansion attraction as his inspiration to move forward.[2] He voiced 169 different characters across 124 episodes of Adventures in Odyssey, a series by the fundamentalist Christian organization Focus on the Family.
Disney[]
Burton has done extensive voice-work for Disney, including animated features and theme park attractions at the Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disney Resort. He provides the "Feature Presentation" voice on direct-to-video video releases and can be heard as the narration voice at Disneyland. He provided the voice of Captain Hook in Disney's Return to Never Land and dubbed the voice of Deems Taylor in Fantasia for the film's 2000 and 2010 re-releases.
Burton has voiced sound-alikes and original characters for over 50 Disney Storyteller records. His roles include:
- Ludwig Von Drake in DuckTales and its 2017 reboot.
- Dale and Zipper in Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers.
- The White Rabbit and Mad Hatter in Disney's House of Mouse.
- Gruffi Gummi and Toadwart in Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears (Following the death of Bill Scott).
- Zeus in Disney's Hercules: The Animated Series (replacing Rip Torn).
- Quint and Speedy the Snail in Timon & Pumbaa.
- Gaëtan "Mole" Molière in Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Atlantis: Milo's Return.
- Ansem the Wise in the Kingdom Hearts series.
- Professor Owl in the Disney Sing-Along Songs series.
- King Stefan in Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams.
- Buzz Lightyear in the Disney on Ice adaptation of Toy Story 3.
- Yen Sid and Captain Hook in Epic Mickey.
- Doc Hudson in various Cars media and Radiator Springs Racers (replacing Paul Newman).
- General Knowledge from the former Cranium Command attraction at Epcot.[3]
- Dale, Bruno Biggs and Moe Whiplash from Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour.
Paul Frees[]
Burton is perhaps best known to Disney fans for his imitation of the late voice actor Paul Frees as the Ghost Host in Disneyland's Haunted Mansion Holiday attraction. He also recited the classic line "Welcome, foolish mortals" in the opening of the film version of The Haunted Mansion.
Burton was approached to record a new safety spiel for the intro to the original Haunted Mansion ride. He declined and the spiel was instead recorded by voice actor Joe Leahy.
Burton provides many others Paul Frees-like voices for Disneyland Park, including several newer pirates in the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction (like the "Pooped Pirate" and the pirate voice that guides you on and off the boat), Grumpy on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train attraction and several voices in Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.
Burton performed another Frees imitation for comedian Stan Freberg's album Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America, Volume Two.[4]
Burton performed a Frees imitation as the voice of the announcer in the 1999 film Dudley Do-Right, and did likewise as the voices of the alien foreheads in Larry Blamire's 2008 satire Trail of the Screaming Forehead.
Fantasia[]
In the 60th Anniversary Edition and the 2010 special edition of Disney's Fantasia, Burton re-recorded all of Deems Taylor's commentaries.
Transformers[]
Burton appeared as Shockwave, Sunstreaker, Brawn, and Spike Witwicky in the original Transformers animated series by Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions. He would later voice Megatron, Ratchet, Ironhide, Brawn, Cyrus "The Colossus" Rhodes, Spike Witwicky and Longarm Prime / Shockwave in Transformers: Animated by Cartoon Network.
Burton stated in an interview that Shockwave was by far his favorite character to perform in the original series. Despite this, he turned down the offer to reprise the role in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, as he felt he had voiced the character enough times.[5] Consequently, the part was given to Frank Welker, the voice of Megatron / Galvatron.
Star Wars[]
For Star Wars, Burton voiced Count Dooku and Cad Bane in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and has continued to voice Cad Bane in Star Wars: The Bad Batch. He has also voice several characters in video games.[6]
Kingdom Hearts[]
For the Kingdom Hearts series, Burton voiced Ansem the Wise in Chain of Memories, Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance due to Christopher Lee's health problems. For the cinematic version of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, he re-dubbed Lee's lines for the Nintendo DS version. He reprised his role as Ansem the Wise for Kingdom Hearts III.
Brainiac[]
Burton has portrayed the supervillain Brainiac in the DC animated universe. He appeared as the character in Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League, Static Shock and Justice League Unlimited. Although not set within the DCAU, he also reprised his role in Legion of Super Heroes, DC Universe Online and Lego DC Super-Villains.
Film and television highlights[]
- Narrated the 1992 Discovery Channel documentary Great White!.
- Scarecrow, Ronald Marshall and Yuri Dimitrov in Batman: Gotham Knight.
- V.V. Argost and Leonidas Van Rook in The Secret Saturdays.
- The titular character in James Bond Jr..
- The Pupununu in Tak and the Power of Juju.
- Invisibo in Freakazoid!.
- Old Queeks in Mike, Lu & Og.
- Captain Marvel in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.
- Red Tornado, Silver Cyclone, Doctor Mid-Nite, Will Magnus, Joker (Scooby-Doo version), Mercury and Thomas Wayne in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
- Count Dooku, Cad Bane and Ziro the Hutt in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
- Tomax in G.I. Joe.
- Goon, Kanawk and Tauron in Robotix.
- Law in G.I. Joe: Renegades.
- Brain, Dudley H. Dudley, Hamilton Hill, James Gordon and Wizard in Young Justice.
- Dash Whippet for Pound Puppies.
- Brainstorm, Malware and Mr. Baumann in Ben 10: Omniverse.
- Dracula in Avengers Assemble and Ultimate Spider-Man.
- Ranger Smith in Boo Boo Runs Wild and A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith.
Other work[]
- Played Jerry Lyden in the radio series Alien Worlds.
- Has done work for the Universal Studios theme parks.
- Does voice-overs for Old Navy commercials and a promo for Final Fantasy XII.
- Provided voice-overs for WWE's WrestleMania XXV recap segments.
- Various characters in the 1980 cult classic Closet Cases of the Nerd Kind.
- The titular creatures in the Critters film series.
- Narrator for the video game Brütal Legend.
- Tromell Guado and Maester Kelk Ronso in the video game Final Fantasy X.
- Volteer the Electric Guardian Dragon, Exhumor and Mason in The Legend of Spyro trilogy.
- Zeus in the God of War series.
- Numerous supporting roles on Focus on the Family's radio drama Adventures in Odyssey.
- In the Crash Bandicoot series, he currently provides the voices of Doctor N. Gin and Nitros Oxide, he formerly voiced Doctor Nefarious Tropy - (JP Karliak replaced Burton as N. Tropy as of 2020).
- Jack in the theme park attraction The House at Haunted Hill.
- Narrator of the film The A-Team.
- Hugo Strange in Batman: Arkham City and Lego DC Super-Villains.
- John Grey (Jean Grey's father) for Wolverine and the X-Men.
- Provided voice samples for the song "Machete" by DJ Hazard and the album Universus by ShockOne.
- Game Narrator for Disney Coaster.
- Announcer for the Bounty Law promo in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
- Announcer for the El Rey Network.
- Played the Narrator and the Guest in Flying Logos.
- Still heard on the safety info for the parking lot trams for Disneyland and Magic Kingdom (as of 2011).
Filmography[]
Film[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Wolfen | ESS Voice | |
| 1986 | Critters | Critters (voices) | |
| 2005 | Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars | Additional Voices | |
| 2008 | Justice League: The New Frontier | Abin Sur, Ray Palmer (voices) | Direct-to-video |
| Batman: Gotham Knight | The Scarecrow, Ronald Marshall, Yuri Dimitrov (voices) | ||
| Star Wars: The Clone Wars | Whorm Loathsom, Ziro the Hutt, Kronos-327 (voices) | ||
| 2009 | Superman/Batman: Public Enemies | Captain Marvel, Solomon Grundy (voices) | Direct-to-video |
| 2014 | JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time | Captain Cold, Time Trapper (voices) | Direct-to-video |
| Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery | Bayard, Announcer (voices) | ||
| Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy | Baron Basil, Ghost of the Baron (voices) |
Animation[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Dexter's Laboratory | The Narrator | Ep. "The Lab of Tomorrow" |
| 1996–98 | Superman: The Animated Series | Brainiac, Binko, Additional Voices | |
| 1997 | Freakazoid! | Invisibo | Ep. "Normadeus" |
| 1999–2001 | Batman Beyond | Istivan Hegedesh, Vilmos Egans, Barge Captain, Captain, Kobra Op #1 | |
| 1999 | Boo Boo Runs Wild | Ranger Smith, Moose | |
| A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith | Ranger Smith | ||
| 2001–03 | Justice League | Brainiac, Forager, Metallo, Toyman, Weather Wizard, Dr. Blizzard | |
| 2002, 2017 | Samurai Jack | Monk #1, Goatman, The Murder of Crows | |
| 2003 | Static Shock | Brainiac | |
| 2003 | The Powerpuff Girls | Mr. Burglar Man | Ep. "Burglar Alarmed" |
| 2005 | Duck Dodgers | Martian Commander Z-9 | |
| 2005–06 | Justice League Unlimited | Brainiac, Key, Sonar, Toyman, Weather Wizard | |
| 2007–09 | Transformers: Animated | Ratchet, Megatron, Shockwave, Ironhide, Spike Witwicky, Additional Voices | |
| 2007–08 | Legion of Super Heroes | Brainiac | |
| 2008–10 | The Secret Saturdays | V.V. Argost, Leonidas Van Rook | |
| 2008–11 | Batman: The Brave and the Bold | Red Tornado, Silver Cyclone, Thomas Wayne, False Face, Doctor Mid-Nite, Dr. William Milton Magnus, Mercury, Chancellor Gor-Zonn, General Zahl, Batman (Bat-Manga), Joker (Scooby-Doo), Killer Moth, Alan Scott | |
| 2010–11 | Sym-Bionic Titan | Galalunian Commander, Combat Instructor, Academy Administrator | |
| 2011–12 | ThunderCats | Jaga, Tygus, Jorma | |
| 2011–14 | Black Dynamite | Dennis Flynn, Mr. Rogers, Phil Drummond | |
| 2011–12 | Young Justice | Brain, Dudley H. Dudley, Hamilton Hill, Wizard, James Gordon | |
| 2012 | Green Lantern: The Animated Series | Cleric Loran, Leph | |
| 2012–14 | Ben 10: Omniverse | Malware, Mr. Baumann, Brainstorm, Seebik, Fiskerton, V.V. Argost, Albedo Brainstorm, Kane North / Kangaroo Kommando, Starbeard | |
| 2015–17 | Clarence | Hank | |
| 2016 | Uncle Grandpa | Additional Voices | Ep. "Chill Out" |
| 2020 | Looney Tunes Cartoons | Norm Macabre | Ep. "Postalgeist" |
Video games[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Superman: The New Adventures | ||
| 2010 | Batman: The Brave and the Bold — The Videogame | Red Tornado, Museum Guide, Weather Wizard | |
| 2011 | DC Universe Online | Brainiac | |
| Batman: Arkham City | Hugo Strange | ||
| Batman: Arkham City Lockdown | Hugo Strange | ||
| 2012 | Ben 10: Omniverse | Malware | |
| 2018 | Lego DC Super-Villains | Hugo Strange, Virman Vundabar, Brainiac, The Spectre, Kanto, Toyman |
Awards and nominations[]
| Year | Award | Category | Title | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Annie Award | Outstanding Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production | Return to Neverland | Nominated |
| 2003 | Outstanding Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production | Disney's House of Mouse | Won | |
| 2011 | Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production | Star Wars: The Clone Wars | Nominated |
References[]
- ↑ "Corey Burton".
- ↑ Corey Burton - Voices of the Disney Parks #D23Expo 2017, mouseinfo/YouTube, 2017-07-18, retrieved 2019-01-27Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedwdw-explorer-cc - ↑ "Freberg Stories #2". News from Me (2015-04-10).
- ↑ "Corey Burton Uninterested In Reprising Shockwave For Transformers 3, David Warner Is Rumored - Transformers News - TFW2005" (19 December 2010).
- ↑ Template:Cite video game
External links[]
- Official website
Corey Burton at the Internet Movie Database
Corey Burton at Wikipedia
