Frank Welker In New Live-Action Role

Frank Welker, the voice of Ray and Slimer in The Real Ghostbusters, is a god among voice artists. Although his filmography is filled with literally hundreds of vocal performances, he has done a few live-action roles. How few? Well if the filmography at IMDB is accurate, he's had live-action roles in six movies and on twelve television shows. That list includes a new role - his first live-action movie role in 37 YEARS! As reported by Doreen Mulman on The Frank Welker Homepage, Frank has a supporting role as Mr. Whitacre in the Steven Soderbergh comedy/thriller The Informant! with Matt Damon and Scott Bakula, in theatres September 18, 2009: "I am sneaky and I do love a good surprise. Yes, I am playing Matt's father in The Informant! It's not that I won't do an on camera part now and then, it's just that I'm not too keen on auditioning. This was offered to me and how could I pass it up. It is a very small part, so don't blink..." -Frank Welker (4/8/2009)

[UPDATE - Doreen has uploaded a gallery of screen shots of Mr. Welker's appearance in The Informant!. The film is available on DVD and Blu-Ray.]

Doreen also posted Frank's awesome interview from a recent issue of Toyfare Magazine. So go check that out.

For the record, I carefully went through Frank's IMDB filmography and weeded out all of his vocal roles. What appears below are all of his on-screen appearances. This isn't a complete list as I know he appeared as himself in a few featurettes on some of those Scooby-Doo animated movie DVDs that have come out nearly yearly over the past 10 year. I could swear he appeared as himself in some local New York/New Jersey talk show in the early 1990s that I think aired on WWOR. He also appears in an unlockable video in the Curious George video game, and I think the Transformers movies video games, too (I know him and Peter Cullen did interviews [1, 2, 3, 4], but I don't know if any of those are in the game itself). He was also on an episode of Dinah! in the 1970s as himself.

MOVIES

1. The Trouble with Girls (1969) .... Rutgers (video clip) (Buy DVD/Buy DVD)
2. The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969) .... Henry (video clip [Frank from 2:34-3:10]) (Buy DVD/Buy DVD Double Feature)
3. How To Frame A Figg (1971) .... Prentiss Gates (Buy DVD)
4. Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972) .... Myles (Buy DVD)
5. Dirty Little Billy (1972) .... Young punk (Buy DVD)
6. The Informant! (2009) .... Mr. Whitacre (Buy DVD/Buy Blu-Ray)

TELEVISION

1. The Kowboys (1970) (TV) .... Clem
2. The Don Knotts Show (1970) TV series .... Regular
3. The Partridge Family: "My Heart Belongs to a Two Car Garage" (1972) TV episode .... Sioux (images and audio) (Buy DVD 2nd Season)
4. The Paul Lynde Show: "Springtime for Paul" (1973) TV episode .... Freddy
5. Catch-22 (1973) (TV Pilot) .... Lt. J.S. McWatt
6. The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour (1973) TV series .... Regular
7. Love, American Style: "Love and the Mind Reader/Love and the Mr. and Mrs./Love and the Soap Opera" (1973) TV episode .... Public Defender (segment "Love and the Mr. and Mrs.")
8. Love, American Style: "Love and the Fortunate Cookie/Love and the Lady Prisoner/Love and the Opera Singer/Love and the Weighty Problem" (1973) TV episode .... Nephew of Enrico Carisima (segment "Love and the Opera Singer") (picture - at bottom of page)
9. Laugh Trax (1982) TV series .... Sketch roles
10. The Duck Factory: "The Duck Stops Here" (1984) TV episode .... Everett
11. Simon & Simon: "Almost Completely Out of Circulation" (1984) TV episode .... Dubbing Actor (Buy DVD 4th Season)
12. Highway to Heaven: "Summit" (1986) TV episode .... President (Buy DVD 2nd Season)
13. Infidelity (1987) (TV) .... Freighter

SELF - TV

1. The Merv Griffin Show: Episode dated 7 March 1977 (1977) TV episode .... Himself
2. Slimer Won't Do That! The Making of 'The Real Ghostbusters' (1990) (TV) .... Himself (video clip, full show)
3. The Making of 'The Lion King' (1994) (TV) .... Himself
4. 10th Annual TV Academy Hall of Fame (1994) (TV) .... Himself
5. Movie Magic: "Sound for Animation: Animated Audio" (1994) TV episode .... Himself
6. Movie Magic: "Computer Animation: Fine-Tooning" (1996) TV episode .... Himself
7. Disney's One Saturday Morning: Episode dated 19 September 1998 (1998) TV episode .... Himself (segment "Manny The Uncanny") (video clip)
8. E! Entertainment Special: Who Let the Dog Out? (2002) (TV) .... Himself

SELF - VIDEO

1. Garfield Gets Real: Bloopers, the Voices in Our Heads (2007) (V) .... Himself (Buy DVD/Buy DVD Double Feature)
2. Garfield Gets Real: Legends Working Together (2007) (V) .... Himself (Buy DVD/Buy DVD Double Feature)
3. Garfield Gets Real: Finding Your Voice (2007) (V) .... Himself (Buy DVD/Buy DVD Double Feature)