Hal Smith

Otis Campbell lets himself into the Mayberry jail, which saves everyone a certain amount of trouble. On The Andy Griffith Show (1960), Hal Smith made this town drunk an affable recurring presence, with the timing to keep a familiar joke useful. That familiarity could be limiting: the part brought further drunk roles. His voice work, under way since the late 1950s, gave him more characters to play, without requiring an audience to forget the face it already knew.

Owl's slightly pompous, rambling delivery in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) gives a better indication of his comic abilities than an incidental voice credit. On DuckTales (1987), he supplies both the excitable Gyro Gearloose and the menacing Flintheart Glomgold. We rate that ability to make a character clear to the ear without making every character sound alike. Across his work for Disney and Hanna-Barbera, there was room for substantial characters alongside announcers, animals and passing voices.

In Don Bluth's An American Tail (1986), Smith voices Moe, a supporting assignment in a film whose strongest appeal lies with Fievel. We were moved by the separation, because the expressive animation makes the hurt easy to read and the music earns its sentiment. The wandering story still tests our patience; there are stretches when the film needs to get on with it. It is a worthwhile family adventure, but a curious first choice for someone wanting to know what Smith could do with a character.

Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale's Beauty and the Beast (1991), with Smith as Philippe, is a much stronger film and another limited introduction to the actor. Its songs and voice performances make the tenderness feel earned, though the comic bustle sometimes crowds the romance. We would not turn a small credit into a claim that Smith carries the film, but neither should those small credits obscure the fuller character work elsewhere. Choose this for the film; choose The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh for a better listen to Smith.