Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Actor Alan Young of ‘Mr. Ed’ dies at age 96
Show about talking horse popular in ’60s
LOS ANGELES — Actor-comedian Alan Young, who played the amiable straight man to a talking horse in the 1960s sitcom “Mister Ed,” has died, a spokeswoman for the Motion Picture and Television Home said Friday. He was 96.
The English-born, Canadian-educated Young died Thursday, according to Jaime Larkin, spokeswoman for the retirement community where Young had lived for four years. His children were with him when he died peacefully of natural causes, she said.
Young was already a well-known radio and TV comedian, having starred in his own Emmy-winning variety show, when “Mister Ed” was being readied at comedian George Burns’ production company. Burns is said to have told his staff: “Get Alan Young. He looks like the kind of guy a horse would talk to.”
Mr. Ed was a golden Palomino who spoke only to his owner, Wilbur Post, played by Young. Fans enjoyed the horse’s deep, droll voice (“WILbur-r-r-r-r”) and the goofy theme song lyrics (“A horse is a horse, of course, of course … “). Cowboy star Allan “Rocky” Lane supplied Mr. Ed’s voice.
An eclectic group of celebrities including Clint Eastwood, Mae West and baseball great Sandy Koufax made guest appearances on the show.
A loose variation on the “Francis the Talking Mule” movies of the 1950s, “Mister Ed” was one of the few network series to begin in syndication. After six months, it moved to ABC in October 1961 and lasted four seasons.
When the cameras weren’t rolling, the human and four-legged co-stars were friends, according to Young. If Ed was reprimanded by his trainer, Young said, “He would come over to me, like, ‘Look what he said to me.’”
Like many series of its vintage, “Mister Ed” won new fans in later decades through near-constant cable TV syndication and video releases.
Young also appeared in a number of films, including “Gentlemen Marry Brunettes,” ”Tom Thumb,” ”The Cat from Outer Space” and “The Time Machine,” the latter the 1960 classic in which, speaking in a Scottish brogue, he played time traveler Rod Taylor’s friend.
In later years, Young found a new career writing for and voicing cartoons. He portrayed Scrooge McDuck in 65 episodes for Disney’s TV series “Duck Tales” and did voiceovers for “The Great Mouse Detective.”