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Thomas A. "Thom" Huge (born September 1, 1944) is an American voice actor and producer, who performed the voices of Jon Arbuckle, Binky the Clown, Roy Rooster, and Gort in Garfield and Friends. He also provided the voice of Jon in all of the CBS television specials as of Garfield on the Town. His first performance as Jon was in The Fantastic Funnies.

Early life[]

Thom Huge grew up in Indiana. In high school, he fell in love with acting. According to Huge, he considered Stan Freberg and Howard Morris as heroes during his childhood.[1] He attended Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana and was part of the Theta Xi fraternity.[1] He started out at an entry level job as "floor man" at a local TV station. He soon became a deejay and radio producer after a year and a half at the station, remaining at this job for about four to five years.[1]

Voice acting career[]

Huge later worked at a recording studio where he was assigned for editing and producing local advertisements. When an announcer failed to show up for one ad, Huge was asked to fill in, and accepted the offer.[1] In 1977, Huge, looking for a job in professional voiceover work, moved to Chicago. He got an agent and a spot for McDonald's instantly; Huge would call it "instant validation".[1] Though he wouldn't get another spot for four months, Huge would soon get "steady, union work" in the voice acting profession.

Garfield[]

Huge was a fraternity brother of cartoonist Jim Davis, who had tried for nine years to create a successful comic strip.[2] In 1978, Davis' Garfield made its debut in national syndication. CBS soon approached Davis about making a potential TV special based on the strip. The first animated appearance of the Garfield character was in The Fantastic Funnies, which aired in May 1980 and was hosted by Loni Anderson. As Huge recalls, Davis wanted him to voice Garfield's owner, Jon Arbuckle,[1] and Huge made the first of many appearances as the character until retiring in 2001.

After The Fantastic Funnies, production began on the first Garfield special, Here Comes Garfield. CBS, wanting a Los Angeles-based actor for the Jon role, cast actor Sandy Kenyon to voice the character, the only time Huge did not voice Arbuckle until his 2001 retirement.[1] Huge made a demo tape and CBS agreed to cast Huge for the following specials, though he still lived in Indiana.[1] In 1984, Huge officially joined Davis' company Paws, Inc. as a writer, producer, and creative director.[1] Huge contributed to the creation of the U.S. Acres comic strip, as well as pitching a cartoon to television networks. While the networks rejected a U.S. Acres cartoon, they were eager to air a Garfield series. This series became Garfield and Friends, which contained two Garfield cartoons, with a U.S. Acres cartoon in between. Originally a half-hour show, the series soon expanded to a full hour.[1] As Huge would later recall about his experiences on the series, "As an actor, I have to tell you I loved working on U.S. Acres"[1] and that "other shows were so sterile...we said, 'To heck with that, let's roll the dice and let actors be actors', so it was a wonderful acting experience for everyone involved".

On voicing Arbuckle, Huge stated, "Jon Arbuckle was pretty much me, only a little nerdier...he needed to be sort of pathetic and vulnerable"; he also described another of his characters, Binky the Clown, as "the screaming clown...everything he did was at the top of his voice as loud as he could do it". Binky's voice had to be done at the end of the sessions to avoid straining Huge's voice.[3] Huge also owned a small ad agency in Indianapolis with his first wife.[3]

Retirement[]

After the death of longtime Garfield voice actor Lorenzo Music in 2001, Huge retired from voice acting[1] and moved to Cody, Wyoming, working as communications director at Buffalo Bill's Historical Center, a group of five museums.[3] After five years, Huge left this role and became the news director for Big Horn Radio Network and KODI-AM.[4] Huge volunteered on the committee of the Buffalo Bill Art Show for six years before leaving his news director job to direct the art show in 2006.[4] He stated in an interview that he had no plans to leave Wyoming.[4]

Personal life[]

Huge has been married twice. As of 2006, his wife Karen was a special education teacher at Cody Middle School[4]; Huge and his wife were part of a folk/bluegrass trio, performing in the Cody area for community events and benefits.[4]

Other roles[]

TV specials[]

Garfield on the Town[]

  • Chef

Garfield: His 9 Lives[]

  • Caveman #1
  • Junior
  • Soldier
  • Computer

Garfield's Babes and Bullets[]

  • Landlord

Garfield Gets a Life[]

  • Ranger

Garfield and Friends[]

Garfield[]

U.S. Acres[]

Garfield's Mad About Cats[]

  • Jon Arbuckle
  • Binky the Clown

Commercials[]

  • Announcer (Halloween PSAs)
  • Binky the Clown (Garfield Fruit Snacks)
  • Jon Arbuckle (Garfield Ravioli)

References[]

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