Voiceover actor Russi Taylor passed away on Friday, July 26, 2019, in Glendale, CA, at the age of 75 due to colon cancer. Ms. Taylor was the voice of Minnie Mouse for over 30 years, winning the role in 1986 and often playing the character opposite her husband Wayne Allwine, who played Mickey Mouse until his passing in 2009. She was the voice of Minnie in hundreds of projects including movies, shorts, television shows, theme park experiences, and video games. In addition to Minnie Mouse, she also provided the voices of Huey, Dewey, and Louie (and Webbigail Vanderquack) in the original DuckTales TV series (reprising the roles for other projects as well), Nurse Mouse in The Rescuers Down Under, Baby Gonzo in the original Muppet Babies, and Martin Prince and the twins Sherri and Terri in The Simpsons. She earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for outstanding voiceover performance in 2018 for her work as Minnie in the new “Mickey Mouse” shorts, with 2 Daytime Emmy Award nominations in 2006 and 2007 for her work in Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks.
Russi Taylor was born on May 4, 1944, in Cambridge, MA, and wanted to work for the Walt Disney Company since being a little girl. The news announcement from Disney relays a story that she met Walt Disney himself at Disneyland and answered “I want to work for you!” when he asked what she wanted to do when she grew up. She met Wayne Allwine in 1988 while recording Totally Minnie, when both were married to other people. The two reconnected after splitting from their respective spouses, eventually getting married in 1991.
(Additional material: The New York Times, Wikipedia, the Internet Movie Database, and Variety)
