Iconic Voice of Lucky Charms Leprechaun Has Died

"Frosted Lucky Charms, they're magically delicious"
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 13, 2016 10:28 AM CDT

The longtime voice of the Lucky Charms mascot has died. Arthur Anderson, who voiced the cereal's animated leprechaun for almost 30 years, died Saturday at the age of 93, Time reports. Anderson, who got his start with Orson Welles' radio company, also performed alongside Welles in a Broadway production of Julius Caesar in 1937—the experience was the basis for 2009's Me and Orson Welles starring Zac Efron as a composite character partially based on Anderson. He started voicing Lucky the Leprechaun (with a fake Irish brogue; he was actually born in New York) in 1963, the New York Times reports, and continued doing so until 1992.

"I never got free cereal, but they gave me lots of green money," he told ABC News in 2005. "And it was a fun character to play. Hardly a day goes by when somebody doesn’t ask me to sing the Lucky Charms jingle, and I’m proud of that." His varied career also included roles in Woody Allen's Zelig, John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy, and in TV shows including Car 54, Where Are You? and Law & Order; he also worked as a puppeteer, published two memoirs, and even performed at the Metropolitan Opera. Lucky wasn't the only voice work he did: He also voiced Ducky Drake, the Drake's Cakes mascot. (More obituary stories.)

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