Jackson Beck (Actor)

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(07-23-1912 - 07-28-2004) Age 92

Jackson Beck was an American actor and voice-over artist, best known for his work in radio, television, and animation. He was born on July 23, 1912, in New York City and passed away on July 28, 2004, in Pompano Beach, Florida.

Beck began his career in the 1930s, working as a radio announcer and newsreader. He then transitioned into acting and voice-over work, lending his voice to numerous radio programs, including "The Adventures of Superman," in which he provided the voice of the narrator and the villainous character, "Luthor." Jackson Beck also played announces on the Adventures of Superman, Bluto on Popeye cartoons, He also worked on other radio programs like "The Lone Ranger," and "Tales of the Texas Rangers."

In the 1950s, Beck moved to television and appeared in numerous shows, including "The Honeymooners," "The Phil Silvers Show," and "The Twilight Zone." He continued to work as a voice-over artist, providing the voice for the cartoon character "Bluto" in the "Popeye" series, as well as "King Leonardo" in "King Leonardo and His Short Subjects."

Beck's other voice-over credits include work on commercials, such as the "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs" ads for General Mills and the animated "Jolly Green Giant" ads for Green Giant vegetables. He also lent his voice to video games, including "Spider-Man: The Animated Series" and "X-Men: Children of the Atom."

and, for over 20 years, the voice of Little Caesar Pizza.  Throughout his career, Beck was recognized for his contributions to the entertainment industry, receiving numerous awards and honors, including induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1999. He was also recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984.  

Jackson Beck was a prolific actor and voice-over artist who worked across multiple mediums throughout his career, leaving a lasting impact on the entertainment industry.

He appeared in the following 52 episodes of Radio Mystery Theater
Date Episode Title Plot
01/10/1974 0005 No Hiding Place The would-be CEO of his father-in-law's corporation is threatened with the revelation of a dark deed in his past.
02/17/1974 0040 The Walking Corpse An unfortunate American couple is caught up in a coup by a Banana Republic despot who intends to take over the little island with a horde of zombies.
03/28/1974 0065 The Unearthly Gift A modest lumberjack camp cook has the gift of clairvoyance, but her visions don't always predict nice things. After a particularly nasty vision involving a newcomer at the camp, she decides to interfere with fate to forestall a death.
04/18/1974 0077 A Portrait of Death A man suddenly achieves the power to become a great painter. But all his subjects seem to meet their ends quite as suddenly. His step brother starts to worry as the man plans to paint his wife in his next session.
05/16/1974 0093 The Trouble with Ruth Despite her best attempts, a kleptomaniac falls back into her old ways and is found out by some thieves. They blackmail her to rob a diamond pin or they will reveal her true nature to her husband.
07/22/1974 0121 The Deadly Process In order to save his job and further his career, an unskilled engineer pilfers the secret to a revolutionary process from an old friend. Now he must lie, cheat and bribe his way through life in a desperate bid to keep his new-found status.
09/12/1974 0147 The Trouble with Murder A wealthy lady hires an artist to paint a nude portrait of her. She becomes disturbed when he starts acting peculiarly. Her worries are well-founded as the painter has a nasty habit of mutilating his subjects once they have outlived their usefulness.
11/07/1974 0171 How Eberhard Won His Wings A virtuous man is blessed with a pair of wings for his spotless conduct and commitment towards good. But both he and his wife think it ridiculous to wear them. They both try to find a sin that he can attempt so they will be taken back.
11/26/1974 0179 Courtyard of Death This is the tale of the lewd monk Rasputin, who was the spiritual consultant of Russian Czar Nicholas II and his family.
12/26/1974 0192 Turn About Is Foul Play A man together with his girlfriend plots to kill his rich and sickly wife. At the last moment he experiences a change of heart but someone carries out the job for him. As all evidence point towards him, he must prove his innocence to the police without even a shred of proof to support him.
01/26/1975 0212 The Follower A talent scout in New York is tortured by an invisible being following him everywhere to the extent of keeping up with his every footstep, especially when he is alone. Is there something mysterious in his past?
04/29/1975 0265 Black Widow The widow of a union worker enlists the help of a witch to get rid of the man who murdered her husband. The witch deploys poisonous black widow spiders to achieve her end.
05/29/1975 0282 Just One More Day On his last day on the beat, an old cop has premonitions of his own death in a shoot-out. On the very last day of duty, an aged police officer has the foreboding of his own death in a shooting match.
06/27/1975 0299 The Rape of the Maia A notorious gambler turns up dead and all evidence point towards a famous couturier. In order to get an acquittal, his lawyer must do battle with a wily bookie.
10/09/1975 0360 They Shall Stone Them with Stones A husband and wife team are hired to do a Vaudeville act. Trouble finds them when the woman accidentally reads the mind of a cold-blooded murderer- who plans to engage their services for a special performance!
11/27/1975 0386 The Dead, Dead Ringer An ex-cop finds work as a messenger for local mobster. When he delivers the message, he is surprised to walk into a murder. The woman has a smoking gun in her hand, and a body on the floor. When he sees that he is a dead ringer for the woman's dead husband, he suspects that something fishy is going on.
03/12/1976 0447 The Man Who Preyed on Widows After being swindled out of her money, the widowed Mrs. Randol refused to take action against Robert Lewis, aka Nelson Potter despite her children egging her on. Her frustrated family finds satisfaction when the identity of his next victim is revealed, and the police set up a grand scheme to entrap the wily con man.
04/05/1976 0462 Time Killer Playing with a theory on the fluidity of time, a college professor accidentally transports himself back to the period before the Great Depression. His interference with the time-space continuum alters his future drastically.
06/03/1976 0488 Blue Justice A restless ghost seeks justice from an assistant prosecutor who knowingly convicted him and sentenced him to death. The unearthing of two blue ribbons takes them to the path of the truth.
10/04/1976 0529 The Midas Touch A con man swindles a bank president repeatedly in this farce set on the eve of the Great Depression.
10/19/1976 0538 The Mission of Atropos A detective follows the clues left by a corrupt industrialist using an illegal and deadly chemical.
11/09/1976 0549 The Colony Michael and Mary just want to spend some quiet time away with nature. After spotting a UFO, they stop in the sleepy town of Colony, New Hampshire to report it but find themselves in deep trouble with the law.
12/13/1976 0564 Hit Me Again A financial planner quits his job to pursue a career as a professional gambler who applies an actuarial system to counting cards in Blackjack. His wife fights to get him back from his new mistress: Lady Luck.
12/30/1976 0574 Your Move, Mr. Ellers Chess seems the perfect foil for a sophisticated jewel thief. An insurance investigator looks into the theft of several diamonds and other jewels from a jeweler. A stolen emerald and a game of chess lead him to look into the lives of three supsects: an employee; a long time member at the jewelry store; and a fence. Every character in this story is a chess fan.
02/28/1977 0608 The Light that Failed In order to win the hand of the woman he loves, a painter and war correspondent does everything in his power to amass a fortune. When he scorns a woman he considers beneath his station, his carefully laid plans fall apart.
03/08/1977 0613 The Sign of Four This classic tale of theft and betrayal hurtles the legendary Sherlock Holmes into the midst of a secret society.  The terrible secrets continue to plague and haunt its members long after their pact is broken.
03/17/1977 0618 Jobo A mildly retarded hick from Texas seems to be the heir of the gods of Easter Island. An archeologist and his daughter take separate paths to discover the truth.
04/08/1977 0631 Blood, Thunder, and a Woman in Green
A private detective in the 1940\'s stumbles into a murder investigation when his tabloid photographer friend is brutally slain over a controversial photo he took.
05/23/1977 0652 The Briefcase Blunder When a briefcase full of money is left in Harry's cab, he finds out honesty will not always set you free. He finds himself in a whole lot of trouble after he turns it in to the police and the owner refuses to claim it.
06/10/1977 0663 The Night We Died It's con man versus con man in this sci-fi story of double-crossing and murder as a veteran of the Lunar Revolt tries to scam a war widow.
06/28/1977 0673 The Adventure of the Speckled Band Sherlock Holmes is hired by a young heiress to find out who killed her sister in a sealed room murder.
07/19/1977 0685 The Mysterious Island After escaping a prison camp via hot air balloon, two union soldiers and a reporter land on a mysterious island where they have an unseen benefactor seeing to their needs.
07/29/1977 0691 The Thousand and First Door A man is brought into the hospital suffering from an apparent stroke. But as he retells the final days of his life for us, we find his demise was much more complicated with an uncaring, selfish wife and her paramour.
10/12/1977 0723 The Case of Chateau-Margaux A wounded horse is the only witness to the disappearance of a rich man and his nephew is apprehended for it. A mysterious case of costly wine might be his only salvation.
10/28/1977 0731 A Question of Identity A curious twist on the heist tale. A young man who trades jewels for a living wakes up to find his identity stolen in the hotel he is staying at. He is certain that he has been cheated to rob him off the diamonds he carried with him.
11/15/1977 0741 A Point of Time Set in the future 2057, North America is controlled by a savage autocrat. A scientist brother and sister pair come up with a plan to alter his past and make him a little more compassionate. They decide to send an officer into his past in order to effect this.
12/14/1977 0754 The Death Shot A honeymoon in Greece turns nightmarish as the husband photographs a murder par hasard. The killer is an important political leader and the couple must decide on a course to ensure their survival.
01/23/1978 0769 The Forgetful Ghost A wacky story of a pleasant, forgetful ghost returned to the world for a purpose, but for the fact that he has forgotten it. A man finds him and they pair up to make a card hustle that will prove useful for the ghost's living daughter. But his real purpose is far broader in scope.
03/03/1978 0792 The Assassin In an ultimate proof of work ethics, a professional killer tries to carry out the most valuable contract job he ever received - despite an accident that wipes his memory clean.
03/24/1978 0804 Wise Child A kindly couple come across an abandoned toddler at a hotel after a heavy storm and adopt it. But the baby never seems to grow older...
04/18/1978 0818 Uncle Louis A young police investigator attempts to gather proof against a known mobster and falls for a lady witness during it. The irate mobster discovers a secret from his past.
05/11/1978 0831 The Guilt of the Innocent A young and poor Russian falls under the influence of a master thief who works a seaport. A naive, and hard up Russian falls for the guiles of a master robber in a harbour town.
07/03/1978 0858 King Bankrobber A regular lawful architect turns into a master bank-robber to avenge the leniency meted out by the judiciary to the young scoundrel who murdered his parents.
08/14/1978 0879 The Black Sheep and the Captain A young man's missing uncle calls for his aid in his residence in the moors to ward off an ancient enemy who pursues him.
08/25/1978 0884 The Other Soul On a trip to Greece, a young doctor is given a card with something written in Greek. When he attempts to get it deciphered by showing it to others, they get to know a dirty secret about him that they cannot divulge.
10/09/1978 0903 The Triple Crown Convinced that he has discovered the next \"Seabiscuit,\" a poor stable hand purchases a horse with the intention of entering him in the high stakes races. He meets all sorts of characters along his journey to find investors in his venture.
12/06/1978 0927 The Devil's Bargain A master con man steals from his victims, then poses as a psychic and helps in recovering them for a price!
03/05/1979 0959 The Fall of Gentryville When an entire mountain town vanishes from a map, a reporter is dispatched to uncover the mystery. There she discovers the village's sole survivor and she narrates a chilling and terrible tale.
05/07/1979 0977 Search for Eden After surviving an avalanche, a mountain climbing guide finds himself in a strange village inhabited only by blind people.
05/30/1979 0984 A Curious Experience To save himself from punishment, a young soldier enlisted in Union Army names his co-conspirators when he is accused of being a double agent.
11/14/1979 1030 The Nine Hundred and Ninety Nine Thousand Dollar Error A bank president discovers that a glitch in their system erroneously transferred the sum of $999,000 into the account of a corrupt Manila lawyer. In order to retrieve the amount, he must call in a favor to get the greatest attorney in the world to represent his case.
01/02/1980 1044 Revenge Is Not Sweet A police detective becomes suspicious of the family's strange behavior and looks deeper into the death of a wealthy old man.

6 Responses to Beck Jackson

I liked Jackson Beck whenever he used his satanic, menacing "Bluto" voice in some episodes. Beck did the voice of Popeye's nemesis in Popeye cartoons that were released to theaters from 1943-1957. He also did the voice of Brutus in the syndicated TV Popeyes that were originally broadcast from 1959-1962.

Jack

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He was in some excellent productions.

Megan

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Jackson Beck, one of radio's distinctive voices.

Bill Smith

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Jackson Beck (July 23, 1912 – July 28, 2004) was an American actor best known as the announcer on radio's The Adventures of Superman and the voice of Bluto in the Famous era Popeye theatrical shorts. Beck's early radio experience included work at WINS and WHN, both in New York City. Beginning in 1931, he worked with Myrt and Marge, among other roles. In 1934, he was the announcer for The Adventures of Babe Ruth on the radio. In 1943, he took over as narrator of radio's The Adventures of Superman; it was Beck who intoned the familiar prologue "strange visitor from another planet..." He also had recurring roles, voicing an occasional tough guy and also portraying Beany Martin, the Daily Planet's teenage copy boy. On Superman episodes featuring Batman, he played Bruce Wayne's butler, Alfred Pennyworth. He also impersonated Joseph Stalin and other world leaders for The March of Time radio series, starred as The Cisco Kid on radio from 1942 to 1945 and sleuth Philo Vance in a syndicated series from 1948 to 1950, starred in the dramatic anthology Brownstone Theater on Mutual, and served as narrator for the radio adventures of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet. On Television, Beck portrayed Perry White, Clark Kent's boss in Filmation's The New Adventures of Superman animated series and was narrator as well. He was the announcer for the first season of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet on television. On Film, Beck dubbed the English voice of the judge listing Tuco's many crimes before sentencing him to death by hanging in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and used his deep, dramatic, modulated voice as the narrator of Woody Allen's Take the Money and Run in 1969. He also narrated the cult comedy film Cry Uncle! in 1971, and was one of the players in National Lampoon's first comedy album Radio Dinner in 1972. He was prominent as well in Allen's 1987 film Radio Days, dubbing the voice of the on-the-spot newsman. Catroon fans, may know his voice as Bluto in the Popeye cartoons, Little Lulu's father, the fox in the Baby Huey cartoons, and Buzzy the Crow, who was a foil for Katnip the Cat in a number of cartoons. Beck used a black dialect for the voice of Buzzy. He was also the voice of King Leonardo in the 1960s TV cartoon series of the same name. He also had a part in the Peanuts 1977 film Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown as the snickering cat, Brutus. He narrated the 1980s G.I. Joe animated TV series. His other voice work included network TV promos (he did a series of promos for NBC's NFL coverage for much of the 1980s), narration for sketches on Saturday Night Live, movie trailers, and commercials for everything from toys to shampoo (one of Beck's very last commercials was for Infusium Shampoo)

Adam

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Seems like he always played a hardened criminal. Great voice!

Greg

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Voice actor extraordinaire Jackson Beck had a long and prolific career spanning almost 7 decades in radio, film and television. He is remembered on radio as the longtime announcer for The Adventures Of Superman. His radio credits also include Philo Vance, Inner Sanctum, Tom Corbett Space Cadet, The Cisco Kid, Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, among many others. He had appearances in well over 300 films, shorts and television programs, mostly in animated series' such as the voice of Bluto in Popeye the Sailor. His television credits also include King Leonardo, Tennessee Tuxedo, G. I. Joe, Little Lulu, Casper The Friendly Ghost, Little Audrey, Baby Huey, Herman And Katnip and Tooter Turtle, among many others. And he also appeared as an actor in front of the camera for his role of Gangster Willie Sapphire on the daytime soap opera, The Edge Of Night. His film credits include Woody Allen's, Take The Money And Run and Radio Days, Cry Uncle and Power. He also appeared in numerous commercials, including Studebaker automobiles, Little Caesar Pizza, Brawny Paper Towels, Combat Roach Spray, Kelloggs Frosted Flakes and Milton Bradley's Battleship game, among dozens of others.

Charlie

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