[Dialogue] {Disarmed} Len Dresslar

[Harry Wainwright]

Colleagues,

 

The following fuller article about Len appeared yesterday in the Asheville
Citizen-Times.  Go figure!!!

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Voice Of Jolly Green Giant Dies

PALM SPRINGS, Calif., Oct. 26, 2005 

  _____  

(AP) Elmer "Len" Dresslar Jr., who extolled generations of TV watchers to
eat their vegetables as the booming voice of the Jolly Green Giant, has
died. He was 80. 

Dresslar died Oct. 16 of cancer, according to daughter Teri Bennett. 

Dresslar was an entertainer and singer for nearly six decades. But his voice
rang through millions of households when he sang the simple refrain, "Ho,
Ho, Ho!" in an ad jingle for Green Giant foods. 

"His was the most consistent and most frequent voice of the Jolly Green
Giant over the years, the one consumers are going to recognize," said Tara
Johnson, a spokeswoman for General Mills, which owns Green Giant Co. 

Dresslar, a Kansas native, moved to Chicago with his wife in the early 1950s
to study voice after touring with a production of "South Pacific." By the
1960s, the Navy veteran had carved out a career singing in clubs, on
television and in advertising jingles. 

He recorded 15 albums with The Singers Unlimited jazz group and appeared on
the CBS television show "In Town Tonight" from 1955 to 1960. He and his
wife, Dorothy, retired to Palm Springs in 1991. 

Ad jingles were the most consistent part of his career, and he landed roles
for Rice Krispies cereal, Marlboro cigarettes, Amoco oil and Dinty Moore
canned beef stew. 

He periodically re-recorded the "Ho, Ho, Ho" for Jolly Green Giant
commercials, most recently about 10 years ago. 

Bennett said her father auditioned for the Green Giant job without any idea
his baritone would become so recognizable. 

"He never got tired of it," she said. "If nothing else, it put my sister and
I through college."



CMMV The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 

-----------------------

Peace,

Harry

 

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