Jack Mercer: Movies & Box Office

Jack Mercer (born Winfield Bennett Mercer on January 31, 1910 in Worthington, Indiana) was an American voice actor, animator and prolific comedy writer best remembered for giving life to Popeye the Sailor Man. Coming from a family of vaudeville and Broadway performers, Mercer began his animation career in 1932 as an “in‑betweener” at Fleischer Studios, where his talent for imitating voices quickly set him apart. When the original Popeye voice actor William Costello proved difficult to work with, Mercer’s mimicry of Costello’s gritty delivery impressed studio chief Lou Fleischer, who hired him after hearing Mercer sing the cartoon’s theme; his debut as Popeye arrived in the 1935 short King of the Mardi Gras. Over the next four decades Mercer voiced Popeye for Fleischer, Paramount’s Famous Studios, King Features Syndicate and the Hanna‑Barbera Saturday‑morning series, even providing the opening narration for the 1980 live‑action film starring Robin Williams. In addition to Popeye, he supplied voices for Wimpy, Poopdeck Pappy, Popeye’s nephews, and a host of supporting characters in Fleischer’s Gulliver’s Travels, Mister Bug Goes to Town and the Superman series, demonstrating a range that included high‑pitched male and even female voices. Beyond the salty sailor, Mercer became the sole voice talent for the revitalized Felix the Cat television cartoons in 1958, creating personalities such as The Professor and Rock Bottom under the direction of Joe Oriolo, and later contributed to The Mighty Hercules. His writing credits are equally extensive; he penned hundreds of scripts for Popeye shorts, as well as episodes of Deputy Dawg and Milton the Monster, cementing his influence on mid‑century American animation. Mercer’s personal life intersected with his profession when he married fellow voice artist Margie Hines, the voice of Olive Oyl, in 1939; after their divorce in 1950 he wed Virginia Caroll, remaining together until his death. A longtime New York resident who briefly lived in Miami and Los Angeles, Mercer passed away on December 7, 1984, in Manhattan after complications from stomach cancer, leaving a legacy that endures in every squeaky‑drawn spinach‑fuelled adventure.