Henry Corden, voice of Fred Flintstone, dies
04:27 PM CDT on Friday, May 20, 2005
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES – Henry Corden, the voice of cartoon caveman Fred Flintstone's "Yabba-dabba-doo!" for more than two decades, has died. He was 85.

Corden died of emphysema Thursday night at AMI Encino Hospital, his longtime agent Don Pitts said Friday. Corden's wife of nine years, Angelina, was with him at the time.

He took over as the lovable loudmouth Fred Flintstone when original voice Alan Reed died in 1977. Reed had been doing Flintstone since the character debuted in 1960.

Born in Montreal, Corden moved to New York as a child and arrived in Hollywood in the 1940s. His first acting role was in the 1947 film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Known for playing villains, he found small parts in movies, including 1952's The Black Castle and The Ten Commandments in 1956.

"As Henry said, he always played the cold-blooded creeps," Pitts said.

Corden moved into voice acting in the 1960s, and deployed his dialect skills in bit parts for Hanna-Barbera, including Jonny Quest, Josey and the Pussycats and The New Tom & Jerry Show.

Since The Flintstones echoed The Honeymooners, Corden tweaked his role to approximate Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden character, Pitts said.

Corden, who lived in Encino, had been working until his health suffered about three months ago. He can most recently be heard on ubiquitous cereal commercials yelling "Barney, my Pebbles!"

Besides his wife, Corden is survived by five children and five grandchildren. A private memorial "party" is planned, Pitts said.


............and another little piece of my childhood is gone.

media.ebaumsworld.com/flintston.wmv

that sucks,

I still like to watch the flintstones and I'm almost 40. I really
hate to hear that.

Quoted: media.ebaumsworld.com/flintston.wmv

holy flashbacks, batman  

Zabba dabba doo

I always loved the Flintstones. There will never be a series like it again.

side note, in Jump School we had a Black Hat that looked like Gazoo when ho wore his helmet.

Quoted: Zabba dabba doo

Yabba dabba doo

Fixed it for you.

The B52's do an exellent version of the Flintstones....just thought I would throw that in.

Wow! a tobacco commercial in what was basically a kids cartoon. My how times have changed.

Quoted: Wow! a tobacco commercial in what was basically a kids cartoon. My how times have changed.

Actually....

Produced by Hanna-Barbera (William Hanna and Joe Barbera), The Flintstones was patterned after Jackie Gleason's The Honeymooners. Designed as a program for the entire family, the program did not appear as "children's television" until its rebroadcast by NBC in 1967.