Actor who voiced 'Goofy' for 37 years revealed that the character isn't really a dog

Many of us grew up watching "Goofy" in Disney cartoons, assuming he was a dog. But according to Bill Farmer, who has voiced the character for over 37 years, that’s not exactly true. In a 2020 interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Farmer clarified that Goofy isn’t a dog.

Farmer explained, "Pluto is a dog, but Goofy seems to be in the canine family—like how a wolf isn't a dog but is still part of the family. I think 'Canis Goofus' is the technical Latin term for what Goofy is. He’s just Goofy.” He also debunked the myth that Goofy might be a cow, based on his relationship with Clarabelle Cow. Interestingly, Farmer was born 20 years after Goofy’s first appearance in Disney's "Mickey's Revue."

Famer shared that as a kid he used to watch Goofy in the cartoon, "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color," sitting on his father's lap. Famer recalled that Goofy was his favorite character since then. He said, "I grew up doing voices, and I love cartoons and animations. I always practiced the voices and became a stand-up comic impressionist for about five years before moving to L.A."

Once he was in Hollywood, Farmer auditioned for Disney which was looking for vocal artists. He said in the interview, "I thought I did a pretty good Mickey Mouse," however, he shared that he couldn't do Donald Duck very well. "But Goofy was right in the wheelhouse. They liked that one, and since 1987 I’ve been the official voice,” he added. The actor first did an animated series called, "Goof Troop" and then did "A Goofy Movie" in 1995. "That allowed us to add a lot of layers to Goofy as kind of a worried father, we never had to do that before. It turns out he is a pretty good dad," he said. The actor also spoke about how the movie touched people's hearts.

"So many people have told me that they didn’t get along with my dad, but could understand their dad because of the way Max understood Goofy. They don't have to see eye to eye all the time but they still love each other. I’m really grateful that people have kept it as one of their favorites and it still is after all this time.” He mentioned that for Goofy's character in the movie, he pictured his 5-year-old son whenever he spoke to Max in the recording room.

He said, “My son at the time was around 5 years old, so I was substituting in my mind my son so I could have that father/son relationship and it became real.” Though Goofy's first appearance was in "Mickey's Revue" in 1932, he again appeared in a newspaper comic strip under the name, "Dippy Dawg" but it was the 1939 film, "Goofy and Wilbur" that made the character popular, according to USA Today.

This article originally appeared 2 months ago.