| Birth Name: | Linda Gary Dewoskin |
| Birth Date: | November 4, 1944 |
| Birth Place: | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Death Place: | North Hollywood, California, U.S. |
| Resting Place: | Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery |
| Occupation: | Actress |
| Years Active: | 1971–1995 |
| Children: | 3 |
Linda Gary (born Linda Gary Dewoskin, November 4, 1944 – October 5, 1995)[1] was an American actress.[2] [3]
Gary worked as a voice-over artist in animation and also appeared in two live-action films, 1977's Joyride To Nowhere with husband Charles Howerton and 1980's Cruising[3] with Al Pacino. She lent her voice in such movies as Wolfen[3] and Switch.[3]
Linda played Dr. Maura Cassidy on Lee Hansen's Alien Worlds.
She got her start dubbing Italian films into English while living in Rome with her husband Charles Howerton, then returned to the U.S. in 1974.
Gary started going to voice acting classes taught by Daws Butler. She later claimed "When I got my first voice over job, I just sent Daws the check...He believed in me, and I really have him to thank for my career."[4]
Gary voiced different characters on several Hanna-Barbera television series: Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo; The Smurfs as Dame Barbara in one episode; Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats as Mrs. Vandergelt; The Pirates of Dark Water, where she did additional voices; and as Doctor Abby Sinian. She voiced Queen Morbidia & Nekara in The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo.
ABC Weekend Special was a Saturday morning TV series that aired from 1977 to 1997. It featured stories in both the live-action and animated realms. Gary's voice could be heard on Scruffy, The Puppy Saves the Circus, The Amazing Bunjee Venture, The Return of the Bunjee, The Velveteen Rabbit and The Magic Flute.[3]
During the 1980s and 90's, Gary did several guest voice-over appearances in such Disney television series as Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Darkwing Duck,[3] DuckTales, TaleSpin, The Little Mermaid and Bonkers. She voiced a gazelle and a hippo on The Lion King tie-in read-along cassette story The Brightest Star. She also voiced Maleficent and the opening narrator in Fantasmic!. She voiced Muffy Vanderschmere in TaleSpin and Blender, Floor Lamp and Green Car in The Brave Little Toaster.
She narrated Disney read-along stories in 1977: Three Little Pigs, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and It's a Small World. She also narrated a quartet of the Rainbow Brite read-along stories.
Gary voiced several additional characters on the 1984 Transformers animated series. She also voiced Raven, a Cobra Night Raven pilot in the G.I. Joe episode "In the Presence of Mine Enemies".
Gary voiced Colleen in an episode of the short-lived 1981 Spider-Man with Ted Schwartz as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, and voiced Aunt May in the first season of the 1994-1998 Spider-Man with Christopher Daniel Barnes as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. She was later replaced by Julie Bennett.
Her voice acting was mostly for the Filmation studio. She voiced characters in several of Filmation's TV series such as The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam!, Blackstar, and as the title character in Web Woman.
Gary voiced Jane on an episode of Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle.
She also did voice work on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (initially miscredited as "Linda Gray"[5]) and . She was reunited with fellow voice-over actors Alan Oppenheimer and George DiCenzo from BlackStar.[6] She provided many of the female voices on He-Man such as Teela, Evil-Lyn, the Sorceress of Castle Grayskull and Queen Marlena, as well as several from She-Ra like Madame Razz, Glimmer, Shadow Weaver, Scorpia and Entrapta.
She voiced several films for Filmation such as , Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night, [3] and Happily Ever After[3] as Critterina and Marina.
Gary voiced the role of Grandma Longneck in ,[3] [3] and .[3] She was later replaced by Miriam Flynn.
In video games, she provided voices in several adventure games such as King's Quest VI as the Oracle, Red Chess Queen, Mother Ghost and Queen Allaria, Thayer's Quest as Lady in the Woodlands and as Grandma Knight/Tetelo.
Gary was born in Los Angeles, California, on November 4, 1944. She married actor Charles Howerton on December 21, 1967, and had two daughters, Alexis and Dana.[6] Gary was also stepmother to Howerton's daughter from his previous marriage, Lynn Howerton.[6] She died of heart failure and complications of brain cancer on October 5, 1995, at her home in North Hollywood, California, at age 50. She is buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Hollywood Hills.[1]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Lady Frankenstein | Tania | Uncredited | |
| 1981 | Wolfen | ESS | ||
| 1984 | Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind | Queen Selena, Old Lady | 1985 English dub; uncredited | |
| 1985 | The Secret of the Sword | Teela, Queen Marlena, Sorceress of Castle Grayskull, Shadow Weaver, Glimmer, Madame Razz | ||
| 1985 | Teela, Queen Marlena | Television special | ||
| 1987 | Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night | Bee Atrice | ||
| 1988 | Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats | Mrs. Vandergelt | ||
| 1989 | Happily Ever After | Critterina / Marina | ||
| 1991 | Switch | God | ||
| 1993 | The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Other Stories | Narrator | ||
| 1994 | Grandma Longneck | |||
| 1995 | Grandma Longneck | Posthumous release | ||
| 1996 | Grandma Longneck | Posthumous release, (final film role) |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976–1980 | Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle | Jane | |
| 1981–1989 | The Smurfs | Dame Barbara (seasons 2 and 3), Chlorhydris (seasons 3–8) | Name misspelled in credits as "Linda Gray." |
| 1981 | Blackstar | Mara, Taleena, Amber, Storm, Leilanna | |
| 1981 | Spider-Man | Colleen | |
| 1983 | The Dukes | Additional voices (Season 1) | |
| 1983–1984 | The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show | Additional voices | |
| 1983–1985 | He-Man and the Masters of the Universe | Teela, Evil-Lyn, Queen Marlena, Sorceress of Castle Grayskull, additional characters | |
| 1985–1986 | Scorpia, Entrapta, Madame Razz, Shadow Weaver, Glimmer, additional characters | ||
| 1985–1986 | The Transformers | Chromia, Fairy-tale princess, Witch, Disco Girl #2 | |
| 1991–1993 | The Pirates of Dark Water | Additional voices | |
| 1992-1994 | Additional voices | ||
| 1993-1994 | Dr. Abby Sinian | ||
| 1994 | Spider-Man | ||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Thayer's Quest | Lady in the Woodlands | ||
| 1992 | King's Quest VI | Oracle, Red Chess Queen, Mother Ghost, Queen Allaria | ||
| 1993 | Grandma Knight / Tetelo |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Disney's Fantillusion | Maleficent | ||
| 1998 | Fantasmic! | Maleficent, Opening Announcer |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | My Name Is Rocco Papaleo | Jenny | ||
| 1977 | Joyride to Nowhere | Boutique Clerk | ||
| 1980 | Cruising | |||
| 1981 | Smokey Bites the Dust | Woman Sheriff | ||
| 1996 | Father Frost | Storyteller |