| William Dufris | |
| Birth Name: | William Duffy |
| Birth Place: | Houlton, Maine, U.S. |
| Birth Date: | 1 February 1958 |
| Death Place: | South Portland, Maine, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Voice actor |
| Years Active: | 1978–2020 |
William Duffy[1] (February 1, 1958 – March 24, 2020[2] [3]) known professionally as William Dufris or Bill Dufris, was an American voice actor and audiobook narrator.
Dufris began his audio career in London, where he appeared in several BBC Radio plays with Kathleen Turner, Sharon Gless, Stockard Channing, and Helena Bonham-Carter. Moreover, he worked with director Dirk Maggs on his audio drama productions of Spider-Man (where he voiced the title role of Spider-Man/Peter Parker), Judge Dredd, Voyage and An American Werewolf in London.
These experiences led Dufris to co-found the audio production company The Story Circle, Ltd in the UK. Upon returning to the United States, Dufris founded Mind's Eye Productions and co-founded Rocky Coast Radio Theatre and The AudioComics Company, for which he has been producer, director, actor, and engineer. For AudioComics he directed Starstruck, the first season of Horrorscopes, Titanium Rain, Honey West, and The Batson's for the AudioComics Kids line. He also directed Arigon Starr’s audio comedy Super Indian for Native Voices at the Autry in Los Angeles.
He was best known for voicing the title character Bob and other characters like Farmer Pickles, Mr. Beasley and Mr. Sabatini in the American English dub of the British children's animated series Bob the Builder until its ninth season. Dufris also voiced Elvis and Dougan in the stop motion TV series Rocky and the Dodos for Cosgrove Hall and dubbed several anime films such as X, Appleseed and two of the Lupin III films. He is also well known for his narration of the Pendragon books, written by D.J.McHale.
Dufris was on the Advisory Board of the National Audio Theatre Festivals, Inc. in addition to being a Norman Corwin Award Committee member. He was a guest instructor and performer at the 2005–2007 Audio Theatre Workshops, appearing in the world premiere works The Best Place to Grow Pumpkins, Rewind, Extra-Ordinary, and Histories.
In 2018, Dufris and Jack Bowman co-founded the audiobook company Dagaz Media.
Dufris died of esophageal cancer at his home in South Portland on March 24, 2020, at the age of 62.[4]
Dufris was nominated twelve times as an audiobook finalist for the Audio Publishers Association's Audie Awards, winning in 2012 for Best Non-Fiction. He also garnered 24 Golden Earphones Awards through AudioFile Magazine, and was named by AudioFile as "one of the best voices at the end of the century." Publishers Weekly called his performance of Neal Stephenson's novel Anathem "a delight for the ears".[5]
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