Memories Still Near, Deer To Voice Of "Bambi"

[musicradio77]

From WNBC website:

MEMORIES STILL NEAR, DEER TO VOICE OF "BAMBI"
Film Makes Debut On DVD
Tim Lammers, Web Staff Editor

Although it may be the voices we mostly recalled in the treasure trove of Walt Disney's animated classics, layered within the animation is a resemblance of those actors that helped bring those films to life.

Such was the case for Don Dunagan, a young actor whom Disney contracted to be the "face model" for the title character of "Bambi." Lucky for him, he ended up voicing the younger version of the character, too -- and he's thrilled to be talking about the film as a 70-year-old man about the re-release of the 1942 classic, which makes its debut on DVD (Walt Disney Home Entertainment) this week.

"I remembered how surprised I was when it dawned on my 5 ½-year-old dumb head that, 'I'm going to be the model for what? I've never even seen a deer. I was a city kid," Dunagan told me, laughing, during a recent @ The Movies interview. "I wanted to go kick dirt off of second base. But Mr. Disney very astutely had some deer imported to the lot and treated them better than most people treat their pets at home."

The first film after Disney's stunning animated featured debut, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Bambi" is admired for its beauty, its simplicity and the scene in which Bambi's mother is shot by a hunter -- a shot that's heard round the world to this day.

"The first time I saw it, I didn't know that the mother would be taken down by hunters," Dunagan recalled. "That caught me by surprise. I don't remember how I reacted, but I'm sure I reacted emotionally. But I also think I recovered very soon because I finished that film with a real good feeling about things."

In it was a message of hope -- a message that he's thrilled to say resonates with kids to this day.

"I have seen children since, many times -- and they understand that things like that happen in life and you got to get up and get back to it," Dunagan said. "You've got to find something positive and put your face back in the wind and get going. I know that I left that first showing thrilled to death that I was a part of that film."

Dunagan left the film business after "Bambi" and, in fact, made his career as a highly decorated Marine. He earned several U.S. military combat and valor awards during his 25 years of service and said he's most proud of carrying a wounded corporal off the battlefield under heavy fire during his tour of duty in Vietnam.

Oddly enough, the Texas native was silent about his storied past as "Bambi" during his years in the military -- but with good reason, he said.

"When I was in the Marine Corps as an 18 ½-year-old drill instructor and from that point forward in leadership roles for 25 years … I was thinking, 'If these guys that I'm leading -- these guys that jump out of airplanes behind enemy lines on recon -- if they found out I was the model for Bambi, I would have been history," Dunagan said, musingly. "They would have drummed me out. I would have done 50,000 push-ups a day. So I pushed my coward button and never told anybody."

Fortunately, he didn't keep the secret hidden forever.

"I see old Marines walking downtown and across the street the yell, 'Hey, Major Bambi,'" Dunagan said with a laugh. "It doesn't bother me a lick, I just yell back, 'Hi!' and put antlers up on my head."

What impresses Dunagan still to this day is that so much of "Bambi" is told with actions, not words -- actions that, in the case of the fawn's mother being shot for example, have left viewers with an empty feeling for decades. Like "Snow White" before it and many animated Disney classics after it, the film made you feel like you were watching a living, breathing creature on screen.

"There's less than 1,000 words in that film -- maybe 900 words -- it's not a word film," Dunagan said. "Without words beating everybody up, that simple, little beautiful story with human faces and obvious human voices for those little animals told human stories that have enriched millions of people."

And Dunagan credits the bulk of it to one person.

"Disney was a genius, and he was all over that thing," Dunagan said. "Anybody that doesn't think that he doesn't think that he didn't have his fingerprints on every single decision needs to get their homework done and have some respect for the man who was an absolute innovating, pioneering genius -- It had to be a labor of affection, engineering and resolve because he worked on it, I believe, until the late summer of 1941."

Disney wasn't the only film icon Dunagan worked with as a child actor. He also played the pivotal role of young Peter von Frankenstein, opposite Boris Karloff as the Monster, in 1939's "Son of Frankenstein" (ironically, Disney hired Dunagan for "Bambi" after seeing him during filming).

"Karloff taught me how to play checkers. I beat him a couple times but then he didn't want to pay me," Dunagan gleefully recalled. "I had to hustle him to pay me -- he owed me two quarters. He was a wonderful guy."

[Mijada]

I love Bambi. The whole story is so touching.

[musicradio77]

In addtion to the DVD that I'm getting, I have a record of "Bambi". It has the complete story and songs. It comes with a book. It was a Disney spoken word LP since it was released on Disneyland back in the early 60's. It's from my personal collection.

[TheGreatPretender]

I used to love Bambi.