Voice Actor John Stephenson (Dr. Benton Quest) 1923-2015

[Zoneboy]

http://www.newsfromme.com/


Voice actor John Stephenson died Friday night at the age of 91. He had been suffering from Alzheimer's for some time and living in a nursing home. Several years ago, reports of his declining health somehow led to a series of erroneous Internet reports that he had passed. This time, sadly, it's so.

Stephenson's long, prolific career began in 1948 when he moved to Hollywood from his native Wisconsin. He quickly became a working actor on radio dramas and began landing roles in film and on television. In fact, it would be hard to find a TV show filmed in Hollywood between 1953 and about 1968 that he didn't guest on. You can catch him on reruns of The Lone Ranger, The Beverly Hillbillies, F Troop, Get Smart, Green Acres, Hogan's Heroes, Perry Mason, That Girl, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, The People's Choice, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis and so many more. In the sixties though, he was getting so much work in voiceovers that he abandoned his "on camera" career.

He did hundreds of commercials and announcing jobs. His was the voice that announced the verdicts at the end of the sixties' Dragnet series.

And he worked incessantly in cartoons, mainly for Hanna-Barbera. He was heard often on the original Flintstones series, voicing Fred's boss Mr. Slate and dozens of supporting characters. On the series Top Cat, he spoke for the character Fancy-Fancy and, again, dozens of supporting characters. On Jonny Quest, he was Dr. Benton Quest. On other H-B shows, he played recurring and guest roles to the extent that he may have been the most-heard actor on their shows. Joe Barbera loved him and the feeling was mutual. (I took the above photo of him at a party for Mr. Barbera.)

The Internet Movie Database lists 232 credits for him as both an on-camera and voiceover actor. I would bet that's less than a tenth of all he did.

John was heard on many of the shows I worked on for H-B but I only met him briefly a few times. He was efficient and professional and a very good actor, much respected by his peers. We will all miss him but we will continue to hear him.

[Steve Carras]

Originally Posted by Zoneboy

Link



John Stephenson was born August John Vercruyssen on August 9, 1923 and passed away on December 29, 2012 at the age of 89. I've been unable to find an obit online but his passing has been confirmed by the SSDI.

Both IMDb and Wikipedia confirm his d.o.b. although he was actually born in Chicago rather than Kenosha. This info was confirmed through People Finders by a friend on another message board. Here's the info from him and People Finders:

Hi again, Charles. Just checked out John Stephenson for you. His real name is August John Vercruyssen. The "Kenosha, Wisconsin" birth info that's listed for him on websites is inaccurate. I traced the inaccuracy to an interview/article he did in 1956, which states he is a graduate of an acting school in Kenosha, Wisconsin. But, in actuality, the records indicate he was born in Chicago, Illinois. The 1930 census shows he was still living in Chicago in 1930. He's listed with a Las Vegas residence as his most recent info on PeopleFinders:

PeopleFinders: (listed last living in Las Vegas, NV)
VERCRUYSSEN, AUGUST JOHN (Age 88)

Here's his birth certificate info:

Cook County Birth Index:
Name: August Vercruyssen
Birth Date: 9 Aug 1923
Birth Location: Cook County, IL
File Number: 6032409
Archive collection name: Cook County Genealogy Records (Births)
Archive repository location: Chicago, IL
Archive repository name: Cook County Clerk


It was also confirmed here, an actual image of the birth certificate will cost $15 which I'm not paying but the info provided should leave little or no doubt that it's the same person.

STILL LIVING, FLINTSTONE!! Those meddling internet kids!!

-John Stephenson

[Zoneboy]

Originally Posted by Steve Carras

STILL LIVING, FLINTSTONE!! Those meddling internet kids!!

-John Stephenson

Nope, he has died. Sorry if you don't believe it although I wish it weren't true. I'm also far from a kid and my sources are verifiable.

[Steve Carras]

Originally Posted by Zoneboy

Link



John Stephenson was born August John Vercruyssen on August 9, 1923 and passed away on December 29, 2012 at the age of 89. I've been unable to find an obit online but his passing has been confirmed by the SSDI.

Both IMDb and Wikipedia confirm his d.o.b. although he was actually born in Chicago rather than Kenosha. This info was confirmed through People Finders by a friend on another message board. Here's the info from him and People Finders:

Hi again, Charles. Just checked out John Stephenson for you. His real name is August John Vercruyssen. The "Kenosha, Wisconsin" birth info that's listed for him on websites is inaccurate. I traced the inaccuracy to an interview/article he did in 1956, which states he is a graduate of an acting school in Kenosha, Wisconsin. But, in actuality, the records indicate he was born in Chicago, Illinois. The 1930 census shows he was still living in Chicago in 1930. He's listed with a Las Vegas residence as his most recent info on PeopleFinders:

PeopleFinders: (listed last living in Las Vegas, NV)
VERCRUYSSEN, AUGUST JOHN (Age 88)

Here's his birth certificate info:

Cook County Birth Index:
Name: August Vercruyssen
Birth Date: 9 Aug 1923
Birth Location: Cook County, IL
File Number: 6032409
Archive collection name: Cook County Genealogy Records (Births)
Archive repository location: Chicago, IL
Archive repository name: Cook County Clerk


It was also confirmed here, an actual image of the birth certificate will cost $15 which I'm not paying but the info provided should leave little or no doubt that it's the same person.

You're right...some blogs on the cartoons haven't mentioned it but I posted it to several sites online.

[Mario500]

I found a message on the Internet Movie Database from a person claiming to be John Stephenson's son that claims that he did not die recently and that his full name upon birth was actually John Winfield Stephenson, not the name mentioned in the reports claiming he had died. It also claimed that he was not a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada recently.

[Zoneboy]

Originally Posted by Mario500

I found a message on the Internet Movie Database from a person claiming to be John Stephenson's son that claims that he did not die recently and that his full name upon birth was actually John Winfield Stephenson, not the name mentioned in the reports claiming he had died. It also claimed that he was not a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada recently.

That's interesting, for years both IMDb and Wiki acknowledged that his birth name was August John Stephenson and he was born in Kenosha, WI then all of a sudden when Mr. Vercruyssen's death is verified by the SSDI Mr. Stephenson's alleged son comes out of the woodwork and claims that we was born John Winfield Stephenson and both IMDb and Wiki apparently believe it. The one thing that is proven to be fact is that a man named August John Vercruyssen was born in Chicago on August 9th, 1923 and died on December 29th, 2012. 1930 census records indicate that a John Stephenson was in fact born in Kenosha around the same time but they give the birth year as 1923 or 1924 with nothing definite and they don't give the actual day he was born. Based on this and the fact that both IMDb and Wiki claimed his birth name was August John there is little doubt in my mind that Mr. Vercruyssen and the voice actor, John Stephenson are one-in-the-same. The only way for it not to be so is if the John Stephenson born in Kenosha has the same birthdate and although certainly not impossible it is highly unlikely. I'm hoping that my friend who traced the info regarding John Stephenson & August J. Vercruyssen as being the same person can find something verifiable that links the two. On the other hand, nothing would please me more than to be proven wrong because he is one of my all-time favorite voice actors but it will take something more than IMDb or Wiki to do it.

[Aleal]

Originally Posted by Zoneboy

The one thing that is proven to be fact is that a man named August John Vercruyssen was born in Chicago on August 9th, 1923 and died on December 29th, 2012.

Very true. For myself, I lean the other way, since right now there's also no proof definitive that August J Vercruyssen was John Stephenson the actor. I find records for an August Vercruyssen in Chicago as an architect as late as 1984, so that particular August J. Vercruyssen can't be John Stephenson (at least it strikes me as incredibly unlikely). It's possible there are multiple August J. Vercruyssens (beyond say a parent) but the name is far less common than John Stephenson. The Wikipedia folks who updated the entry and have argued rather angrily in all caps that Stephenson is dead have been anonymous, so that hasn't helped.

It's not the first death change made to Stephenson's Wikipedia page, although this one at least has some explanation behind it. It happened before in 2011.

John Stephenson is still listed with his agency, DPN, and while again not impossible, I'd find it odd that their client has been dead for nearly a year and they wouldn't know at all (much odder than Stephenson's son showing up at reports that his father was dead; whether true or not, it's an understandable reaction).

The "August JOhn" bit was added anonymously to Wikipedia in 2009 (and later showed up on IMDb). Outside of those, and sites mirroring them, I can't find what the source was for that either. (Once I get five posts here, I'll include URLs).

California records also show a John W and Jean Stephenson (the name given for Stephenson's wife in the 1956 interview and by the alleged son) who have lived in Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys, and Oakland California, and John W is 90. I paid for a full report from Intelius and the date of birth matches.

Finally, I found the 1956 article, from TV/Radio Mirror to be precise. It states his wife's name is Jean and while it does say he debuted at age 13 at Kenosha Little Theater (no mention of it as an acting school), it also says he was born in Darlington, Wisconsin and studied at Northwestern University (while I can't find an alumni listing of course, I also can find no evidence of August J Vercruyssen having studied there). I'll try to upload it in a few moments.

[Aleal]

Okay, if the attachments work, see the portion of the Intelius report with the name and date of birth (for privacy I omitted the different addresses and phone numbers, but anyone can access same for 3.95). I'm still struggling with the article, let me try again...

I'm not at all comfortable relying on second hand and mostly anonymous people, no official obit, not one of his colleagues or costars or anyone would at all be aware of it (I e-mailed writer/voice director Mark Evanier, who has worked with Stephenson, and likewise heard nothing; he's still waiting to hear directly from Stephenson's personal agent at DPN; I've thought of contacting them myself, as odd a request as it is, just for sake of accuracy), and just *assuming* they have to be the same because Wikipedia and IMDb had "August John" listed for awhile and someone with "August" was born the same day. I'd much rather wait and find out from a more direct source he has passed on then state it as fact and be wrong.

Right now, like you said, there's plenty of evidence that August J. Vercruyssen is dead, but there's at least as much evidence (more, in my opinion) that he wasn't John Stephenson the actor. (I don't know what your friend and Peoplefinders did, but so far the birth date and the anonymous otherwise unverified 2009 addition of "August John" are the only things that seem to match; everything else is predicated on state of birth being wrong, on a name change, and other things which don't tally).

[Aleal]

Ah, I kept forgetting to resize it and it showed up smaller in my image editor. Whoops!

The Radio TV Mirror piece:

[Zoneboy]

Thanks, Aleal. I'm not sure what to believe. The friend I obtained this from uses several sources although I'm not sure if Intelius is one of them. I've asked him to give me something definite that links the 2 but so far hasn't responded. This doesn't concern me too much because he often takes several days to reply. The part that I don't get though is why IMDb and Wiki would state that his birth name was August John Stephenson and where did they get that from? They both did up until his alleged passing then suddenly it's changed to John W. Stephenson. I can understand your being leary of second hand sources but I've known this person for a few years now and they've always been reliable but the info they got may not be correct. I would like to dig further into this myself but I'm not paying the fees associated with all these sites. Thanks also for the image which states John Stephenson was in the air force Here's some additional info that I received that wasn't included with my original post. This states that AJV also enlisted in the air force.

Here's his WWII enlistment (the 1956 article states he was in the Air Force, and as these records show, he signed up for the Air Corps):

WORLD WAR II ENLISTMENT:
Name: August J Vercruyssen
Birth Year: 1923
Race: White, Citizen (White)
Nativity State or Country: Illinois
State of Residence: Illinois
County or City: Cook

Enlistment Date: 1 Jul 1942
Enlistment State: Illinois
Enlistment City: Chicago
Branch: Air Corps
Branch Code: Air Corps
Grade: Private
Grade Code: Private
Term of Enlistment: Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
Component: Army of the United States - includes the following: Voluntary enlistments effective December 8, 1941 and thereafter; One year enlistments of National Guardsman whose State enlistment expires while in the Federal Service; Officers appointed in the Army of
Source: Civil Life

Education: 1 year of college
Civil Occupation: Draftsmen
Marital Status: Single, without dependents
Height: 72
Weight: 132

And here's his marriage database record. Joanne is still listed with him in Las Vegas on PeopleFinders:

CA MARRIAGE DATABASE:
Name: August J Vercruyssen
Age: 48
Est. Birth: abt 1924
Spouse Name: Joanne Riss
Spouse Age: 40
Date: 30 Jun 1972
Location: San Francisco City

The air force enlistment for both men may only be coincidental but the wives are a bigger concern. Your info states his wife's name is Jean and for AJV it's Joanne which states they were married in 1972. My first thought was that he may have been married twice. Thanks again and I hope you'll continue to find more info and hopefully my friend will get back to me soon. I hope he's still with us but this is getting more interesting with each post.

[Aleal]

Thanks for the reply!

An anonymous user on Wikipedia in 2009 added "August John" and it was copied to IMDb later (briefly, another Wikipedia user changed it to "September John.") [Edit again: Ah, seems to have been added to IMDb sometime between 2006 and October 2008 and *then* copied to Wikipedia, at least as far as archive.org's limited usefulness can go; I know it wasn't there before that though, just because I'm a researcher for Voicechasers.com. Another reason for my concern with accuracy, heh. But IMDb also had Gregg Berger listed as dead for I forget how long, almost a month or more based on a random user's whim, for *years* that John Cena voiced Dave the Barbarian based on a banned Wikipedia nutjob, that Harvard graduate Jay Ward was functionally illiterate, that animator Grim Natwick and director Burt Gillett were merely pseudonyms of each other, that George Lucas is in the Sesame Street movie "Follow That Bird," and on and on it goes. For all we know, it was a mistake made when a user tried to adjust the birth date, which also wasn't on IMDb in 2004, for example]

John Stephenson's article (and another from Oakland Tribune, also 1956) state his wife's name as Jean, and the living John W Stephenson in California (per the report), born August 9, 1923, is married to Jean. That's the biggest reason I doubt this claim, and the "August John" comes from a non-logged in Wikipedian who claimed it was his real name. Just as for a few days in 2011 someone claimed John Stephenson was dead and it made the message board rounds, but not as rapidly as this. That's why I'm so concerned with clarifying the situation as much as possible and pinpointing accuracies.

Once I'm allowed to link, I'll show you the Google book listings which pinpoint August J. Vercruyssen of Chicago as an architect with an active firm in 1984, which unless this is *another* August J. Vercruyssen of Chicago (less likely than multiple John Stephensons), cannot be the John Stephenson who was doing voice work in Hollywood in 1984. Edit: Ah, it seems this August J. Vercruyssen was in California by this point, and specifically an engineer with the architectural firm of Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall of Los Angeles. Again though, unless there are two Vercruyssens, he can't have been John Stephenson the actor at the same time, unless he was both using two names inexplicably and somehow moonlighting in a way that really doesn't seem at all likely as far as tallying with Stephenson the voice actor's confirmed work load. Couple this with the coincidence of a 90-year old John W Stephenson with the same date of birth (a greater coincidence than two people with utterly different names having the same date of birth), same wife's name (this Jean Stephenson is 83), and with the major oddities in terms of no obituary or awareness of Stephenson's alleged death from colleagues, his agency keeping his demo up and his name listed, etc. I can't find any source for "August John" that isn't copied from Wikipedia/IMDb, and mostly post 2010.

[Aleal]

One more piece of the puzzle. The "John Winfield" claim does not come out of the blue. It was added to Wikipedia in January, 2013 (and the whole "John Stephenson was a dead man named August J Vercruyssen" thing didn't begin until October) by a user with the name B24copilotniece. The edits said the source for the full birth name was "per his son" and added specific military info which tallies with the articles and other records, specifying a division even (which thus gives us another lead to pursue).

But a user named Smartie2theMaxx or something reverted it all a couple days later, and they've since been blocked for edit warring. So this is really just to show that the son popping up just now isn't really that suspicious. And his IMDb message said his mom's name was not Joan and John Winfield matches the "John W" listing; at this point I'm even debating whether to try the number listed [different addresses given but the same phone number, suggesting some are just mailing], as awkward as it may be to call and say "Hello, is this the residence of so and so? It is? Is he at home and alive?" It's how people squashed the brief period earlier this year when online sources claimed Larry Storch was dead... almost every source *except* the National Enquirer which debunked it as a rumor before anyone else did!

[TV Knowledge Fan]

No wonder I haven't heard any radio commercials featuring him lately!

R.I.P., Mr. Stephenson.

[Steve Carras]

Originally Posted by TV Knowledge Fan

No wonder I haven't heard any radio commercials featuring him lately!

R.I.P., Mr. Stephenson.

Then I guess he HASN'T died...?

[Steve Carras]

Originally Posted by Aleal

Thanks for the reply!

An anonymous user on Wikipedia in 2009 added "August John" and it was copied to IMDb later (briefly, another Wikipedia user changed it to "September John.") [Edit again: Ah, seems to have been added to IMDb sometime between 2006 and October 2008 and *then* copied to Wikipedia, at least as far as archive.org's limited usefulness can go; I know it wasn't there before that though, just because I'm a researcher for Voicechasers.com. Another reason for my concern with accuracy, heh. But IMDb also had Gregg Berger listed as dead for I forget how long, almost a month or more based on a random user's whim, for *years* that John Cena voiced Dave the Barbarian based on a banned Wikipedia nutjob, that Harvard graduate Jay Ward was functionally illiterate, that animator Grim Natwick and director Burt Gillett were merely pseudonyms of each other, that George Lucas is in the Sesame Street movie "Follow That Bird," and on and on it goes. For all we know, it was a mistake made when a user tried to adjust the birth date, which also wasn't on IMDb in 2004, for example]

John Stephenson's article (and another from Oakland Tribune, also 1956) state his wife's name as Jean, and the living John W Stephenson in California (per the report), born August 9, 1923, is married to Jean. That's the biggest reason I doubt this claim, and the "August John" comes from a non-logged in Wikipedian who claimed it was his real name. Just as for a few days in 2011 someone claimed John Stephenson was dead and it made the message board rounds, but not as rapidly as this. That's why I'm so concerned with clarifying the situation as much as possible and pinpointing accuracies.

Once I'm allowed to link, I'll show you the Google book listings which pinpoint August J. Vercruyssen of Chicago as an architect with an active firm in 1984, which unless this is *another* August J. Vercruyssen of Chicago (less likely than multiple John Stephensons), cannot be the John Stephenson who was doing voice work in Hollywood in 1984. Edit: Ah, it seems this August J. Vercruyssen was in California by this point, and specifically an engineer with the architectural firm of Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall of Los Angeles. Again though, unless there are two Vercruyssens, he can't have been John Stephenson the actor at the same time, unless he was both using two names inexplicably and somehow moonlighting in a way that really doesn't seem at all likely as far as tallying with Stephenson the voice actor's confirmed work load. Couple this with the coincidence of a 90-year old John W Stephenson with the same date of birth (a greater coincidence than two people with utterly different names having the same date of birth), same wife's name (this Jean Stephenson is 83), and with the major oddities in terms of no obituary or awareness of Stephenson's alleged death from colleagues, his agency keeping his demo up and his name listed, etc. I can't find any source for "August John" that isn't copied from Wikipedia/IMDb, and mostly post 2010.

Great to see you here, A.Leal, and keep up the very good work!!