Voice Actor. He was born Donald Earle Messick in Buffalo, New York, to Lena and Binford Messick, a house painter. The Great Depression drove the family from their home in search of work, settling eventually in Bolton Hill, Baltimore, Maryland. As a boy, he taught himself ventriloquism, and at 15, was given a one-man radio show on local radio station, WBOC, on the strength of his vocal skills. At 18, during World War II, he was drafted and assigned to Special Services, where his duties included entertaining troops stateside. After the war, he went west, and earned a role with a radio drama on KGO radio in San Francisco. He then worked on a televised puppet show, "Time for Beany" before live children's shows were phased out in favor of cheaper cartoons. In 1954, he earned a job with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Cartoon Studios, where he was given the roll of voicing Droopy the Dog, which he continued for three years. In 1957, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, opened their own studio, and they hired Messick and his friend Daws Butler as their primary voice talents. His raft of characters at Hanna-Barbera included Boo Boo Bear and Ranger Smith; Pixie the mouse in "Pixie and Dixie;" Bamm-Bamm from "The Flintstones;" Atom Ant, Dr. Benton Quest from "Jonny Quest;" Astro from "The Jetsons;" Zippy and Dum-Dum in "The Perils of Penelope Pitstop;" Sebastian the Cat from "Josie and the Pussycats;" Spot from "Hong Kong Phooey;" and Muttley from "The Wacky Races." In 1969, he began his tenure as the voice of Scooby-Doo on "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" He would come back to Scooby for such titles as "The New Scooby-Doo Movie" in 1972, "The Scooby-Doo Show" from 1976 to 1978; "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" from 1988 to 1991, and "Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf" from 1988. He also voiced Scrappy-Doo. In 1977, he contributed to the animated movie, "The Hobbit." He played Papa Smurf on "The Smurfs" from 1981 to 1989 as well as several robots on "Transformers" from 1984 to 1988. In 1990, he also became Hamton J. Pig on "Tiny Toon Adventures," and "The Plucky Duck Show." In September 1996, he suffered a stroke while recording "The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest," after which he announced his retirement. A year later, he succumbed to a second stroke at age 71.