The Woman Who Voiced Rudolph

On this episode of Our American Stories, Billie Mae Richards is a Canadian actress best known for voicing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in the 1964 stop-motion television classic. The special first aired on December 6, 1964, on NBC. Here’s Billie Mae to share her story.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
And to search for the Our American Stories podcasts, go
to the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. Billy May Richards is the Canadian actress best
known for voicing frut Off, the Red Nose Reindeer. The

(00:32):
special first aired on December sixth, nineteen sixty four, on NBC.
Here's Billy May to share her story.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
I go back almost over seventy five years now. I've
been in every kind of childrensiness. I'm quite proud of
the work in the Navy show as part of the
war effort in World War Two, we went all across
Canada back and then overseas and we did a command
performance for the King and Queen and went into Paris

(01:05):
and we played for the American troops in Paris, and
then Brussels and Amsterdam and THENTO Germany. So after the
World War Two, that is so you know how long
ago it is, I took my credits from the Navy
and I joined Lauren Green's Academy of Radio Arts, and he,
of course did a very famous Canadian and he did Bonanza.

(01:29):
That was a great series. And so I joined the
Academy of Radio Arts because I had already done stage
work and I was a musician and an actor and everything,
but I didn't know the technique for actually for radio
and drama. So that's why I went there, and out
of that I graduated in everybody that heard me gave

(01:49):
me a part of the child. So that's where my
first big show was a big drama and on the
stage series in Canada, so that it went from there.
So I spent twenty five years in the CBC doing
school podcasts and then when the cartooning came our way,

(02:09):
then it was just part of a natural progression to
go into voice work because you're not you know, I'm
not a I'm not a television actor and certainly not
now hey Clarice, Yeah, after Prajuice, would you would.

Speaker 3 (02:26):
You go off? You'll get back here.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
It's trying at all, Gee, I gotta go back. Would
you want to go withou?

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Me?

Speaker 3 (02:35):
Uh huh Rudolph, I think you're cute.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
I'm cute.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
I d.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Ma, I'm kid, I'm gid shit that I kill I
just want you to know that I'm still cute. Well,
I see Hermie once in a while, and I always
wanted to be like Hermie. I wanted to be independent.
He wanted to be a dentist. So we were missed together.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Hey, what do you say we both be independent together? Huh?
You wouldn't mind my red nose, not if you don't
mind me being a dentist.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
It's a deal.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
So that was fun, you know. So the whole show
was fun to do, and it was all Canadian. All
the voices are Canadian except for Burlives. They'll say, I
thought it wasn't an American show. No, while it was
partly Bernard collin A was directing it along with with

(03:46):
Jules bat and they came up to Toronto because we
we have all the voices from radio, because our radio
never died, you know, it's it kept on with because
of the Canadian broadcast in corporation. You know, we'd all
been still working in radio. So we had the voices
for radio. Because the puppets are actually three dimensional and

(04:11):
they have to be filmed, you know, one little teeny
movement at a time. With the three D puppets, you
might say, but they're not puppets. There they're moved each little,
teeny little bit as they moved through the snow. For instance,
the snowman goes through the snow and he's he's the
snow is pushed in front of him. It's a unique

(04:33):
process that Rank and in Bad first developed, and they
went on to do other ones. Of course, the shows
I did were all aimed for children, because that's all
I ever did were a voice voices, so like care
bears and things like that. You know, I don't tell
anybody either, because it spoils the illusion, especially for children.

(04:54):
I hate to say that, you know, especially now. Oh
I have children, grandchildren, great grandchildren. They think it's wonderful.
They when they were little, they went to school and
told their teachers that their their mother was Rudulf, and
the teacher looked at them and said, oh, yes, dear,
of course. So we get on with the work now,
you know. You know, But I sometimes I go to schools,

(05:17):
and it's very good to teach kids how important it
is to learn to read, not only for pleasure, but
there actually is a side of that that can be
a profession. So it's a it's a boost for children
and in the reading, and that's when your character voice
is you know, fine, then you can say, by the way,

(05:40):
we thought it did go one year, maybe two at
the most, and that was it. But that's you know,
that's fine. Look what happened to it. You realize that
it had become a classic, you know, sort of like
you know Wizard of Odd, you know that that type
of show that has a it has a moral to it,
and uh, you know, everything works out in the end,

(06:02):
and so I mean, there you go. What more can
you ask? You know, it all worked out in the end.
It revived Rudolph from being just the talk and a
little Christmas book and made it into something that could
be watched every Christmas. It became a Christmas classic because
you know, my grandchildren even now are you almost beyond it,

(06:27):
but they they still watch because they say, oh, but
it's so cute. Yeah, Rudolph is also of course, I'm
Rudolph in Rudolph's Shiny New Year and the one that's
Christmas in July with Fucky Snowman. So whenever there's a Rudolph,
that's my voice. Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't

(06:49):
you guide my slide tonight?

Speaker 3 (06:52):
It will be an honor, sir, And it.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
Was wonderful to see it all put together with the
actual figures, because if we didn't really know what they
were going to look like. So it was the really
fun thing. And I'm very proud that it's been on
this long, and they're not too many people that can
say that, so it's really great. But I enjoyed the
work that I do and I'm quite happy, and that's
good enough for me.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
At a terrific job on the production editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hangler. The story of the woman
who voiced Rudolph here on our American Stories. Here are
in our American Stories, we bring you inspiring stories of history, sports, business, faith,
and love. Stories from a great and beautiful country that

(07:39):
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