Brian Bedford, the voice of ‘Robin Hood’ in the Disney animated classic, dies at 80
PETER MORGAN/APThe voice of Robin Hood in the Disney animated classic has passed away.
Brian Bedford died at 80 in Santa Barbara, Calif., after a two-year battle with cancer.
The British theatre actor died Wednesday and was most famous for voicing the character of Robin Hood in the 1973 animated movie.
The hit film’s music was nominated for an Oscar and featured a stellar cast, including Peter Ustinov as Prince John.
Bedford was born in Yorkshire, England, and left school at 15 to join an amateur theater group, reported Mirror Online.
He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London from 1952 until 1954, where his classmates included Peter O’Toole and Albert Finney.
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Bedford voiced Robin Hood in the Disney animated classic.
Bedford made his Broadway debut in 1959 in a production of Peter Shaffer’s “Five Finger Exercise.”
He won a Tony Award in 1971 for his performance in Moliere’s “The School for Wives.”
Bedford earned his seventh Tony nomination in 2011 for his drag performance as Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest.”
But he was forced to withdraw from productions of “The Merchant of Venice” and “The Last Confession” in recent years because of illness.
Bedford is survived by his husband, Tim MacDonald, an actor.