COREY BURTON (Captain Hook) has come full circle. Regarded as one of Hollywood's elite core of stellar voice performers, Burton began his career at age 17 doing sound-alike work for Disney as the voice of Hans Conned. Two decades later, Burton steals the show with astounding impersonation of the late Conned as Captain Hook in "Return to Never Land."
"Corey does Conned so well that you feel like you're in the first movie," Chase says.
Burton studied radio acting with the legendary Daws Butler ("Time for Beany," "Merrie Melodies," "Yogi Bear," "Chilly Willy") for four-and-a-half years. Since then, Burton has voiced sound-alikes and original characters for over 50 Disney Storyteller records. He can also be heard at various Disney and Universal theme park attractions, in promotional and souvenir videos, and TV and radio commercials. Additionally, Burton has lent his voice as an announcer for network TV promos on NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX, and has narrated documentaries shown on PBS, A&E and The Discovery Channel. He is recognizable to a generation of upcoming animators as the narrator of Disney Interactive's popular "Magic Artist" series.
Burton's animation credits include voices on the animated television series "Disney's House of Mouse," "Disney's Mickey MouseWorks," "Disney's Hercules," "The Mighty Ducks," "Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears," "Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers," "Goof Troop," "Bonkers," "The Transformers" and "James Bond, Jr." His feature film work includes character voices and looping for "Atlantis: The Lost Empire," "The Outsiders," "Critters," "Poltergeist," "Tron," "E.T.," "Total Recall," "Endless Love," "Amazon Women on the Moon," "Action Jackson," "Spaceballs," "The Flamingo Kid," "Disney's Aladdin," "Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "Disney's Hercules" and "Disney's Mulan." Burton also occasionally works as a consultant on dialects, sound processes and studio microphones.
Hundreds of voices have traveled Burton's larynx since his first impersonations of Conned, but the 46-year-old had little trouble grooving back into the role for "Return to Never Land."
"I've always had a special affinity for Hans Conned's voice — as a teenager, I just sort of latched onto him as the host of Fractured Flickers," Burton recalls. "I've been doing this voice for more than 30 years now, so I pretty much know where he is and what he feels like, in terms of the parameters of the voice, exactly the way the words are shaped, and the dynamics of the role."
Still, a little pre-session brush-up is necessary to accommodate Burton's knack for perfection.
"Sometimes it'll take three or four lines before I'm really feeling the character all the way," he says. "I'll listen to the original soundtrack and then listen to myself mimicking it. It's like a pitch pipe. I want to make sure that I'm in the same basic range of energy and expression, hitting the same, familiar notes.
"I look at it as acting for radio. The animation gives it a separate life of its own, but a radio actor learns the techniques to make the line sound real, and yet intrigue the ear in a way that makes it a little bit more than real."
Burton admits playing villains offers a guilty pleasure that borders on the edge of therapeutic exercise.
"You get to be as bad as you want," he says, "and you get to reach into the most negative aspects of your own life and personality."
Burton's extensive study and intense knowledge of voice acting has brought tremendous respect from his colleagues throughout the industry.
"Corey is not only a brilliant actor but he is a true student of Disney classics," says Rob Paulsen, another of the industry's top voice actors — and the voice of several pirates on Hook's crew. "I marvel at what Corey has done— at times I think he's channeling Hans Conned. And I know what this means to Corey — I'm getting a kind of a vicarious thrill just by playing with him."
The ever-humble Burton is quick to pass on praise to his departed colleague. "It's such a privilege to carry on the work of a great character actor," says Burton. "To me, the immortal voice is the original actor, Hans Conned. I'm just standing in for him."
"With Hook, it's great fun to really ham it up. There are not many characters, especially in the modern world, where you can just chew the scenery. With the dear Captain, I can open up and explore every wild, ridiculous, melodramatic, theatrical delivery that I've ever wanted. There aren't many limits on this character, and that's fun."
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