Check the Cult of Cummings for more information! Tons of it. ^_^ Outside of the Cult,
however, there's not a lot of detailed information on Mr. Cummings. I'll do my best with the bits I know.
First of all, Jim was born in 1953 in Youngstown, Ohio, and grew up there. (Ever notice that
sometimes when Darkwing is doing martial arts, he yells "O-hi-yo!" as he attacks? Little
injoke there.) The info I've gotten from IMDB is that Jim moved to New Orleans, Louisiana,
and held a bunch of jobs - Mardi Gras float designer, singer, salesman, and others. At some
point he apparently realized that his future lay in doing what he'd done all his life -
impersonating various other voices (I read an interview where he said he'd just grown up doing it),
so he moved to California. IMDB says his first job was playing Lionel in the absolutely abysmal
live-action "Dumbo's Circus". I remember that show. If I'm not mistaken (I can never find any
credits for it), it was also one of the earliest roles which Katie Leigh was involved in, too.
Anyway, to his credit, Jim played the part well and anyone who remembers the show will remember
that he sounded a lot like the mouse from "Dumbo". (That was what I remembered from it) Freelancing
about in California, Jim then played a real potpourri of roles - in "Transformers",
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", and he did his Andy Devine impression as a cartoon bullet
in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (I love that movie). In 1989 he started really getting the
starring roles - Jim took over as prime voice talent for both Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, and
"Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers" started up in which Jim played not only
Monterey Jack, but at least half of any of the villains (Fat Cat, Professor Nimnul, various Henchmen).
The man is a vocal chameleon - even if you know he did one, you won't necessarily pick out
all his other characters.
The 90s were really Jim's decade. If you look at the listings for 1991 and 1992 at IMDB, it's hard
to believe if Jim was ever NOT working for a single day of those two years. In addition to Darkwing and
Goof Troop (in which Jim played Pete), he had nine other roles, six of which were in
continuing series. True, not all of them lasted, but it's the effort that counts. :)
In 1995, Jim won an "Annie" award (these are I suppose awards for animated programs) for his work as Mr. Bumpy
in "Bump in the Night", and was nominated for Outstanding Achievement in his field. How 'bout THAT. *g*
Jim caught on film
(Taken from a Jim Cummings fan page, although this pic seems to be the standard ID pic of Jim)
For the sake of interest, here's an at least partial list of voices on Darkwing Duck that Jim did:
Here's an abbreviated list of Jim's roles (generally the ones I'm more
interested in *g*) - it has to be abbreviated because there are more than 100
listed at IMDB. :) Go there or to Voice Chasers to see his entire listings...
...And that's the abbreviated list... o_O