Billie Richards

about

Billie Mae Richards (née Dinsmore, November 21, 1921 – September 10, 2010) was a Canadian voice actress, who also appeared onstage and on television. She was the voice of Rankin/Bass' version of the character Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer from 1964 to 1979, and of the Kid in the radio series Jake and the Kid. Richards was born Billy Mae Dinsmore, in Toronto to parents Garnett and Eva May (Stanton) Dinsmore. Enrolled by her ambitious father in dancing lessons as a toddler, by the age of five she was in a stage show with WW1 veterans. She enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy and performed in the show Meet the Navy that travelled across Canada and in Europe. She attended the Lorne Greene Academy of Radio Arts in Toronto. Richards worked at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, speaking and singing in radio dramas. From 1950 to 1956, she was the voice of the Kid in the ongoing radio series Jake and the Kid. As well has her portrayal of Rudolph, Richards also voiced Tenderheart Bear in the first two Care Bears movies, as well as the DIC-produced television series (credited as "Billie Mae Richard"), and Brightheart Raccoon in the Nelvana-produced Care Bears television series. Richards' four other appearances in Rankin/Bass productions animated were in Willy McBean and his Magic Machine, The King Kong Show, The Smokey Bear Show and The Daydreamer (both from the mid-1960s) and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and its sequels all written in the United States and animated in Japan.

top songs

albums

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

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Blake Booth

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Ashley Collins

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Caden Graham

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Rudolph, Frosty and Friends' Favorite Christmas Songs

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Nick at Nite: A Classic Cartoon Christmas

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Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (Original 1964 TV Soundtrack)

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Rudolph, Frosty and Friends

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Rudolph, Frosty, and Friends: Favorite Christmas Songs

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A Classic Cartoon Christmas

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Christmix 2007

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Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

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