All Dogs Go to Heaven: Don Bluth remembers Burt Reynolds’ dog voice & Dom DeLuise saving the movie

Last Updated on October 8, 2024

Before Burt Reynolds was doing voice roles for a quick buck later in his career, he had a true passion for the art…or maybe just acting like a dog. His first foray into voice work was as Charlie 1989’s All Dogs Go to Heaven. While the character was written with Reynolds in mind, he brought a little something extra to the part, which resulted in none other than Dom DeLuise (who voiced Itchy) being recruited to help.

In a recent social media post, All Dogs Go to Heaven director and animation legend Don Bluth remembered Burt Reynolds going full German Shepherd. “When he first came to the microphone he made up what he called, ‘My wonderful dog voice.’ He was very proud of it, but it was awful.” As such, Bluth asked DeLuise (a longtime pal of Reynolds’) to help out, which he did…for a price. “Then I called Dom DeLuise to see if he could suggest how to get Burt not to use his dog voice. Dom laughed and said, ‘Put me in the movie, call me Itchy. I can fix this.’ In the recording studio Dom and Burt sat side by side and when Burt started to use his dog voice, Dom looked at him and said, ‘What the hell is that, you’re embarrassing me. Just be Burt, the audience loves Burt.’ And that is the reason Itchy, Charlie’s wonderful friend is in the movie.”

Unfortunately, this so-called “dog voice” has been lost, so we’ll never get to hear exactly what Burt Reynolds would actually sound like as a German Shepherd. We do, however, need to hear what Dom DeLuise’s weiner dog voice sounds like.

Outside of Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise, All Dogs Go to Heaven also features the distinct talents of Judith Barsi, who tragically died in 1988 before both that and her other signature film, The Land Before Time, were released. There, too, is Charles Nelson Reilly, Reynolds’ then-wife Loni Anderson, Vic Tayback, and Ken Page, who died this past week.

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