The Voice Of Donald Duck Once Echoed Through Montrose

The voice actor who provided the distinctive quacks of the Disney animated character Donald Duck for over 50 years was a Montrose resident and even had a side business in Montrose that still exists today.

Clarence “Ducky” Nash was born in Oklahoma in 1904. Even as a child, little Clarence spent his time imitating the sounds of nature – bird songs, insects and farmyard animals. In the late ’20s, Clarence moved to California, the Bay area, taking odd jobs. In 1930, he got married and the couple moved south to Los Angeles. They bought a house in the new subdivision of Sparr Heights, just below Montrose.

In the early ’30s, Clarence had supporting spots on radio KHJ doing animal impressions. At the same time he worked driving a horse-drawn milk delivery circuit. He was popular with the children of his customers, handing out treats and giving animal impressions along his route. They called him “Whistling Clarence, the Adohr Bird Man.”

Clarence got an interview at the Disney Studios in 1933. They were looking for voices for a talking duck in their animated short “The Wise Little Hen.” When Clarence did his duck impression for the casting director, the director reached for the intercom and told Walt Disney, “I think we have found our duck.” He started as a Disney employee that year for $35 a week.

Clarence went on to an amazing career as a Disney voice actor in 120 short cartoons and animated features. As the Donald Duck character became internationally popular, Clarence voiced the duck in all of the foreign languages the cartoons were translated into. Besides Donald Duck, Clarence voiced all Donald’s nephews: Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and girlfriend Daisy, plus Figaro the kitten and the donkey in “Pinocchio.” He did the birds in “Snow White” and the frog in “Bambi,” dog sounds in “101 Dalmatians,” a few stints as Jiminy Cricket, and various bird sounds for Disneyland’s Tiki Room. He also did background voices for “Cinderella,” “Lady and the Tramp” and “Sleeping Beauty.” He even did a few turns as Mickey Mouse for several cartoons.

Clarence devoted his free time to charity work. He visited children in hospitals with a ventriloquist dummy of Donald Duck, making sad kids laugh. During WWII, Clarence toured with the USO entertaining the troops. He was even a guest at the White House for Donald’s 50^th birthday.

Clarence was also a constant presence in Montrose within walking distance of his house in Sparr Heights. He could be seen eating at the Bob’s at La Crescenta Avenue and Verdugo, entertaining kids waiting for their orders. He was a frequent guest at Fremont Elementary School for special assemblies. For a few years in the ’50s or ’60s, Clarence owned Andersen’s Pet Store when it was down on Verdugo Road. He charmed with his animal impressions any kids who entered the store. That’s the same Andersen’s Pet Store that’s now on Honolulu Avenue. Ask any CV old timer and they probably had an encounter with Clarence’s Donald Duck voice.

Clarence Nash was asked to come out of retirement one last time in 1983 to voice Donald in “Mickey’s Christmas Carol.” The sound crew worried that the infirm old man, now suffering the effects of the cancer that would kill him, could no longer perform. Clarence went into a coughing fit. The sound crew grew worried. But then Clarence straightened up and did his Donald Duck voice perfectly, even improvising a few lines.

Clarence died from leukemia in 1985 and is buried in San Fernando Mission Cemetery. He’s buried in a shared grave with his wife of 55 years. The tombstone depicts Donald Duck and Daisy holding hands over a heart.

An interesting side-note to finish up. Clarence Nash, his wife Margaret and their two daughters lived in the same house in Sparr Heights for the entirety of Nash’s career. The address was 3427 Sierra Vista. I did a drive-by and the house looks original today. If you own that house, it would be a slam dunk to be listed as a Glendale landmark, with its corresponding tax breaks.