# Pinto Colvig
**Pinto Colvig** (September 11, 1892 – October 3, 1967) was an American voice actor, cartoonist, animator, and circus and vaudeville performer, born Vance DeBar Colvig in Jacksonville, Oregon. He was the original voice of [Walt Disney](https://www.edgepedia.org/walt-disney)'s Goofy from the character's debut in the 1932 short *Mickey's Revue* until his death in 1967, and he provided the original voice of Bozo the Clown for Capitol Records in 1946.[1](https://d23.com/walt-disney-legend/pinto-colvig/) • [2](https://abcnews.com/US/story?id=93063&page=1)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | September 11, 1892, Jacksonville, Oregon; October 3, 1967, Woodland Hills, California[3](https://nwmusicarchives.com/artist/colvig-pinto/) |
| Signature roles | Original voice of Goofy (1932–1967) and Pluto; Practical Pig in *Three Little Pigs*; Grumpy and Sleepy in *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs*[1](https://d23.com/walt-disney-legend/pinto-colvig/) |
| Bozo the Clown | Created the voice of Bozo in 1946 for the Capitol Records read-along record *Bozo at the Circus*; first to play Bozo on television, in 1949 on KTTV in Los Angeles[2](https://abcnews.com/US/story?id=93063&page=1) |
| Other studios | Fleischer Studios (Gabby in *Gulliver's Travels*, Bluto in Popeye cartoons); Warner Bros. animation; a Munchkin voice in *The Wizard of Oz*[4](https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/colvig_vance_debar_pinto_1892_1967_/) |
| Honors | Disney Legend Award, 1993; International Clown Hall of Fame, inducted May 28, 2004[5](https://epubs.nsla.nv.gov/statepubs/epubs/210777-2005-3Fall.pdf) |
| Death | Lung cancer; he had publicly supported Senator Maurine Neuberger's bill requiring cigarette package warning labels[4](https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/colvig_vance_debar_pinto_1892_1967_/) |
## Early life in Oregon
Colvig acquired the nickname "Pinto" as a child because of his heavily freckled face. He grew up in Jacksonville and nearby Medford, playing clarinet in the town bands, and proved early to be a prankster and mimic, reproducing the sounds around him and making faces to get laughs.[4](https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/colvig_vance_debar_pinto_1892_1967_/) • [6](https://www.opb.org/article/2026/10/11/pinto-colvig-bozo-the-clown/) In 1912 he enrolled as a special student at Oregon Agricultural College, now [Oregon State University](https://www.edgepedia.org/oregon-state-university), studying drawing and illustration and performing on campus as "Pinto, the Nightmare of Caricature," drawing audience members on the spot while ad-libbing.[6](https://www.opb.org/article/2026/10/11/pinto-colvig-bozo-the-clown/) He abandoned his classes each spring to work as a circus clown or on the vaudeville circuit, and eventually left school altogether.[4](https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/colvig_vance_debar_pinto_1892_1967_/)
## Cartooning and early animation
After marrying Margaret Slaven in 1916, Colvig settled in San Francisco, where he wrote and drew for the *San Francisco Bulletin* and drew the syndicated cartoon series *Life on the Radio Wave* for the *Chronicle*.[4](https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/colvig_vance_debar_pinto_1892_1967_/) In 1919 he made *Pinto's Prizma Comedy Revue*, an animated cartoon using the new Prizma Color process; the film is considered lost, though a few frames of an earlier animation he worked on, called *Creation*, survive among his papers at the Southern Oregon Historical Society.[4](https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/colvig_vance_debar_pinto_1892_1967_/) • [6](https://www.opb.org/article/2026/10/11/pinto-colvig-bozo-the-clown/)
**Silent-era Hollywood.** Colvig moved to Hollywood in the early 1920s and worked as a gag man, scenarist, and title writer for [Mack Sennett](https://www.edgepedia.org/mack-sennett), Jack White, Harold Lloyd, and others, also appearing in small comic roles. At Sennett's Keystone Film Company he combined animation with live action by hand-drawing cartoons over film frames of live actors.[4](https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/colvig_vance_debar_pinto_1892_1967_/)
## Disney and the voice of Goofy
The arrival of sound film opened Colvig's best-known career. Beginning in 1930 he did voices for many Disney characters, and in that year he signed an eight-year contract with the studio.[4](https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/colvig_vance_debar_pinto_1892_1967_/) • [7](https://research.sohs.org/sites/default/files/magazines/1992-04.pdf) Goofy made his first appearance, somewhat disguised, as a member of the audience in *Mickey's Revue* (1932), distinguished by his raucous laugh. Colvig's laugh made such an impression on Walt Disney and his staff that the character, first named Dippy Dawg in the comic strips, soon became a regular and was renamed Goofy by 1939.[8](https://d23.com/a-to-z/goofy/)
Colvig's Disney credits ranged widely: he barked for Pluto, spoke for the Practical Pig in *The Three Little Pigs*, voiced the grasshopper in *The Grasshopper and the Ants*, and voiced Grumpy and Sleepy in *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* (1937).[1](https://d23.com/walt-disney-legend/pinto-colvig/) He also helped Frank Churchill compose "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" in 1933.[9](https://d23.com/a-to-z/colvig-pinto/) D23 records that he lent his voice to Goofy from the character's debut until his death in 1967, although sources differ on the intervening years: D23 states he resigned in 1937 while continuing to record the Goofy voice from time to time,[9](https://d23.com/a-to-z/colvig-pinto/) and the Looney Tunes Wiki notes a falling out with Disney in 1937 after which sound-alikes voiced Goofy until Colvig returned in 1944.[10](https://looneytunes.fandom.com/wiki/Pinto_Colvig)
The model for Goofy came from Medford. Colvig later told Walt Disney about Frank Willeke, the Main Street railroad flagman of his youth, a "slow-minded" man known as the happiest in town; Willeke became the inspiration and model for Goofy, whose distinctive laugh Colvig imitated.[11](https://truwe.sohs.org/files/pintocolvig.html)
## Other studios and radio
Between and around his Disney years Colvig worked for other producers. For Max Fleischer Studios he voiced Gabby in *[Gulliver's Travels](https://www.edgepedia.org/gullivers-travels-1939-film)* and Bluto in the Popeye cartoons, and he did animation voice work for Warner Bros.[4](https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/colvig_vance_debar_pinto_1892_1967_/) In the 1939 film *The Wizard of Oz* he voiced a Munchkin.[3](https://nwmusicarchives.com/artist/colvig-pinto/) On radio he supplied voices and sound effects, including the sounds of [Jack Benny](https://www.edgepedia.org/jack-benny)'s Maxwell automobile on *The Jack Benny Program*.[4](https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/colvig_vance_debar_pinto_1892_1967_/)
## Bozo the Clown
In 1946 Alan Livingston, then a [Capitol Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/capitol-records) executive, created *Bozo at the Circus*, the first read-along record, which sold more than a million copies; Colvig provided Bozo's voice along with at least eight other characters.[2](https://abcnews.com/US/story?id=93063&page=1) • [6](https://www.opb.org/article/2026/10/11/pinto-colvig-bozo-the-clown/) The book-and-record combo presented an illustrated story synchronized to two discs, with a sound cue telling children when to turn the page.[6](https://www.opb.org/article/2026/10/11/pinto-colvig-bozo-the-clown/) • [3](https://nwmusicarchives.com/artist/colvig-pinto/) The character became "Bozo, the Capitol Clown," and Colvig recorded Bozo records for about a decade.[3](https://nwmusicarchives.com/artist/colvig-pinto/)
In 1949 Colvig stepped in front of the camera as the first live-action television Bozo, on KTTV in Los Angeles.[2](https://abcnews.com/US/story?id=93063&page=1) In the 1950s Capitol sold the licensing rights, and local stations across the country hired their own actors to play Bozo; the best-known version aired on WGN-TV in Chicago from 1960 to 2001.[6](https://www.opb.org/article/2026/10/11/pinto-colvig-bozo-the-clown/) The voice and delivery used by every Bozo since, including Colvig's son Vance Jr., who took up the role in 1959, has been an imitation of Pinto Colvig's.[11](https://truwe.sohs.org/files/pintocolvig.html) In 2021 the actor and director [David Arquette](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-arquette) purchased the rights to the Bozo character.[6](https://www.opb.org/article/2026/10/11/pinto-colvig-bozo-the-clown/)
## Final work and honors
Colvig's last recording was Goofy dialogue for a telephone exhibit at [Expo 67](https://www.edgepedia.org/expo-67) in Montreal, recorded about six months before his death.[12](https://www.truwe.sohs.org/files/pinto%20notes.html) • [13](https://travsd.wordpress.com/2019/09/11/pinto-colvig/) He died of lung cancer on October 3, 1967, in Woodland Hills, California, at age 75.[4](https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/colvig_vance_debar_pinto_1892_1967_/) • [3](https://nwmusicarchives.com/artist/colvig-pinto/) Disney Studios named him a Disney Legend posthumously in 1993, in the Voice category, and on May 28, 2004 he was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in recognition of his work developing [Bozo the Clown](https://www.edgepedia.org/bozo-the-clown).[1](https://d23.com/walt-disney-legend/pinto-colvig/) • [5](https://epubs.nsla.nv.gov/statepubs/epubs/210777-2005-3Fall.pdf) The Southern Oregon Historical Society maintains a significant collection of his archives and memorabilia.[4](https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/colvig_vance_debar_pinto_1892_1967_/)
## References
1. [Pinto Colvig, D23 (Walt Disney Legends)](https://d23.com/walt-disney-legend/pinto-colvig/)
2. [Battling Bozos, ABC News, June 19, 2001](https://abcnews.com/US/story?id=93063&page=1)
3. [Colvig, Pinto, The Northwest Music Archives](https://nwmusicarchives.com/artist/colvig-pinto/)
4. [Vance DeBar (Pinto) Colvig (1892-1967), by Dawna Curler, The Oregon Encyclopedia](https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/colvig_vance_debar_pinto_1892_1967_/)
5. [Historical Society Quarterly (Fall 2005), Nevada State Publications](https://epubs.nsla.nv.gov/statepubs/epubs/210777-2005-3Fall.pdf)
6. [90 years ago, an Oregon man brought Bozo the Clown to life, OPB Oregon Experience, Oct. 11, 2026](https://www.opb.org/article/2026/10/11/pinto-colvig-bozo-the-clown/)
7. [Forty-six Years Ago, Table Rock Sentinel, September/October 1992, SOHS](https://research.sohs.org/sites/default/files/magazines/1992-04.pdf)
8. [Goofy, D23 A to Z](https://d23.com/a-to-z/goofy/)
9. [Colvig, Pinto, D23 A to Z](https://d23.com/a-to-z/colvig-pinto/)
10. [Pinto Colvig, Looney Tunes Wiki (Fandom)](https://looneytunes.fandom.com/wiki/Pinto_Colvig)
11. [A Brief Biography of Pinto Colvig, by Ben Truwe, Southern Oregon Historical Society](https://truwe.sohs.org/files/pintocolvig.html)
12. [Pinto Notes, Southern Oregon Historical Society research page](https://www.truwe.sohs.org/files/pinto%20notes.html)
13. [Pinto Colvig: Original Goofy, Original Bozo, Travalanche, September 11, 2019](https://travsd.wordpress.com/2019/09/11/pinto-colvig/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Voice performers › American voice performers › Animation and cartoon voice actors › Classic cartoon and radio era voice actors*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license