Alan Young, who played loyal friend David Filby to Rod Taylor’s time-travelling H. George Wells in the classic 1960 movie The Time Machine, was the voice of Scrooge McDuck in Duck Tales, and played Wilbur Post who conversed with a talking horse named Mr. Ed, has left us at the age of 96.

Born on November 19, 1919 in North Shields, Tyne and Wear in England, his father moved the family to Scotland where Mr. Young suffered from asthma. Bedridden for most of his childhood, he was encouraged to listen to radio shows. At the age of just 13 he became a radio performer and by the age of 17 he was writing and performing his own shows for the Canadian Broadcasting System.

His success led him to New York, where producers and audiences considered him the “All American Boy” despite his non-American origin. From 1944 – 1949 he performed The Alan Young Show on radio, but when radio began to wane due to television, he created a show which he toured theaters around the United States. In 1950, Mr. Young wrote a television pilot for The Alan Young Show that was picked up and ran for three years.

After a series of parts in feature films, in 1960, right after his outstanding role in The Time Machine, he was chosen by George Burns to play Wilbur Post in the Mr. Ed series because Mr. Burns thought he’d be the kind of guy a horse would talk to. The series ran for five years from 1961 – 1966, becoming a cultural, iconic hit and marketing lunch pails, coloring books, records and game boards that were a sensation with elementary school children. In the end credits of the show, the talking Mr. Ed was billed as himself, but in reality it was western star Alan “Rocky” Lane who provided his voice.

Gifted with a unique voice, Alan Young performed many characters for several popular animated shows such as Battle of the Planets, Mickey’s Christmas Carol, The Smurfs, Rubik’s Cube, Alvin and the Chipmunks and many more, but it was Scrooge McDuck that everyone remembers his incredible talent that made an impression on every child who watched the Duck Tales series.

STARBURST sends our heartfelt thoughts to his friends and family to a gentleman actor that we will always remember with fond memories.