The art of studio singing is generally under the radar of the general public, but those of us who read album notes, film credits, and eventually get to know a vocal timbre, we know the great Bill Lee (1916-1980).
Like his female counterpart Marni Nixon, Bill Lee sang solo, in vocal groups, and with most renown in movies. He is probably best known as the singing voice of Christopher Plummer in 1965’s The Sound of Music. Here is the scene with Plummer’s original vocal. He is quite a good singer:
But he’s not Bill Lee:
At first, Plummer was annoyed at being dubbed. Upon hearing Lee’s version, he conceded that Lee should sing for Captain Von Trapp. Lee matches the softness and sensitivity of Plummer’s vocal, even to the point of including the little chuckle, but provides a pitch-perfect, smooth rendition. It made the overall performance better, just as any other added effect enhances the production construct of a film.
In addition to Plummer, Lee did the vocals for John Kerr in South Pacific (1958), Tom Drake in Words and Music, and Edson Stroll in Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961). Among his animation credits is singing for Yogi in Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear (1964), Shere Khan in The Jungle Book (1967), and Roger in 101 Dalmatians (1961). He was in the County Fair quartet singing “Zuckerman’s Famous Pig” in Charlotte’s Web (1973):
“When I went to the audition to sing for Franco Nero in Camelot (1967), there was Bill Lee just coming out of the booth,” recalled Gene Merlino, also a major Hollywood studio singer. “I figured that Bill books the big movie solos, so I didn’t have a chance, so I was surprised when I got the job.”
As a member of the Mellomen quartet and other male ensembles, Lee can be heard on countless records, demo discs, and soundtracks, especially for Walt Disney. Among the many songs are “Painting the Roses Red” in Alice in Wonderland (1951), the themes to the Mickey Mouse Club, Zorro, and Davy Crockett. In Lady and the Tramp (1955), they sang “Home Sweet Home” for the dogs in the pound (from left, Bob Stevens, Bill Lee, Thurl Ravenscroft, and Max Smith):
Among his many Disneyland records were Children’s Riddles and Game Songs (singing for Pinto Colvig’s Goofy) and Ten Songs from Mary Poppins, which also featured Marni Nixon. In “Jolly Holiday,” producer Tutti Camarata used the soundtrack animal track (in which Lee sings for the ram and others ) with Lee singing over Dick Van Dyke. As a kid, I admit I didn’t realize Van Dyke was in there.
His only full narration for Disneyland Records was as Uncle Scrooge for the first edition of Dickens’ Christmas Carol (though the character is referenced only in the album art, not on the record. This album was redone with a full cast led by Alan Young, in Scrooge role that led to his voicing the characters for many years. Find out more about this album on this Animation Spin.
On television, Lee sang the theme for TV series like Bat Masterson and Branded (Branded, by the way, was one of the few series produced by Goodson-Todman Productions (Match Game, Password) that was not a game show.)
Lee made a few on-camera appearances, usually in cameo singing roles. On an episode of Here’s Lucy, he was seen briefly after a commercial break, singing on stage. And in the big production number, “The Prince Is Giving a Ball” in the 1965 version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, he sings with the ensemble, getting a screen credit as “The Father,” whose daughter is getting dreamy-eyed:
There were two albums in which Bill Lee was the star, on the solo album My Port of Call, and in the lead role as “The Dreamer,” singing and narrating the highly creative, surreal, and somewhat disturbing Seven Dreams. Musical director Gordon Jenkins, who worked with superstars like Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, created a handful of concept albums, predating The Moody Blues’ Days of Future Passed and The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club. Called “musical narratives,” some were huge successes, like Manhattan Tower, and The Letter with Judy Garland. His final concept record was the third disc in Frank Sinatra’s bestselling Trilogy LP set, “The Future,” which I like to call Frank Sinatra and the Pussycats in Outer Space.
Seven Dreams, released in 1963 1953, is very hauntingly beautiful and seriously strange, but star-studded with actors and singers associated with cartoons and radio, including Thurl Ravenscroft, Ernie Newton, Dick Beals. Jeanette Nolan, and John McIntyre. Jenkins’ wife, Beverly Mahr, sings “Crescent City Blues,” which was cloned into Johnny Cash’s hit, “Folsom Prison Blues.” Jenkins won the lawsuit. The main thing is that Bill Lee plays a rare lead, a Don Draper-like character dissatisfied with his career, his marriage, and life in general. Like all his work, Lee is spectacular.
“Gordon Jenkins’ Seven Dreams”
It’s hard to describe such an ambitious, experimental, and sometimes polarizing work as this one. Listen and decide for yourself. The cover art is reminiscent of the Paul Julian “Twilight Zone” titles, or UPA’s The Tell-Tale Heart, which was also released in 1953.
GREG EHRBAR is an author, presenter, and recent guest host on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). His latest book is Hanna-Barbera: The Recorded History. Greg creates content for such studios as Disney, Warner, and Universal, hosts the POP Culture Classics and the Funtastic World of Hanna & Barbera podcasts, and teaches at universities nationwide. Visit 
On the Babes in Toyland second cast album, Bill Lee sings the Gonzorgo part (Henry Calvin’s role in the film) along with Thurl Ravenscroft as Barnaby in the song “We Won’t Be Happy til We Get it”, Then he assumes the Barnaby role in “Castle in Spain” which he performs solo. An odd choice to have one performer switch roles on the same album, but Lee acquits himself well, providing an interesting contrast to Ray Bolger’s rendition on the original soundtrack. Bolger’s performance is more “in character,” exploring the corrupt nature of Barnaby’s machinations in mock-menacing tones, whereas Lee’s interpretation is more focused on bringing out the richness of the song itself and doing justice to Victor Herbert’s melody. Which is appropriate, considering that this particular album was intended for listening.
One thing that confused me as a child was that the original soundtrack of Mary Poppins did not contain the animal chorus in “Jolly Holiday.” This portion of the song could only be heard on the Marni Nixon album. Since different artists were listed on the second cast album, I assumed that the “animal portion” of the song was likewise crafted for the album, until years later when I read somewhere that this part was excerpted from the actual film soundtrack. Of course, I listened to it again right away. It was at that moment when I likewise made the discovery that Bill Lee was singing over Dick Van Dyke. But it does beg the question of why, if the soundtrack for this sequence was available, couldn’t it have been heard on the soundtrack album? I’m sure many kids were disappointed not to hear what was probably their favorite part of the movie on the “official” record.
I wonder how Lee felt when he viewed The Sound of Music, knowing that it was his own voice covering Christopher Plummer’s singing. On a personal note, I once had the opportunity, as the director of a community theatre play, to dub a singing voice for an actor who appreciated not being required to sing. I can attest that there are few experiences as gratifying as hearing one’s own voice come out of a talented actor’s mouth.
Thanks for this post, Greg! It is always good to hear from you on Cartoon Research!
Terrific post!
Gordon Jenkins’ “Seven Dreams” was released in 1953.
Noted – and corrected. Thanks.
Wow, what an unsung talent. For years, I thought it was Thurl Ravenscroft doing Shere Khan’s voice in “That’s What Friends Are For”. I’m also surprised he did Yogi’s singing voice in “Hey There, it’s Yogi Bear”
Good post, as always Mr. Ehrbar
No disrespect to Bill Lee, who was just doing what he was hired to do, but I don’t agree his dubbing Plummer “made the overall performance better”. It made it not entirely Plummer’s performance. As you say, Plummer was a good singer himself (he starred on Broadway in a musical version of “Cyrano de Bergerac”), and to replace his voice with someone else’s denies us of nuances that only Plummer himself could provide. If Plummer wasn’t a good enough singer to play Captain Von Trapp, he shouldn’t have been hired, but he WAS good enough and he WAS hired, so they should have let him do the job.
I totally respect your point of view!
My own thought is that no matter who did the singing it is still Plummer’s performance all the way, and at the time I don’t recall that there was any mention of his having been dubbed. And having listened carefully to both versions as posted above, it is not a case of a Bill Lee performance running roughshod over a Christopher Plummer performance. It’s more of an enhancement. Lee keeps his voice as close as possible to that of the actor and incorporates some of his nuances into the interpretation. Lee was more than capable of doing his own interpretation of a song as in the example I used above of “Castle in Spain” which is totally his, but he could also, as in The Sound of Music, adjust his vocal to a close representation of the other actor so as not to supplant or take away from the original performance. I for one am glad that both versions have survived so that today we have this comparison.