Pierre Laurent Renoudet (1935-2024) was known by several variations of his name, including Pete Renoudet, P.L. Renoudet, and Pete or Peter Renaday. He’s also known as one of the consummate voice actors in Hollywood, a legend among those who cherish Disney heritage, and one of the most pleasant people one could have met.
From his unassuming demeanor, one might not guess that his resume brims with such animated features as Howl’s Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro, Mulan, Cats Don’t Dance, The Aristocats, The Black Cauldron, and Johnny’s Golden Quest; television series like Snorks, Animaniacs, Justice League, Scooby Doo, and TaleSpin; and countless on-camera appearances TV shows such as Night Court and Dallas. When Pete passed away in September 2024, most obituaries limited his accomplishments to his role as Splinter in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
His cameos in Disney movies and TV shows of the sixties and seventies are always a delight to fans, from Lt. Robin Crusoe, USN, and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes to The Cat from Outer Space and The Million Dollar Duck. His many offscreen Disney duties included humming for Brian Bedford’s Robin Hood in the 1973 animated feature. An alternate version of the Oscar-nominated song “Love” was revealed in the Walt Disney Legacy Collection CD soundtrack album.
Perhaps his most memorable appearance on the movie screen was when he played a San Francisco policeman who, along with another great character actor, Herb Vigran, arrived just after Herbie the Love Bug attempted to do away with himself on the Golden Gate Bridge.
Pete Renaday (right, with Herb Vigran) talks himself out of seeing a car try to commit suicide in the box-office topper of 1969, The Love Bug.
Pete was on the Disney staff for many years, most memorably for him at the script library, where he had access to the fabled backlot. He recalled Disney magic happening in all directions, including Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke working through Mary Poppins rehearsals during his breaks.
Henry from Country Bear Jamboree
Pete was a great favorite of WED Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering), where he did voices for a number of attractions, including the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, and the original Country Bear Jamboree as Henry the master of ceremonies and bull-on-the-wall Max.
Disneyland Records listeners know him as “the other Ghost Host” on the classic, collectible Storyteller album, The Story and Songs of The Haunted Mansion. Paul Frees was either unavailable or beyond the budget, so Pete joined Ron Howard and Robie Lester at Sunset Sound in Hollywood to record a “teens in a storm visit a haunted house” premise written by Walt Disney Records founder and president Jimmy Johnson. Pete’s Ghost Host performance has its own unique style, which producer Tutti Camarata recorded twice and played out of sync, sometimes spreading the two voices from channel to channel.
Pete’s appearances on Disneyland Records included voicing Charlie the Owl for The New Zoo Revue, directing the narration for the “second cast” story album of Robin Hood, and playing the father and Santa Claus on the unusual album The Sounds of Christmas.
He was also one of many voices of Mickey Mouse, after Walt Disney and Jimmy Macdonald. Before the Disney Character Voices was created in 1988 and specific actors were designated as “official,” it was customary for additional Mickeys to be cast depending on the project and the creative team. Alan Young was Mickey as well as Uncle Scrooge on the 1975 recording Dickens’ Christmas Carol Featuring The Walt Disney Players, which inspired 1982’s Mickey’s Christmas Carol. As this previous Animation Spin explains, the Christmas Carol album was actually remade from an earlier version with Bill Lee, Jimmy Macdonald and Pete Renaday.
Though he was seldom, if ever credited, Pete spoke and sang for Mickey on the full line of Talking Mickey Mouse story cassettes starting in 1986. He spoke and sang for him on such hit Disney albums as Pardners and Yankee Doodle Mickey, as well as various read-alongs and toys over a decade before Wayne Allwine was designated the studio’s first “official” voice in 1988.
“Yankee Doodle Dandy” – Mickey Mouse
Pete Renaday brought a lot of joy and fine artistry to so many projects it would be impossible to track all of them down, but here’s a peppy performance from 1980. (Thanks, Mathieu Leblanc)
GREG EHRBAR is a freelance writer/producer for television, advertising, books, theme parks and stage. Greg has worked on content for such studios as Disney, Warner and Universal, with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. His numerous books include Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records (with Tim Hollis). Visit 
Thanks for shining a spotlight on an unsung hero. Pete Renaday’s name was unknown to me before today, but he seems to have had a remarkable career at Disney and elsewhere. It’s also good to know that he was a pleasant person; that counts for an awful lot in life.
What part did Pete play in “The Million Dollar Duck”? I know it’s far from being one of the most highly regarded Disney movies, but it’s long been a guilty pleasure of mine because its antagonist (played by Joe Flynn) has the same name as one of my favourite professors at university. Not to mention cameos by George O’Hanlon and Hal Smith!
Pete Renoudet played Mr. Beckert – a treasury agent in the $1,000,000 Duck.
George O’Hanlon and Hal Smith? That cinches it, I’ve got to check it out sometime.
Also, if you consider the storyline and character conflict in Million Dollar Duck, it’s very much like Breaking Bad.
In the early 70’s there seemed to be no Christmas material in current release on Disneyland Records. One year shortly after Christmas, I wrote a letter to Disneyland Records mentioning this and at the same time suggesting that L. Frank Baum’s short story “A Kidnapped Santa Claus” might make a good storyteller album. A few weeks passed, and I received a letter back. They liked my idea, really liked it, and promised to give it some consideration. Not only that, I was gifted with a copy of the recently released album “Mickey Mouse: This is My Life.” But even though my idea never got developed into an album, I noted that the very next Christmas there were four Christmas-themed Disney albums in the stores. These were “A Disney Christmas Concert,” “From All of Us to All of You plus Favorite Christmas Carols,” “A Christmas Adventure in Disneyland,” and “The Sounds of Christmas.” (The latter which is referenced above.) I later discovered that the first three albums were reissues of earlier material but that the “Sounds” album was apparently new that year. I like to think that my suggestion helped to spur these multiple releases of holiday-themed albums.
It was a real treat to hear “The Sounds of Christmas” once again. Pete’s rendition of the title song should have become a holiday classic. He was certainly a gifted, multi-talented performer.
That was a great tidbit about the Disney studio’s little theatre, which barely gets mentioned. It’s so tantalizing to imagine the types of once-in-a-lifetime performances that would have happened there.
I do like his rendition of the Ghost Host on the Haunted Mansion album. Another of Pete’s many voice credits was introducing “The Mouse Factory” TV series.
Re:Haunted Mansion. That’s probaly his best,a record that could really please the “iummortal” Claude Coats,given the real seriousnbess of it..Thuel Ravenscroft narrates in addition to his iconic “Grim Grinning Ghosts” song lead from the attraction; Ron Howard and another Disney record legend, Robie Lester, as our teenage heroes,Mike and Karen,on a date,respectively. Eleanor Audley is also there, as Madame Leota (also from the attraction,the actual soundtrack,too.)