Paul Winchell Dead At Age 82

Voice Of Many Cartoon Characters, Ventriloquist And Inventor

(CBS/AP)  In 1974, Winchell earned a Grammy for best children's recording with "The Most Wonderful Things About Tiggers" from the feature "Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too."

At the age of 13, Winchell was a winner on radio's "Amateur Hour" for doing his imitation of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and Bergen's famed wooden stage partner, Charlie McCarthy. Bergen was his childhood hero, and Winchell said one of the greatest thrills of his life was a joint appearance with Bergen on the game show "Masquerade Party."

Winchell made his television debut in 1947 with a smart-mouthed puppet he had invented in his early teens, and within a year was host of "The Bigelow Show." He was also host of a number of children's shows, including "The Paul Winchell-Jerry Mahoney Show" and "Circus Time."

In 1950, Winchell created Knucklehead Smiff and introduced him on "The Spiedel Show," which later became "What's My Name?"

Despite his success in television, Winchell felt the medium did not do justice to his beloved craft.

"Ventriloquism today is in a slump," he told the AP. "I think television defeats ventriloquism. Children are so used to seeing puppets that when they see a real ventriloquist they don't understand it. On television, everyone talks and they don't care about the mechanics."

Winchell's dummies are now at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

Winchell was born in New York City on Dec. 21, 1922. He contracted polio at age six and overcame speech impediments as he learned to throw his own voice.

Winchell attended Columbia University and also studied and practiced acupuncture and hypnosis and became a prolific inventor.

He donated his early artificial heart to the University of Utah for research. Dr. Robert Jarvik and other researchers at the university went on to build an artificial heart, dubbed the Jarvik-7, which was implanted into patients after 1982.

Among Winchell's other patents: a disposable razor, a flameless cigarette lighter and an invisible garter belt.

Winchell is survived by his wife of 31 years, the former Jean Freeman; five children and three grandchildren.