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kreuzfeld [soylentnews.org] writes:

Readers here include many avid JRR Tolkien fans. Now, coming not long after the death of Christopher Tolkien (JRR's prolific son) comes a new fatality [syfy.com], Orson Bean:

"Born July 22, 1928, Bean was a star of the small and big screen. ... He is also one of the first actors to portray a hobbit, as he voiced both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins in the Rankin/Bass animated TV films The Hobbit and The Return of the King in the late 1970s. Before Elijah Wood or Martin Freeman, Tolkien fans had Bean as the voice in their head while re-reading the novels."

Love them or hate them, the Rankin/Bass films & Bean's key roles in them defined the Tolkien experience for a generation of viewers.

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