Idea Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Idea Wiki
120,397
pages
File:Casey Kasem.jpg

Kemal Amen "CaseyKasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, music historian, radio personality, voice actor, and actor, known for being the host of several music radio countdown programs, most notably American Top 40, from 1970 until his retirement in 2009, and for providing the voice of Norville "Shaggy" Rogers in the Scooby-Doo franchise from 1969 to 1997, and again from 2002 until 2009.

Kasem co-founded the American Top 40 franchise in 1970, hosting it from its inception to 1988, and again from 1998 to 2004. Between January 1989 and early 1998, he was the host of Casey's Top 40Casey's Hot 20, and Casey's Countdown. From 1998 to 2009, Kasem also hosted two adult contemporary spin-offs of American Top 40American Top 20 and American Top 10.

In addition to his radio shows, Kasem provided the voice of many commercials, performed many voices for Sesame Street, provided the character voice of Peter Cottontail in the Rankin/Bass production of Here Comes Peter Cottontail, was "the voice of NBC", and helped out with the annual Jerry Lewis telethon. He provided the cartoon voices of Robin in Super Friends, Mark on Battle of the Planets, and a number of characters for the Transformers cartoon series of the 1980s. In 2008, he was the voice of Out of Sight Retro Night which aired on WGN America, but was replaced by rival Rick Dees. After 40 years, Kasem retired from his role of voicing Shaggy in 2009, although he did voice Shaggy's father in the 2010 TV series Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.

Early life[]

Kasem was born in Detroit, Michigan, on April 27, 1932, to Lebanese Druze immigrant parents, who had settled in Michigan, where they worked as grocers. Kasem was named after Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a man Kasem said his father respected.

In the 1940s, "Make Believe Ballroom" reportedly inspired Kasem to follow a career in radio and later host a national radio hits countdown show. Kasem received his first experience in radio covering sports at Northwestern High School in Detroit. He then went to Wayne State University for college. While at Wayne State, he voiced children on radio programs such as The Lone Ranger and Challenge of the Yukon. In 1952, Kasem was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Korea. There, he worked as a DJ/announcer on the Armed Forces Radio Korea Network.

Career[]

Early career[]

After the war, Kasem began his professional broadcasting career in Flint, Michigan. From there, he spent time in Detroit as a disc jockey for radio station WJBK-AM (and doing such shows as The Lone Ranger and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon); Buffalo, New York; and Cleveland before moving to California. At KYA in San Francisco, the general manager first suggested he tone down his 'platter patter' and talk about the records instead. Kasem demurred at first, because it was not what was normally expected in the industry. At KEWB in Oakland, California, Kasem was both the music director and on-air personality. He created a show which mixed in biographical tidbits about the artists' records he played, and attracted the attention of Bill Gavin who tried to recruit him as a partner. After Kasem joined KRLA in Los Angeles in 1963, his career really started to blossom and he championed the R&B music of East L.A.

Kasem earned roles in a number of low budget movies, and acted on radio dramas. While hosting "dance hops" on local television, he attracted the attention of Dick Clark who as a producer hired him to co-host a daily teenage music show called Shebang starting in 1964. Kasem appeared in network TV series including Hawaii Five-O and Ironside. In 1967, Kasem appeared on The Dating Game, and played the role of "Mouth" in the motorcycle gang film The Glory Stompers. In 1969, he played the role of "Knife" in the "surfers vs. bikers" film Wild Wheels, and had a small role in another biker movie, The Cycle Savages, starring Bruce Dern and Melody Patterson.

Kasem's voice was, however, always the key to his career. At the end of the 1960s, he began working as a voice actor. In 1969, he started one of his most famous roles, the voice of Shaggy on Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!. He also voiced the drummer Groove from The Cattanooga Cats that year. In 1964, Kasem had a minor hit single called "Letter From Elaina". A spoken-word recording, it told the story of a girl who met George Harrison after a San Francisco concert.

Filmography[]

Film[]

Year Title Role
1966 The Girls From Thunder Strip

[1]

Additional voices (voice)
1967 The Glory Stompers

[2]

Mouth (Live-action)
1968 Scream Free!

[1]

Additional voices (voice)
1968 2000 Years Later

[1]

Additional voices (voice)
1969 Wild Wheels

[2]

Knife (Live-action)
1969 The Cycle Savages

[2]

Keeg's Brother (voice)
1971 The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant

[1]

Ken (Live-action)
1972 Doomsday Machine Mission Control Officer (voice)
1977 Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics (film) Shaggy Rogers, Alexander Cabot III, and Mr. Creepley
1978 Disco Fever

[1]

Brian Parker (Live-action)
1979 Scooby Goes Hollywood Shaggy Rogers/Additional voices (voice)
1979 The Dark

[3]

Police Pathologist (Live-action)
1980 The Return of the King Meriadoc 'Merry' Brandybuck, a Hobbit[4] (voice)
1984 Ghostbusters Himself[2] (voice cameo)
1986 The Transformers: The Movie Cliffjumper[4] (voice)
1986 The Lord of the Rings Bilbo, Theodon[2] (voice)
1987 Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers Shaggy Rogers (voice)
1988 Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School Shaggy Rogers, Mirror Monster (voice)
1988 Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf Shaggy Rogers (voice)
1988 Princess Atta (1988 film) Additional voices
1988 Oliver (1988 film) Owen Griffiths
1988 Oliver the Giant Kitten Owen Griffiths, Professor Ortega's robber #3
1988 Marie the White Female Kitten Owen Griffiths, Harry Kitten
1988 Oliver's Love Owen Griffiths
1988 I Wanted a Black Cat Owen Griffiths
1988 Oliver Likes a Snow Owen Griffiths
1988 Oliver Goes to The Circus Owen Griffiths
1988 Oliver's Halloween Owen Griffiths
1988 Oliver's Christmas Carol Owen Griffiths and Additional voices
1990 Oliver and the Ghoul School Shaggy Rogers
1994 Scooby-Doo! in Arabian Nights Shaggy Rogers (voice)
2000 Rugrats in Paris: The Movie Wedding DJ (voice)
2002 Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire Shaggy Rogers (voice)
2003 Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico Shaggy Rogers (voice)
2003 Looney Tunes: Back in Action Shaggy Rogers (voice)
2004 Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster Shaggy Rogers (voice)
2005 Aloha, Scooby-Doo! Shaggy Rogers (voice)
2005 Scooby-Doo! in Where's My Mummy? Shaggy Rogers (voice)
2006 Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy! Shaggy Rogers (voice)
2007 Chill Out, Scooby-Doo! Shaggy Rogers (voice)
2008 Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King Shaggy Rogers (voice)
2009 Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword Shaggy Rogers (voice)

Television[]

Year Title Role Notes
1968 Garrison's Gorillas Provost Marshall (Live-action) 2 episodes
1968–69 The Batman/Superman Hour Robin, Dick Grayson[4] (voice) 17 episodes
1969–70 Hot Wheels Tank Mallory, Dexter Carter[5] (voice) 5 episodes
1969–71 Cattanooga Cats Groove,[2] the drummer (voice) 17 episodes
1969-70 Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! Shaggy Rogers, additional voices[4] (voice) 25 episodes
1970 Skyhawks Steve Wilson,[5] Joe Conway (voice) Episode: "Devlin's Dilemma"
1970–71 Josie and the Pussycats Alexander Cabot III[2] (voice) 16 episodes
1971 Here Comes Peter Cottontail Peter Cottontail[2] (Live-action) Stop-motion Easter special for Rankin-Bass
1972 Wait Till Your Father Gets Home George (Live-action) Episode: "The Neighbors"
1972–73 The New Scooby-Doo Movies Shaggy Rogers, Robin, Alexander Cabot III, Ghost of Injun Joe (voice) 24 episodes
1972 Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space

[5]

Alexander Cabot III (voice) 16 episodes
1973–85 Super Friends Robin, Dick Grayson[4] (voice) 109 episodes
1974 The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast Adolf Hitler (live-action) Episode: The Roast of Don Rickles
1974 Hong Kong Phooey Car Stealer, Clown (voice) 2 episodes
1974 Hawaii Five-O Swift, Freddie Dryden (voice) 5 episodes
1975 Emergency +4 Additional voices (voice) 12 episodes
1975 Ironside Lab Technician, Jim Crutcher (Live-action) 2 episodes
1976–77 Dynomutt, Dog Wonder Fishface, Swamp Rat, Shaggy Rogers (voice) 5 episodes
1976–78 The Scooby-Doo Show Shaggy Rogers, additional voices (voice) 40 episodes
1977 Police Story Sobhe (Live-action) Episode: "Trial Board"
1977 Quincy, M.E. Sy Wallace (voice) Episode: "An Unfriendly Radiance"
1977 The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries Paul Hamilton (voice) Episode: "Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom" (Parts I & II)
1977 Switch Tony Brock (Live-action) Episode: "Fade Out"
1977–78 What's New Mr. Magoo? Waldo, additional voices (voice) 10 episodes
1977–79 Laff-A-Lympics Shaggy Rogers, Mr. Creeply (voice) 24 episodes
1978 Charlie's Angels Tom Rogers (Live-action) Episode: "Winning Is for Losers"
1978 Jana of the Jungle Additional voices (voice) 13 episodes
1978–85 Battle of the Planets Mark (voice) 85 episodes; American dubbed adaptation of anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (in which the character was originally called "Ken the Eagle")
1979–80 Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Shaggy Rogers (voice) 16 episodes
1980–82 The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show Shaggy Rogers (voice) 20 episodes
1983 The All-New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Shaggy Rogers, Mr. Rogers, Mrs. Rogers (voice) 13 episodes
1984 The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries Shaggy Rogers, Grandpa Rogers (voice) 13 episodes
1984–86 The Transformers

[4]

Cliffjumper, Bluestreak,[4] Teletraan I Dr. Arkeville (voice) 60 episodes
1985 The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo Shaggy Rogers (voice) 13 episodes
1988–91 A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Shaggy Rogers, Mr. Rogers (voice) 27 episodes
1989 Family Feud Himself (cameo appearance) "Funny Men vs. Funny Women" Week episode
1989 A Yabba-Dabba-Doo Celebration! 50 Years of Hanna-Barbera Shaggy Rogers, additional voices (voice) TV Special
1990 The Fantastic World of Hanna-Barbera Shaggy Rogers (voice) TV Special
1991 Scooby-Doo! Behind the Voices Himself (Live-action), Shaggy Rogers (voice) TV Special
1992 Tiny Toons Adventures Flakey Flakems (voice) Episode: "Here's Hamton"
1993 2 Stupid Dogs Bill Barker (voice) Episode: "Let's Make a Right Price/One Ton/Far-Out Friday"
1994 Captain Planet and the Planeteers Lexo Starbuck (voice) Episode: "You Bet Your Planet"
1995 Scooby-Doo Mystery Shaggy Rogers (voice) Video game
1995 Homeboys in Outer Space Spacy Kasem (voice) Episodes: "Loquatia Unplugged or Come Back; Little Cyber"
1996 Illusions Gaming Shaggy Rogers (voice) Video game
1996 Sabrina, the Teenage Witch Shaggy Rogers (voice) Episode: "Sabrina Unplugged"
1997 Johnny Bravo Shaggy Rogers (voice) Episode: "The Sensitive Male/Bravo Dooby Doo"
2000 Histeria! Calgary Kasem (voice) Episode: "North America"
2002–06 What's New, Scooby-Doo? Shaggy Rogers, Virtual Shaggy (voice) 42 episodes
2003 Blue's Clues Radio (voice) Episode: "Blue's Big Car Trip"
2006–08 Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! Uncle Albert Shaggleford (voice) 22 episodes
2009 Scooby-Doo's Yum Yum Go! Shaggy Rogers (voice) Computer game
2010−13 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated Colton Rogers[4] (voice) 5 episodes (after retirement)

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Utilities at line 60: bad argument #1 to 'ipairs' (table expected, got nil).
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named clev2014
  3. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Utilities at line 60: bad argument #1 to 'ipairs' (table expected, got nil).
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named lat20140616
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Terrace, Vincent (2008). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). McFarland. pp. 478, 545, 980, 1467. ISBN 978-0-7864-8641-0. https://books.google.com/books?id=YX_daEhlnbsC&pg=PA478. 
Advertisement